The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 8.0311.  Tuesday, 4 March 1997.

[1]     From:   Charles Ross <
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        Date:   Monday, 3 Mar 1997 11:55:54 -0500 (EST)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.0297 Q: Anachronisms

[2]     From:   Jean Peterson <
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        Date:   Monday, 3 Mar 1997 16:00:52 +0200
        Subj:   Anachronisms

[3]     From:   Gabriel Egan <
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        Date:   Monday, 3 Mar 1997 23:00:13 GMT
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.0297  Q: Anachronisms

[4]     From:   Chris J. Fassler  <
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        Date:   Monday, 3 Mar 1997 18:12:53 -0500
        Subj:   Anachronisms

[5]     From:   Cliff Ronan <"
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        Date:   Monday, 03 Mar 1997 21:31:43 -0600
        Subj:   Re: Anachronism


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Charles Ross <
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Date:           Monday, 3 Mar 1997 11:55:54 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 8.0297 Q: Anachronisms
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.0297 Q: Anachronisms

Hector cites Aristotle in Troilus and Cressida.

Charles Ross

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Jean Peterson <
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Date:           Monday, 3 Mar 1997 16:00:52 +0200
Subject:        Anachronisms

Anyone who wants to consider seriously what the myriad anachronisms (a
character named "Pistol," not-yet-invented sack as the potation of
choice, etc) in the history plays might "mean" must have a look at
Phyllis Rackin's *Stages of History: Shakespeare's English Chronicles.*
(Cornell UP, 1990).  The whole book is well worth reading, but Rackin's
Chapter 3 addresses anachronisms specifically.

For another view on that famous chiming clock in JC, see Sigurd
Burkhardt's "How Not To Murder Ceasar" in his *Shakespearean Meanings.*

Jean Peterson
Bucknell University

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Gabriel Egan <
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Date:           Monday, 3 Mar 1997 23:00:13 GMT
Subject: 8.0297  Q: Anachronisms
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.0297  Q: Anachronisms

Tom Sullivan writes

> A friend who teaches history asked me about
> anachronisms in Shakespeare. All I could produce was
> the chiming of the clock in JC.
> Are there others as well-known or as obvious?

Well, apparently, lesbian desire in AYLI is one. I'm reliably informed
that lesbianism wasn't invented until the 1960s.

How about the reference to a "gun's report" (ie sound) in MND? Rapiers
in C12 Denmark (HAM). Theseus in MND being a feudal "duke"?

Gabriel Egan

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Chris J. Fassler  <
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Date:           Monday, 3 Mar 1997 18:12:53 -0500
Subject:        Anachronisms

Annalisa Castaldo's choice of the word "mistakes" to describe the
anachronisms found in the Shakespearean canon reminded me of a useful
discussion of anachronisms and historiography in Phyllis Rackin's
_Stages of History_ (Cornell, 199?).  I hope the historian whose query
started all this reads it.

--Chris

[5]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Cliff Ronan <"
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 , dr12"@swt.edu>
Date:           Monday, 03 Mar 1997 21:31:43 -0600
Subject:        Re: Anachronism

Tom Sullivan might enjoy the long list in Douce's "On Anachronism" in
*Illustrations of Shakspeare" (1839; 1968).  Here anachronism is simply
an amusing blemish.

S.  Burckhardt's *Shakespeare's Meanings,* however, provides one of many
20th C defenses of ancient, medieval, and renaissance anachronism.  The
device can be intended not just to shock and delight but also to
circumvent censorship (as with the reference to "benevolences" in *R2*)
or to suggest an ahistorical continuity (as in a Homeric hero's
reference to Aritstotle in *Tro*).  For more classification and
discussion, see Greene's *Light in Troy,* Rackin's *Stages of History*
(etc.), and yours truly's *`Antike Roman.'* Cliff Ronan Southwest Texas
State University