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ISLAM, SACRIFICE, AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY IN JOHN MILTON'S SAMSON AGONISTES
Title
ISLAM, SACRIFICE, AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY IN JOHN MILTON'S SAMSON AGONISTES.
Creator
Marvin, Renee, Gleyzon, Francois-Xavier, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
A shift in gaze has occurred in the study of the early modern period, one which has begun to examine the Western world in a more global and comprehensive context. This shift has been extensively written upon with regards to a historical consideration by researchers like Nabil Matar, Jeremy Brotton, Gerald MacLean, and others. This "re-orientation", as MacLean calls it, has extended itself into the realm of literature studies, though Shakespeare and his works have been the focus of much of the...
Show moreA shift in gaze has occurred in the study of the early modern period, one which has begun to examine the Western world in a more global and comprehensive context. This shift has been extensively written upon with regards to a historical consideration by researchers like Nabil Matar, Jeremy Brotton, Gerald MacLean, and others. This "re-orientation", as MacLean calls it, has extended itself into the realm of literature studies, though Shakespeare and his works have been the focus of much of the scholarship circulating today. While the Bard has much to tell us, in the spirit of this expansion my thesis will focus on the work of another early modernist: poet, activist, and scholar John Milton. Utilizing both the knowledge provided by historicist scholars for contextualization and the critical apparatus of scholars like Gil Anidjar and Daniel Vitkus as a framework, my thesis will work to examine the possibility of the Islamic holy text, the Qur'an, as an influence for Milton. Focusing on the text of Samson Agonistes as a site for this influence and interaction, it will be my intention to deconstruct specific passages from Milton's text and verses from the Qur'an in order to expose a thematic and dialectic connection between these two seemingly incongruous corpi. I will accomplish this through a careful deconstruction of elements of monotheistic religious violence and political theology as well as an examination of the inclusion or exclusion of certain events, people, or themes in Milton's text which deviate from their Judeo-Christian origins. Finally, I will discuss the early modern Christians' historical fear of Islamic conversion and conquer alongside an examination of Samson's destruction of the Philistine temple in the context of political theology, in an attempt at elucidating the link between this historical fear of "turning Turk" and the supposed justification for violence against an ideological other that drives Samson towards his violent and self-conclusive act. Through this research I intend to broaden the scope of Miltonic and early modern literature studies in the hopes of creating a more global and considerate understanding of Milton's texts.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFH0004621, ucf:45289
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004621
THE EARLY MODERN SPACE: (CARTOGRAPHIC) LITERATURE AND THE AUTHOR IN PLACE
Title
THE EARLY MODERN SPACE: (CARTOGRAPHIC) LITERATURE AND THE AUTHOR IN PLACE.
Creator
Myers, Michael, Gleyzon, Francois-Xavier, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In geography, maps are a tool of placement which locate both the cartographer and the territory made cartographic. In order to place objects in space, the cartographer inserts his own judgment into the scheme of his design. During the Early Modern period, maps were no longer suspicious icons as they were in the Middle Ages and not yet products of science, but subjects of discourse and works of art. The image of a cartographer's territory depended on his vision�both the nature and placement of...
Show moreIn geography, maps are a tool of placement which locate both the cartographer and the territory made cartographic. In order to place objects in space, the cartographer inserts his own judgment into the scheme of his design. During the Early Modern period, maps were no longer suspicious icons as they were in the Middle Ages and not yet products of science, but subjects of discourse and works of art. The image of a cartographer's territory depended on his vision�both the nature and placement of his gaze�and the product reflected that author's judgment. This is not a study of maps as such but of Early Modern literature, cartographic by nature�the observations of the author were the motif of its design. However, rather than concretize observational judgment through art, the Early Modern literature discussed asserts a reverse relation�the generation of the material which may be observed, the reality, by the views of authors. Spatiality is now an emerging philosophical field of study, taking root in the philosophy of Deleuze & Guattari. Using the notion prevalent in both Postmodern and Early Modern spatiality, which makes of perception a collective delusion with its roots in the critique of Kant, this thesis draws a through-line across time, as texts such as Robert Burton's An Anatomy of Melancholy, Thomas More's Utopia, and selections from William Shakespeare display a tendency to remove value from the standard of representation, to replace meaning with cognition and prioritize a view of views over an observable world. Only John Milton approaches perception as possibly referential to objective reality, by re-inserting his ability to observe and exist in that reality, in a corpus which becomes less generative simulations of material than concrete signposts to his judgment in the world.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFH0004899, ucf:53148
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004899