Whitney on Bacon again: “Reform invites analogy and multiple levels of meaning as it variously connects old and new; it exposes the poverty of brute facts by, for one thing, fixing knowledge in a hierarchy of literary kinds or genres. Reformative visions in history grow in part out of biblical exegesis, which distinguishes literal and figurative meanings, and out of classical contexts in which the word mimesis signifies at once imitation of traditional models and imitation of reality. With Bacon,... Read more

In his defense of the legitimacy of the modern age, Hans Blumenberg attempts to pry apart the legitimate kernel ideas of modernity from the illegitimate, mostly medieval and superstitious, husks by which the kernel ideas were often expressed. Whether this works for any early modern thinker, it does not work, Charles Whitney argues, for Bacon: “An important part of the ‘husk’ of Bacon’s work that Blumenberg, along with other historians, has underestimated is its prophetic character; indeed this aspect even... Read more

Bowman examines a scene from The Sopranos where John “Johnny Sack” Sacramoni seeks permission, from Tony Soprano among others to “clip” Ralph Cifaretto for jokingly insulting his wife’s weight, which has done damage to her “body image, self esteem.” None of his superiors will bite, and Bowman notes that the episode “exploits the comic potential of this collision between feral honor that criminal gangs so often keep alive and the narcissistic culture of therapy and self-indulgence. The mortal offense of... Read more

There’s a scene in Malory where Launcelot has been caught in Guenevere’s bedroom by his enemies, Aggravayne and Mordred, and in the ensuing altercation Launcelot kills 14 knights, all but Mordred, who is wounded. Summoned to appear before Arthur, Launcelot still protests his innocence: (more…) Read more