This thesis analyzes one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies from the perspective of its costumes, and chronicles the start-to-finish process of the costume design for the April 2012 production of Othello held at Pomona College. Incorporating the Pre-Raphaelite art movement with high fashion’s late Alexander McQueen, this thesis brings to light Othello’s predominant themes of race and honesty by means of luxurious textiles and distinct silhouettes.

My dissertation, Pen and Printing-Block: William Morris and the Resurrection of Medieval Paratextuality, considers William Morris’s influence on the rise of paratextual awareness, his negotiation strategies for Victorian England’s social identity, and his rhetorical construction of an idealized past through textual artifacts. The effect of Morris’s growing social awareness on his transition from illumination to print is reframed by considering his calligraphy as paratextual experiments, based on medieval examples, in combining graphic and discursive meanings with rhetorical and social dimensions. The varied and less ambitious agendas of those printers who followed Morris’s Kelmscott Press, however, limited Morris’s legacy in the book arts. The full significance of his illuminations’ meaningful interplay between text and image, and the social intent of these innovations applications in print, has received little critical attention. The opening chapter frames Morris’s visual work in light of his philosophies and introduces the major concerns of material art, the role of history, the limits of language, and the question of meaningful labour. The second chapter surveys select predecessors of Morris’s developing conception of the Gothic, the significance of architecture as its defining form, and the irreplaceability of the physical past. The third chapter considers the role of the illuminated manuscript in Pre-Raphaelite art, tracing Morris’s calligraphic experiments chronologically while identifying medieval inspirations and examining his artistic development. These experiments led to his final collaborative manuscript, the illuminated Æneid which is the fourth chapter’s focus. The sophistication of its paratextual elements is discussed in light of its unique physicality and limitations. The fifth chapter asserts the Kelmscott Press’s role in balancing craftsmanship and aesthetic paratextual strategies with reproducible models. The Kelmscott Chaucer is the culmination of these strategies, and it is compared to the visual rhetoric of its predecessors. The final chapter compares the philosophies and calligraphic elements of major private presses that followed Kelmscott’s legacy. This evolution of aesthetic, social, and practical considerations is also identified in the work of selected Canadian printers, and a final note considers the implications of the rise of immaterial digital text (radiant textuality) for the continuation of material paratextuality’s role in the future.

My dissertation, Pen and Printing-Block: William Morris and the Resurrection of Medieval Paratextuality, considers William Morris’s influence on the rise of paratextual awareness, his negotiation strategies for Victorian England’s social identity, and his rhetorical construction of an idealized past through textual artifacts. The effect of Morris’s growing social awareness on his transition from illumination to print is reframed by considering his calligraphy as paratextual experiments, based on medieval examples, in combining graphic and discursive meanings with rhetorical and social dimensions. The varied and less ambitious agendas of those printers who followed Morris’s Kelmscott Press, however, limited Morris’s legacy in the book arts. The full significance of his illuminations’ meaningful interplay between text and image, and the social intent of these innovations applications in print, has received little critical attention. The opening chapter frames Morris’s visual work in light of his philosophies and introduces the major concerns of material art, the role of history, the limits of language, and the question of meaningful labour. The second chapter surveys select predecessors of Morris’s developing conception of the Gothic, the significance of architecture as its defining form, and the irreplaceability of the physical past. The third chapter considers the role of the illuminated manuscript in Pre-Raphaelite art, tracing Morris’s calligraphic experiments chronologically while identifying medieval inspirations and examining his artistic development. These experiments led to his final collaborative manuscript, the illuminated Æneid which is the fourth chapter’s focus. The sophistication of its paratextual elements is discussed in light of its unique physicality and limitations. The fifth chapter asserts the Kelmscott Press’s role in balancing craftsmanship and aesthetic paratextual strategies with reproducible models. The Kelmscott Chaucer is the culmination of these strategies, and it is compared to the visual rhetoric of its predecessors. The final chapter compares the philosophies and calligraphic elements of major private presses that followed Kelmscott’s legacy. This evolution of aesthetic, social, and practical considerations is also identified in the work of selected Canadian printers, and a final note considers the implications of the rise of immaterial digital text (radiant textuality) for the continuation of material paratextuality’s role in the future.

My dissertation, Pen and Printing-Block: William Morris and the Resurrection of Medieval Paratextuality, considers William Morris’s influence on the rise of paratextual awareness, his negotiation strategies for Victorian England’s social identity, and his rhetorical construction of an idealized past through textual artifacts. The effect of Morris’s growing social awareness on his transition from illumination to print is reframed by considering his calligraphy as paratextual experiments, based on medieval examples, in combining graphic and discursive meanings with rhetorical and social dimensions. The varied and less ambitious agendas of those printers who followed Morris’s Kelmscott Press, however, limited Morris’s legacy in the book arts. The full significance of his illuminations’ meaningful interplay between text and image, and the social intent of these innovations applications in print, has received little critical attention. The opening chapter frames Morris’s visual work in light of his philosophies and introduces the major concerns of material art, the role of history, the limits of language, and the question of meaningful labour. The second chapter surveys select predecessors of Morris’s developing conception of the Gothic, the significance of architecture as its defining form, and the irreplaceability of the physical past. The third chapter considers the role of the illuminated manuscript in Pre-Raphaelite art, tracing Morris’s calligraphic experiments chronologically while identifying medieval inspirations and examining his artistic development. These experiments led to his final collaborative manuscript, the illuminated Æneid which is the fourth chapter’s focus. The sophistication of its paratextual elements is discussed in light of its unique physicality and limitations. The fifth chapter asserts the Kelmscott Press’s role in balancing craftsmanship and aesthetic paratextual strategies with reproducible models. The Kelmscott Chaucer is the culmination of these strategies, and it is compared to the visual rhetoric of its predecessors. The final chapter compares the philosophies and calligraphic elements of major private presses that followed Kelmscott’s legacy. This evolution of aesthetic, social, and practical considerations is also identified in the work of selected Canadian printers, and a final note considers the implications of the rise of immaterial digital text (radiant textuality) for the continuation of material paratextuality’s role in the future.

The ephemeral life of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood belies the importance of an organization that grows from and transcends its originally limited aesthetic principles and circumscribed credo. The founding of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 really marks the beginning of a movement that metamorphizes into Aestheticism/Decadence. It is the purpose of this dissertation to demonstrate that, from its inception, Pre-Raphaelitism is the first English manifestation of Aestheticism/Decadence. Although the connection between Pre- Raphaelitism and the Aesthete/Decadent movement is proposed or mentioned by several writers, none has written a coherent justification for the viewing of Pre-Raphaelitism as the starting point for English Decadence This dissertation attempts to establish the primacy of Pre-Raphaelitism in the development of Aestheticism/Decadence.

My dissertation, Pen and Printing-Block: William Morris and the Resurrection of Medieval Paratextuality, considers William Morris’s influence on the rise of paratextual awareness, his negotiation strategies for Victorian England’s social identity, and his rhetorical construction of an idealized past through textual artifacts. The effect of Morris’s growing social awareness on his transition from illumination to print is reframed by considering his calligraphy as paratextual experiments, based on medieval examples, in combining graphic and discursive meanings with rhetorical and social dimensions. The varied and less ambitious agendas of those printers who followed Morris’s Kelmscott Press, however, limited Morris’s legacy in the book arts. The full significance of his illuminations’ meaningful interplay between text and image, and the social intent of these innovations applications in print, has received little critical attention. The opening chapter frames Morris’s visual work in light of his philosophies and introduces the major concerns of material art, the role of history, the limits of language, and the question of meaningful labour. The second chapter surveys select predecessors of Morris’s developing conception of the Gothic, the significance of architecture as its defining form, and the irreplaceability of the physical past. The third chapter considers the role of the illuminated manuscript in Pre-Raphaelite art, tracing Morris’s calligraphic experiments chronologically while identifying medieval inspirations and examining his artistic development. These experiments led to his final collaborative manuscript, the illuminated Æneid which is the fourth chapter’s focus. The sophistication of its paratextual elements is discussed in light of its unique physicality and limitations. The fifth chapter asserts the Kelmscott Press’s role in balancing craftsmanship and aesthetic paratextual strategies with reproducible models. The Kelmscott Chaucer is the culmination of these strategies, and it is compared to the visual rhetoric of its predecessors. The final chapter compares the philosophies and calligraphic elements of major private presses that followed Kelmscott’s legacy. This evolution of aesthetic, social, and practical considerations is also identified in the work of selected Canadian printers, and a final note considers the implications of the rise of immaterial digital text (radiant textuality) for the continuation of material paratextuality’s role in the future.

Cette recherche a pour objectif de faire émerger l’essence d’Ophélie, au sein de la poésie et de la vie d’Emily Dickinson. Fondés sur une étude comparative d’Emily Dickinson et des représentations d’Ophélie, ces travaux mettent en exergue l’influence indéniable qu’a eue ce personnage dit ‘mineur’ sur la poésie et l’imaginaire du poète, ainsi que son rôle ‘majeur’ sur elle et sur son art. Jean-Luc Nancy explique qu’il existe un point où l’image non-figurative peut elle aussi exister. Il s’agit du point où image et texte fusionnent, où les frontières se brouillent : On parle alors d’un sens à l’essence. Il s’exprime ici dans la force qu’a Emily Dickinson de faire apparaître Ophélie, mais sans jamais l’actualiser entièrement. Cette capacité est propre au poète, comme le définit Emerson. C’est aussi la multiplicité qu’offre Shakespeare au personnage d’Ophélie, cette même symbolique ophélienne, créée grâce aux multiples superpositions de calques qui se retrouvent à travers ses différentes représentations et les exploitations diverses de son iconographie. En se fondant fidèlement sur la doctrine originaire d’Horace « Ut Pictura Poesis erit », Ophélie prend vie dans la poésie d’Emily Dickinson. Cette doctrine rapporte les arts du langage à ceux de l’image, et souligne qu’une poésie muette (la peinture) est comme une peinture parlante (art poétique). Le poète enrichit ainsi le statut de peintre en élargissant sa palette de définition. L’importance d’Ophélie, dans la structure artistique d’Emily Dickinson, est mise en évidence, telle une armature silencieuse à sa composition poétique. C’est pourquoi on ne peut parler d’imitation mais d’influence, qui se fonde sur le concept de Différenciation, de lignes de fuite, de cartographie et enfin de Devenir-mineur vers la création de l’unique. C’est en effet par la soustraction et non l’addition que se crée l’individualité, telle la définition même du rhizome donnée par Gilles Deleuze. Une sorte de beau et une certaine souveraineté de la vérité peuvent alors s’en dégager comme le définit Keats, ce qui évoque la quête centrale de circonférence du poète. Cette thèse s’appuie sur les points cardinaux qui permettent de suivre Emily Dickinson le long de son parcours circonférentiel de vie et sa quête de son Nord-Ophélien. Selon les définitions de la notion de Concept chez Hume, Hegel et Deleuze, la mise en lumière du Concept Ophélien chez Dickinson sera possible. Pour cela, le poète répond à quatre critères : avoir une base de mimesis avec Ophélie – ce qui correspond à l’Est ; avoir la capacité d’en produire des créations ophéliennes – localisées au Sud ; aboutir à une innovation évolutive de son art – positionnée à l’Ouest ; et enfin, atteindre l’immortalité – située au Nord. Au final, cela permettra de définir chez Emily Dickinson le Devenir-Carte Ophélien et son exploitation du Concept Ophélien. / The Essence of Ophelia within the poetry and life of the poet is unveiled, based on a comparative study of Emily Dickinson and the diverse uses of Ophelia throughout time. This allows to put into evidence the undeniable influence of this so-called ‘minor’ character on Emily Dickinson’s imagination, and her ‘major’ role on the poet and her art. Jean-Luc Nancy explains that there is a point where text and image fuse, where their borders blur and it results in a creation of a non-figurative image – which thus relies solely on individuals’ senses. Ophelia’s symbolism has an abundant amount of layers which allows innumerable interpretations, embellished by The Poet (as defined by Emerson). By leaning faithfully on Horace’s doctrine “Ut Pictura Poesis erit”, Ophelia comes to life in the poetry of Dickinson. Horace’s goals was to place the art of language on the same level as visual arts, thus the idea that a mute poetry (painting) is such as a vocal painting (poetry). This doctrine modifies the status of image and widens the painter’s palette. Consequently, Ophelia will be such as a silent foundation to Emily Dickinson’s poetry, where there is no imitation but solely an artistic influence with the notion of Differentiation, lines of flight, mapping and becoming-Minor which leads to the creation of the unique. According to Keats, it can equivocate to a sovereign truth, central quest of Dickinson’s circumferential journey. This dissertation leans on cardinal points to follow Emily Dickinson along her circumferential journey and her quest of the Ophelian North. Based on the definition of Concept by Hume, Hegel and Deleuze, the Ophelian Concept of Emily Dickinson will be brought forward. In order for that to be possible, the poet will match four criteria: have a mimesis base with Ophelia – which is found in the East, be able to create from that – located in the South, then have it lead to an innovative artistic response – positioned in the West, and finally, that immortality be attained – established in the North. This will allow a definition of Emily Dickinson’s Ophelian Becoming-map and her use of the Ophelian Concept.

Le but de ce travail, consacré à la poésie de Christina Rossetti, est de s’éloigner du prisme interprétatif biographique qui est devenu la norme depuis sa mort en 1894. Cette étude, qui repose sur un examen des choix prosodiques et formels, montre que la voix poétique est avant tout une construction. Identifier le miroir à l’intérieur du texte dévoile des éléments essentiels pour comprendre la relation complexe qui se joue entre identité et altérité et qui, à maints égards, définit le style de Rossetti. L’étude des voix qui se font entendre dans son oeuvre poétique, qu’elles soient intertextuelles ou fictionnelles, révèle comment Rossetti parvient, par un usage unique de la répétition, à créer une voix harmonieuse et intemporelle à partir de la diversité et de la contradiction. Mais malgré une première impression de régularité, le principe répétitif est une source de redéfinition permanente qui nie la notion d’origine ou de version définitive. La re-présentation, la différance, et les réécritures incessantes offrent au lecteur un texte qui lui échappe sans cesse. Ce refus de la finitude pointe vers une autre ambition, celle d’atteindre un au-delà non plus religieux — nombre de ses poèmes expriment le désir de ne faire qu’un avec le divin — mais poétique : à travers la relation intime entre Dieu, le poète, et le texte ; par la manipulation de la forme, que le traitement du sonnet illustre ; et enfin grâce à un usage renouvelé des mots. Anglaise aux origines italiennes, Rossetti introduit au sein de la voix poétique un bilinguisme source d’interactions qui aboutissent à une langue hybride et à un rapport aux mots débarrassé de tout automatisme pour acquérir une expressivité nouvelle. / The purpose of this work, which is dedicated to Christina Rossetti’s poetry, is to step away from the biographical bias which has been the norm in the criticism about Christina Rossetti since her death in 1894. This study, based on the close analysis of the prosodic and formal choices, shows that the poetical voice is above all a construction. Finding the mirror within the text reveals important elements to understand the complex relationship between identity and alterity which, in many ways, defines Rossetti’s style. The examination of the voices that can be heard within her poems, may they be intertextual or fictional, shows how Rossetti manages to create a harmonious and timeless voice out of what strikes as diverse and contradictory. However, despite its apparent regularity, the work, through repetition, undergoes a constant self-redefinition negating the notion of origin or definite version: re-presentation, différance, and perpetual re-writing give the reader a text that keeps eluding him/her. This refusal of finitude hints at another ambition, that of reaching a “beyondˮ which is no longer religious — many of her poems express a wish to make one with the divine — but poetical: through an intimate relationship between God, the poet and the text; through the manipulation of the form, which Rossetti’s treatment of the sonnet examplifies; and finally through the poet’s renewed use of words. As an English poet with Italian origins, Rossetti inserts her bilingualism within the poetical voice and thereby creates interactions that result in a hybrid language and a relationship to words freed from habit and automatic reflex to reach enhanced expressivity.

This thesis examines the figure of Medusa in the works of three Victorian women: the poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) and Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), and the artist Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919). For many in an era that sought to categorize women according to rigid social boundaries, Medusa embodied all that is suspicious, dangerous, and alluring about women. But in subtle and unexpected ways, these three women reimagined the Medusa archetype and used it to explore female experience and expression, as well as the challenges and complexities of female authorship. In their works, Medusa, like other hybrid personae such as the mermaid and the lamia, became a figure through which to explore liminal spaces and slippery categories. I argue that these women prefigured the twentieth-century feminist rehabilitation of Medusa. I also suggest that this proto-feminist transformation of the myth draws, directly and indirectly, from the tradition of Ovid, the first poet to suggest that Medusa’s monstrosity resulted from her victimhood and that her power is not merely destructive, but also creative. My analysis contends that, contrary to common understanding, women were revisioning Medusa’s meaning well before the twentieth century.