Saturday, November 3, 2012

Topic Change!

This is a complete 180, but after researching Spanish literary traditions and trying to find parallels to Richard the III, all I had to show for it were a couple of weak theses, none of which I felt particularly compelled to research. So, I started thinking about my other idea that focuses on Richard III and his deformity. This has interested me from the beginning and after poking around a bit more I feel that I have more to go off of and that I'm not making the wild claims that my previous thesis led me to. So! Here is my social graph:



Social Graph:


  • My roommate: Heather Wilson definitely fits into the category of a "homie" whom I can bounce ideas off and I can always count on getting good feedback from. 
  • My mom: another great resource for getting good feedback and ideas.

New Media

Social Networks:

  • quora.com

Traditional Scholarly Sources:

  • Charles Boyce's Encyclopedia of Shakespeare
  • "A Medieval King 'Disabled' by an Early Modern Construct" Abigail Comber
  • Enabling Richard: The Rhetoric of Disability in Richard III

Sorry it's a bit scanty, I've just barely changed topics and I feel a bit foolish to do so after researching so much about Spanish literary history! 

2 comments:

  1. That's a fascinating idea! I had a hard time identifying your thesis in this post though... What are you going to argue regarding the symbolism, relevance, etc. of Richard's deformity?
    Are you aware of deformed characters in others of Shakespeare's plays? Are there relevant contextual attitudes towards disabilities/deformities in Renaissance England that might help with interpreting Richard's character? I haven't read this play, but those are questions I would be interested in learning about...

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  2. Brinn makes some excellent comments here. Also, if you don't want to give up the linguistic angle altogether, there could be a way to connect the deformity of the character with the "deformity" of translation. Do translations become monstrous creatures (powerful, intimidating, illegitimate, dangerous)?

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