Post 5: Getting Lovey-Dovey with the Loathly Lady
How's it going internet? Welcome to the Late Night English Blog, I'm your host and groundhog who's gone deep undercover to hide from his shadow Andy Ferguson and tonight we will be discussing everybody's favorite topic: Sexuality and Romance. Amore e Cuore. Going down and sticking around. Euphemisms. Now unless you're like me and spent the past twenty years filling that gaping black hole in your chest with the tears of your enemies and japanese entertainment mediums, you've probably had some experience with falling in love and/or making it. If not, never fear! We have dictionaries for a reason. Speaking of which, according to the Oxford Dictionary, sexuality and romance are defined as:
1.) Sexuality - one's capacity for sexual feelings or, alternatively, a person's sexual orientation/preference (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sexuality).
2.) Romance - a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love or, alternatively love, especially when sentimental or idealized (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/romance).
All caught up? Rad. These two themes, while overwhelmingly present in todays culture, haven't always been treated quite so directly in the literary world. In fact, it wasn't too long ago, circa 19th century, when those who attempted to do so either had their books banned from public consumption
or were exiled from their country (Looking at you Wilde and Joyce). However, that is not to say that writers have just avoided the topic of sex completely. Heaven's n- er ah, sorry. Had a bit of pretension in my throat. What was I saying? Oh right: Hell no. As a friend of mine once excellently said "Rules and regulations exist so that we may safely break them." In the same way, writers in older times found ways to talk about sex and romance and what the hell have you by, to use a term that probably doesn't belong in this discussion, beating around the bush (see disclaimer below).
Take Chaucer for instance: one of the most well-known writers of all time, studied as an independent course in most university systems, and one hell of a rule-breaker. Well, for his time anyway. "The Wife of Bath," one of many stories in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, is an excellent example of this: the titular Wife of Bath wasn't quite the ideal woman of Chaucer's time. She had had 5 husbands, was quite open about her views on virginity and "procreation," and RODE HER HORSE LIKE A MAN RATHER THAN SIDE-SADDLE! OH, THE SCANDAL! Sorry for the sudden caps but I felt the need to break up this block of text. Now you might say that the Wife of Bath's views are not terribly different, or even less extreme, than today's culture but, and I quote a friend once more on this one, "Progress, failure, and all that lie in between are completely and utterly relative." What does that mean? Good question. Chew it over for a bit and see what you come up with.
Welp, that's all for tonight ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for reading and I will see you in the next installment of my slow descent into madness. Until then, later!
Disclaimer: If you are disappointed in me, I understand. Feel free to take a number
1.) Sexuality - one's capacity for sexual feelings or, alternatively, a person's sexual orientation/preference (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sexuality).
2.) Romance - a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love or, alternatively love, especially when sentimental or idealized (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/romance).
All caught up? Rad. These two themes, while overwhelmingly present in todays culture, haven't always been treated quite so directly in the literary world. In fact, it wasn't too long ago, circa 19th century, when those who attempted to do so either had their books banned from public consumption
or were exiled from their country (Looking at you Wilde and Joyce). However, that is not to say that writers have just avoided the topic of sex completely. Heaven's n- er ah, sorry. Had a bit of pretension in my throat. What was I saying? Oh right: Hell no. As a friend of mine once excellently said "Rules and regulations exist so that we may safely break them." In the same way, writers in older times found ways to talk about sex and romance and what the hell have you by, to use a term that probably doesn't belong in this discussion, beating around the bush (see disclaimer below).
Take Chaucer for instance: one of the most well-known writers of all time, studied as an independent course in most university systems, and one hell of a rule-breaker. Well, for his time anyway. "The Wife of Bath," one of many stories in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, is an excellent example of this: the titular Wife of Bath wasn't quite the ideal woman of Chaucer's time. She had had 5 husbands, was quite open about her views on virginity and "procreation," and RODE HER HORSE LIKE A MAN RATHER THAN SIDE-SADDLE! OH, THE SCANDAL! Sorry for the sudden caps but I felt the need to break up this block of text. Now you might say that the Wife of Bath's views are not terribly different, or even less extreme, than today's culture but, and I quote a friend once more on this one, "Progress, failure, and all that lie in between are completely and utterly relative." What does that mean? Good question. Chew it over for a bit and see what you come up with.
Welp, that's all for tonight ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for reading and I will see you in the next installment of my slow descent into madness. Until then, later!
Disclaimer: If you are disappointed in me, I understand. Feel free to take a number
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