Shipwreck in Art and Literature
Images and Interpretations from Antiquity to the Present Day
Edited by Carl Thompson
To Be Published August 1st 2013 by Routledge
Series: Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature
Description
Tales of shipwreck have always fascinated audiences, and as result there is a rich literature of suffering at sea, and an equally rich tradition of visual art depicting this theme. Exploring the shifting semiotics and symbolism of shipwreck, the interdisciplinary essays in this volume provide a history of the shipwreck motif in literature and art as they consider how depictions have varied over time, and across genres and cultures. Simultaneously, they explore the imaginative potential of shipwreck as they consider the diverse symbolism, and the many meanings, that have historically been attached to maritime disaster and suffering at sea. The volume spans both popular and high culture, outlining the most significant depictions of shipwreck in any given time-period, culture, or genre. This cross-cultural, comparative study engages with a wide range of disciplines to investigate the different representational traditions, and the different attitudes and assumptions, that surround shipwreck in different periods and cultures, and will appeal not only to those interested in literature and art, but also history, geography, international relations, and postcolonial studies.
Contents
Introduction Carl Thompson 1. The Capsized Self: Sea Navigation, Shipwrecks and Escapes from Drowning in Early Buddhist Narrative Sarah Shaw 2. Literary Shipwreck and the Mechanisms of Canonization; Or, Why Sophocles Survived the Loss of his Plays Ranja Knobl 3. The Shattered Carrack: Voice and Submersion in Early Modern Portuguese Shipwreck Literature Josiah Blackmore 4. God’s Storms: Shipwreck and the Meanings of Ocean in Anglophone Literature, 1550 – 1750 Steve Mentz 5. George Herbert’s Recycling of Shipwreck Metaphors in The Temple (1633) Jean-Christophe Van Thienen 6. Painting Disaster: Shipwrecks in Art, 1650-1850 Jenny Gaschke 7. Sentiment, Sensation and the Forging of Imperial Identity: Tracing the 1786 Wreck of the Halsewell through Print, Visual and Material Culture Carl Thompson 8. Shipwrecks on the Streets: Maritime Disaster and Popular Culture in 19th Century Britain and Ireland Kirsty Reid 9. Molly Brown: The Shipwrecked Woman in U.S. Culture Robin Miskolcze 10. What Lies Beneath: The Submarine Shipwreck in British Culture 1914-1918 Stephen Donovan 11. Postmodern and Postcolonial Shipwreck: Contemporary Literary Revisioning Michael Titlestad 12. Not Yet There: Shipwreck as Suspended Potentiality in Contemporary Art Practice Emma Cocker
Author Bio
Carl Thompson is Senior Lecturer in English at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Name: Shipwreck in Art and Literature: Images and Interpretations from Antiquity to the Present Day (Hardback) – Routledge
Description: Edited by Carl Thompson. Tales of shipwreck have always fascinated audiences, and as result there is a rich literature of suffering at sea, and an equally rich tradition of visual art depicting this theme. Exploring the shifting semiotics and symbolism of shipwreck, the...
Categories: Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, Art & Visual Culture, Literature by Geographic Area