Thanks for the Old English characters tip! I shall do that next time.
I haven't got the book by me just at this minute, but I think what CSL dislikes in Geoffrey isn't so much his writing in Latin as the fact that the only original thing he brought to the Arthurian party was his long account of Arthur's exploits on mainland Europe. For CSL, this is equally disatisfying as fantasy (there's nothing the least romantic about A's military campaigns) and implausible as history - so succeeds as neither, but only as a ridiculous piece of toadying propaganda.
I'm still thinking about the other passage, but one thing involved in my ponderings is what he says (possibly in The Allegory of Love?) about Spenser, confirmed Protestant, using the Catholic imagery of beadsmen, holy hospitals, hermits and the like. CSL likes this, IIRC, while admitting that it may be confusing for those unused to the allegorical mode. Is this disjunction between what is meant and the way that one says it part of CSL's aesthetic? Not sure - nor am I sure if it's at all relevant to the other passage - but I ponder on...
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Date: 2007-08-06 07:06 pm (UTC)I haven't got the book by me just at this minute, but I think what CSL dislikes in Geoffrey isn't so much his writing in Latin as the fact that the only original thing he brought to the Arthurian party was his long account of Arthur's exploits on mainland Europe. For CSL, this is equally disatisfying as fantasy (there's nothing the least romantic about A's military campaigns) and implausible as history - so succeeds as neither, but only as a ridiculous piece of toadying propaganda.
I'm still thinking about the other passage, but one thing involved in my ponderings is what he says (possibly in The Allegory of Love?) about Spenser, confirmed Protestant, using the Catholic imagery of beadsmen, holy hospitals, hermits and the like. CSL likes this, IIRC, while admitting that it may be confusing for those unused to the allegorical mode. Is this disjunction between what is meant and the way that one says it part of CSL's aesthetic? Not sure - nor am I sure if it's at all relevant to the other passage - but I ponder on...