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The void of meaning : the sky in early seventeenth century English pamphlets

University of British Columbia

Tempests, lighting and thunder churn up visions of murderous black dogs, daggers of fire, armies clashing and flocks of dragons in early seventeenth century English pamphlets. These visions take the form of woodcut images that whittle them away to the most straight forward effect, while the written accounts are often just as plain. Yet, it is in this seemingly crude and ephemeral form of the pamphlet that problems and issues rise to the surface, breaking up time and history. Within the pamphlet, the sky is a site of particular turmoil. This is the void that accommodates haunting tales of extra-terrestrial beasts as well as prodigious comets. It is the void which is filled with the possibility of the imagination as well as the anxieties of the undefined, and allows different forms of experiences to intermix. I will expose this site as being a particular aspect of the English pamphlet. This site has presented unusual problems and even current interest in print culture has not found ways to engage with this material, perhaps, because it forces a reconsideration of modern categories, structures of meaning, and familiar dichotomies. The challenge that is to be found occurs at a particular converging point where sky and ground meet, namely the reader. It is the position of the reader that is at stake within the dynamics of this site. It is the position of the reader that is made more complex and dangerous when one considers the pamphlet in relation to early seventeenth century applications of prophecy. This is a practice which brings into focus the boundaries around the sky and reveals hidden meanings. I will consider how the dynamics of the sky within the form of the pamphlet intervened in the social and political pre-Revolutionary period of England when diverse forms of authority and constructions of knowledge were drawn together in the pamphlet. Authorities found in reason, faith, superstition and magic were placed in potential dialogue and conflict regarding human experiences relating to the sky and what these meant in relation to a larger construction of a social political reality. The sky within the pamphlet can thus be considered as a frontier space of multiple contacts where something new is nurtured and threatens to emerge

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-03-16

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/6078

Fine Arts

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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