The date and context of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious

Reviewed by: Knowing the Amorous Man: A History of Scholarship on Tales of Ise by Jamie L. Newhard Robert N. Huey Knowing the Amorous Man: A History of Scholarship on Tales of Ise. By Jamie L. Newhard. Harvard University Asia Center, 2013. 312 pages. Hardcover $39.95/£29.95/€36.00. Knowing the Amorous Man sheds new light on reception and commentary concerning Ise monogatari and also resonates with broader areas of inquiry in valuable, and sometimes surprising, ways. Though its New Historicist approach is only partially successful, overall this is an excellent book, with much to offer both students and scholars. The unabashedly New Historicist perspective can be seen in comments throughout the book: Early on, for example, Newhard writes that the difficulties of the Ise monogatari text provide an “appealing playground within which the commentators [End Page 109] of various persuasions might ride their hobby horses with abandon” (pp. 2–3). Her final sentence, too, is revealing in this respect: “Narihira and Ise monogatari itself, its congenial openness to interpretation undisrupted by some 800 years of scholarly activity, merely provide the pretext that allows scholars to expound freely on whatever issues are most meaningful to them, in ways that reflect the intellectual and ideological concerns of their times” (p. 238). Such statements reflect the reductionism that can sometimes threaten a New Historicist undertaking, and I am not prepared to believe that the scholars Newhard writes about had no genuine interest in the texts they studied, that they were motivated only by a desire to act out their own worldviews—in other words, that they displayed no jouissance, but only self-indulgence. Leaving that aside, a New Historicist approach does seem apt for this enterprise, since, as Newhard very ably demonstrates, Ise monogatari commentary has taken many interesting twists and turns over the centuries. However, such an approach requires thick description in order to establish the political, cultural, and social discourses that the commentator inhabits, and that in turn inform his commentary (yes, all “his” as far as the written record shows). Unfortunately, I think what Newhard gives us is rather thin and conventional. She depicts Muromachi as a time of upheaval and the final collapse of the old aristocracy, and she argues that this somehow is enough to explain the prevalence of secret teachings (denju). But as Newhard herself shows, the aristocracy never really disappears as a serious intellectual and cultural force until late Edo, and, furthermore, the teachings are never really all that secret. (In fact, this latter point is one of the book’s more interesting revelations.) Moreover, the scholars she discusses are not themselves very well historicized in the book. A specific case in point is Hosokawa Yūsai (1534–1610), whose commentary Ise monogatari ketsugishō Newhard treats as an iconic representative of the “Transitional Commentaries” phase of Ise monogatari scholarship (discussed on pages 4–6). You would never know from reading this volume that Yūsai was a key figure in the development of the Way of Tea, for example, or that he somehow pulled off the impressive feat of being a close confidant to Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hidetoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu without losing his head! Not to mention that his son and daughter-in-law embraced Christianity. How does his Ise monogatari commentary fit into that résumé? Now that’s the kind of question a New Historicist should be grappling with. Likewise, Kokugaku and nativist scholarship are stripped of much of their connection to Shinto and to anti-Tokugawa politics—not to mention, eventually, to nationalism. Newhard depicts the Kokugaku and nativist scholars as “positivist” (p. 190), as “[having] great independence of mind, never hesitating to put forward new interpretations and generally basing these on independent research rather than blindly citing the authority of their predecessors” (p. 183). However, she does not talk about how they might have gotten that way. Likewise, her discussion of Meiji and Taishō Ise monogatari commentaries that depict Narihira as a “patriot” (p. 237) begs for more detail. [End Page 110] Though Knowing the Amorous Man may not totally succeed as New Historicism, it is invaluable as a study of Ise monogatari reception and commentary. Anyone who...

This article addresses the mediation of interethnic cohesion issues in Russian news and discussion programs, exploring the contradictions inherent in media consensus building in a post-totalitarian Russia beset by rising xenophobia. Operating under the theoretical umbrella of Laclauan hegemony modified for the post-Soviet context, it treats issues of framing, voice, structure of dialogue, and the role of the host. The article focuses on coverage of the ethnic tensions awakened in summer 2006 by the Kondopoga riots. In a case study of the political discussion show Vremena, it highlights the difficulties the state encounters in grounding the official tolerance program promoted by evening news bulletins in a consensus position on ethnic cohesion. Consequently, it argues that Vremena becomes both the site for an ill-managed outpouring of xenophobia and a platform for its host’s pseudo-liberalism. Finally, this dual problematic is mapped onto two competing elements in the show’s hybrid format.

This article addresses the ways in which scholars of history who worked in France in the 16 th century attempted to describe and consider early medieval history and how in the course of this process they made slight adaptations to the image of the early medieval Frankish history that corresponded to the needs of the educated community and the emerging French monarchy. Thus, the article compares how the scholars Claude Fauchet, Bernards de Girarnd Sieur Du Haillan and others looked at the process of construction of the Frankish kingdom and how they addressed the relationship between the Mediterranean core of the Late Roman Empire and the diocese of Gaul which had long attracted the attention of the Franks, who became Roman soldiers and foederati. It is suggested that the bifurcation in historical knowledge took place in the 1570s in the works of Claude Fauchet and Bernard Du Haillan, one of which may still be ascribed to the earlier group of humanists who operated within the framework created by Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo, whereas Bernard Du Haillan, on the other hand, sought to overcome the ideas and terms used by them and conceived of Frankish history in different terms. He emphasized the discontinuity between the Roman Empire and the Frankish Gaul, but at the same time sought to avoid the use of the discourse of national self-identification that permeated the works of earlier humanists.

In Text and Ritual in Early China, leading scholars of ancient Chinese history, literature, religion, and archaeology consider the presence and use of texts in religious and political ritual. Through balanced attention to both the received literary tradition and the wide range of recently excavated artefacts, manuscripts, and inscriptions, their combined efforts reveal the rich and multilayered interplay of textual composition and ritual performance. Drawn across disciplinary boundaries, the resulting picture illuminates two of the defining features of early Chinese culture and advances new insights into their sumptuous complexity. Beginning with a substantial introduction to the conceptual and thematic issues explored in succeeding chapters, Text and Ritual in Early China is anchored by essays on early Chinese cultural history and ritual display (Michael Nylan) and the nature of its textuality (William G. Boltz). This twofold approach sets the stage for studies of the E Jun Qi metal tallies (Lothar von Falkenhausen), the Gongyang commentary to The Spring and Autumn Annals (Joachim Gentz), the early history of The Book of Odes (Martin Kern), moral remonstration in historiography (David Schaberg), the Liming manuscript text unearthed at Mawangdui (Mark Csikszentmihalyi), and Eastern Han commemorative stele inscriptions (K. E. Brashier). The scholarly originality of these essays rests firmly on their authors' control over ancient sources, newly excavated materials, and modern scholarship across all major Sinological languages. The extensive bibliography is in itself a valuable and reliable reference resource. This important work will be required reading for scholars of Chinese history, language, literature, philosophy, religion, art history, and archaeology.

White southerners developed an ideology of pan-whiteness in the late nineteenth century, and that legacy persists to this day, Trent A. Watts argues in this thought-provoking analysis of southern culture and history. In One Homogenous People, the author defines pan-whiteness as a belief among southern whites that they were members of a family that was “periodically threatened by black disorder” (p. xix). He examines how this concept became deeply rooted in southern politics, popular literature, and in the literary and historical scholarship that white southerners produced in the final decades of the nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century. Watts, a Mississippian, ends the book with important thoughts about how pan-whiteness continues to haunt the Magnolia State today. One Homogenous People examines the stories that southerners developed to define themselves and their region. The author stresses the commonalities among discourses on race and white supremacy, family, and community. Watts downplays the emphasis on consumerism employed by Grace Elizabeth Hale in her influential work Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the American South (1998) and places more weight on political discourse, “the shaping power of narratives” (p. xxviii), and the development of southern literary criticism and historiography.

Reviews 65 his selfish attitude toward members of the expedition preparing accounts pos­ sibly to be published before his. And the author admits that Lewis was far less successful in governing the territory once he arrived than he was in leading the expedition. The interpretation of the events surrounding Lewis’s mysterious death coincides with the views of Bakeless, Vardis Fisher, and Reuben Thwaites — that Meriwether Lewis was probably murdered, although there is no extant evidence to prove the point. Some readers will take issue with parts of Dillon’s study. He avoids com­ menting on the controversial role of Sacajawea and treats briefly the winter in Oregon. Quotations from original sources are frequently lengthy and some­ times unwieldy. This reviewer wishes the author had chosen to footnote his book. Since it is likely to remain the most exhaustive study for some time, specific documentation would have added to the book’s value. On the whole, however, Meriwether Lewis is a solid, well-written biog­ raphy and should serve as a useful source for students and scholars of Western history. R ic h a r d W. E t u l a i n , University of Oregon Frank Norris. By Warren French (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1962. 160 pages, $3.50.) Frank Norris is number 25 in the Twayne United States Authors Series and is Warren French’s second contribution to that project. By now everyone is familiar with the Twayne series and recognizes the convenience of the short, inexpensive volumes. For advanced students of American literature these volumes may be cursory reviews, but for others they are valuable. The form of French’s book is standard for the Twayne series: a chronology followed by a biographical first chapter and succeeding chapters dealing with various phases of Norris’ career. His thesis is that Norris has been called a naturalist in the tradition of Zola for too long and that he should be recognized as a romantic reformer who made his novels into tracts for moral reform and who, as a descendant of the transcendentalists, merely borrowed the technique of naturalism to give new force to the “irrepressible tradition of American romanticism.” French’s interpretation of Norris’ work is neither new nor in opposition to what has previously been said about the novelist. Norris was indebted to Zola, but he was also indebted to Kipling, Stevenson, and Scott; in calling Norris a moralist, French has only repeated Zola’s announcement in Le Roman Experimental that the naturalists were, in fact, “experimental moralists.” Fur­ thermore, we should recognize that Norris interpreted Zola’s naturalism as a form of romanticism, so it is natural to expect Norris’ work to show evidence of romanticism. It is difficult to believe that any serious student of American literature would unequivocally call Norris’ novels naturalism. We have all been brought up to believe that Garland, Crane, Norris, and London were not so 66 Western American Literature much naturalistic writers as they were writers trying to find something better than the realism of William Dean Howells. One who has not read the works of Frank Norris would probably be more confused than enlightened by French’s study, but for students of American fic­ tion the book is rather basic. It does not add to the Norris scholarship, but it does elucidate it. French places too much emphasis on Norris’ so-called trans­ cendentalism, especially when he claims that Norris was “ . . . A Far West answer to the call from Concord. . . .” And one wonders whether or not French’s attack upon Granville Hicks is completely objective. While there is nothing especially new in French’s discussion of Norris, his style is clear and enjoyable. He does not argue with the facts, but in his anticipation of arguments from his readers, he becomes so frank that one ques­ tions his consistency. But he is consistent. He takes one through the works of Norris with enthusiasm and candor, and he does not hesitate to show the failures — as in his chapter on Norris’ short stories — but he emphasizes the successes. It is to the credit of Warren French that he was able to complete the task of condensing and presenting his...

The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach

“ This is Munich all over again!”: Such comparisons between a present situation and a past one (i.e. a historical analogy) are common in public and political discourses. Historical analogies were used for centuries but have received increased interest in the last 50 years from scholars in political science, history, and psychology. Despite existing interdisciplinary exchanges, it remains difficult to identify the variables involved in the phenomenon as different methodologies and conceptualizations are used. Hence, we review part of this voluminous literature and suggest that the various effects related to the use of historical analogies can be grouped under four independent and non-mutually exclusive categories: representing a current situation, defining the roles of current actors, making decisions, and persuading others of a message. We conclude by acknowledging the limits of this current conceptualization and emphasizing its potential as a useful heuristic tool to organize findings in a way that makes them readable across various fields.

FOR those who wish to understand Henry David Thoreau's politics, his texts alone may not offer sufficient education. Heretofore, the relatively few scholars of literature and history who have examined his politics have been inclined to register Thoreau in their own modern political party or to relegate him to the camp of the ideological enemy. To lionize or dismiss him the arch-foe of modern statism, global power politics, free-enterprise politics, or militarism and war is superficial at best. To reject him an arch-duke of anarchism is to take the eighteenth-century English establishmentarian and the American Tory view. Perhaps even more severe built-in historical and contextual limitations govern the views that Thoreau is anomalous or that he is thoroughly inconsistent. Rather, one must be aware that the terms Thoreau used-such virtue, culture, law (moral well natural), corruption, liberty, power, and conspiracy-are terms and concepts he shared with his age, an age that can be characterized by its devotion to the ideology and language of Revolutionary republicanism. Republicanism not only provided the dominant language but also functioned as a kind of meta-language.... As such, the language of republicanism was so completely taken for granted that it established the very categories within which political discourse could properly-perhaps even possibly-be undertaken.'

Research objectives: To investigate the historical reasons for the neglect of the Shibanid dynasty in the historical scholarship and political discourse of Uzbekistan within the framework of the “Centralized State” concept. Research materials: The research draws upon the historical works of prominent Orientalists such as N.P. Ostroumov, V.V. Bartol’d, P.P. Ivanov, A.Y. Yakubovsky, A.A. Semenov, O.D. Chekhovich, R.G. Mukminova, B. Akhmedov, and L.B. Alaev. Additionally, the study incorporates the works of Jadids, such as A. Doinsh, A. Fitrat, and A. Kadiri, as well as the contributions of I.A. Karimov, A.A. Askarov, I. Muminov, B.A. Alimdzhanov, A. Malikov, and others. Results and novelty of the research: In the field of historical research and historical discourse in Uzbekistan, the post-Timurid era, which spans from the 16th to 19th centuries, is often portrayed as a period of backwardness, political fragmentation, and weak centralization of power. The Shibanid and Ashtarkhanid dynasties are often viewed as less significant and influential in the history of Uzbekistan compared to the Timurid dynasty. Pre-Soviet historiography, Jadid historians, Soviet historians, and post-Soviet historians have all contributed to this negative assessment of the Shibanids. This perspective is rooted in the Stalinist concept of a centralized state. In the 1950s and 1980s, there were attempts to “rehabilitate” the Shibanids by historians and orientalists. Articles on the history of the Central Asian Shibanids were published, and historical works were translated into Uzbek. Howe­ver, these efforts were not successful in creating a positive image of the Shibanids in the Uzbek political and research spheres. In contemporary Uzbekistan, the Shibanid dynasty has not been restored to a position as the founders of the state in Transoxiana and Khorasan, and the basis of its original culture. The dynasty’s key figures, Muhammad Sheibanikhan, Ubaydullakhan, and Abdullakhan II, are not widely recognized in historical discourse. Although significant works on the Shibanid dynasty have been translated into Uzbek, the dynasty remains a subject of study for a select group of scholars.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., is a historian and political advocate whose ideas and activities have significantly influenced the shape and direction of American liberalism during the past fifty years. A central feature of Schlesinger's ideological perspective is his belief that American history has been marked by alternating periods of conservative and liberal dominance, which he has termed the of national politics. Throughout his career, Schlesinger has used the of national politics to defend the legitimacy and superiority of active liberal government and leadership. This book examines the origin, elements, and evolving significance of the of national politics in the discourse of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. The study investigates how the tides concept has functioned in both Schlesinger's historical scholarship and his partisan political discourse. Depoe also explores the ways in which the tides concept has shaped and channeled Schlesinger's political thought over time, leading him toward certain definitions of situations and away from others. Finally, Depoe offers Schlesinger's life and work as a case study of the highs and lows of postwar American liberalism. By tracing Schlesinger's responses to Eisenhower-era conservatism, Kennedy's New Frontier, the problems of Vietnam and violence during the 1960s, and the gradual delegitimation of liberalism from the 1970s to the present, this book offers a road map that can guide the reader toward a better understanding of the past, present, and future of liberalism in America.

The practice of Egyptian modern historical scholarship in the 20th century has been the product of a complex interaction between intellectual values, academic institutions, state authority and political and social changes in society at large. Part of an emerging education system built on local and foreign traditions of scholarship, the academic tradition has had to engage with the influence of state authority in the latter’s attempts to promote scholarship supportive of its political legitimacy and its control of access to state archives. As a public and social form of knowledge, historical scholarship has also reflected different political and social perspectives across Egyptian society. In bringing these different strands together, this chapter illustrates how Egyptian historians and their works have constituted a field of intellectual and political interpretation that engages with the broader arena of national political discourse.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Politics, Print Culture and the Habermas Thesis Cluster

Beginning with a discussion of partisan politics in Catharine Sedgwick’s juvenile letters and her autobiographical fiction, the introduction makes a case for considering five prominent New England women authors (Sedgwick, Judith Sargent Murray, Sally Sayward Wood, Lydia Sigourney, and Harriet Beecher Stowe) as profoundly influenced by and invested in a Federalist understanding of religion in a republic. This investment, which treats Protestant Christianity as a force necessary for public morality in democratic life, shaped their writing careers and forms an unacknowledged contribution to political and religious debates about church and state in the early republic and nineteenth century. Situating this argument as a contribution to scholarship in literary studies, postsecular studies, and political history, the introduction explains contributions to each area.

Criminology and propaganda studies have both substantially influenced political, public and commercial thought yet not as a co-ordinated, embedded twine. Propaganda studies identify how narratives are constructed, conveyed and embedded within public and political discourses. To enhance existing debates, this article stirs the criminological cauldron with critical insights from propaganda analyses. Criminology is an evolving crucible, a gravitational black hole that imbues, harnesses and inculcates diverse perspectives in the pursuit of originality, criticality and creativity. By drawing on historical and contemporary propaganda scholarship we aim to enrich criminological theory, policy and practice. Our intention is not to critique, supplant or subvert existing criminological discourse but to invigorate it with the proponents, and prospects of propaganda studies.