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Parentheses and Privacy in Philip Sidney’s Arcadia

Parentheses and Privacy in Philip Sidney’s Arcadia by Jonathan P. Lamb hefollowingexcerptfromthefirsteditionofPhilipSidney'sArcadia typifies the book's pages.1 The numbers heading each paragraph--hereanumeral8--correspondtochaptersummariesconvenientlyprovidedeveryfewpages.Here,aselsewhere,thetaleitself isthrilling:thissectioncomesfromtheepisodeinwhichPrinceMusidorusgiveshislifeasransomtofreehisfriend,PrincePyrocles,andthe latterreturnsthefavorbyspringingMusidorusfromtheexecutioner's scaffold.Andevenacursoryglanceoverthepagerevealsthenumber ofparenthesismarks,unusuallyfrequentbycomparisontoothercontemporary texts (see Figure 1). These curved marks appear on every page.KnownsinceErasmusaslunulae(Latinfor"littlemoons"),they distinguishtextwithoutwhollyseparatingit.Modernreadersmayskip overthemasunnecessary,whileevenreadersfamiliarwithsixteenth- centuryprose--includingthosewhoreadtheArcadiainrecenteditions thateditoutmanylunulae--mayfindthemdistracting,abothersome remnantofanearlierage. Butiftheparenthesismarksandthetexttheycontainwereremoved, the passage would appear and read very differently. The voice that speaksattwodistinguishablelevels,onemoreprivatethantheother, would then speak at a single level to an undifferentiated public. We wouldnolongerheartherhetoricalquestionaffirmingPyrocles'swit andcourage("whatwouldtheynotbringtopasse?"),justaswewould nolongerunderstandpreciselywhyhemustactalone("hecouldget ...noforces").Wewouldalsolosetheprivilegedinsightintohisstate of mind, his "little hop[e]" for something better than death. The con1PhilipSidney,The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia(London,1590).Citationsaretothis editionandwillappearinthetext.ImagesaretakenfromtheEarlyEnglishBooksOnline (EEBO)database,copiedinturnfromtheHuntingtonLibrary'scopy. 310 ©2010TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Jonathan P. Lamb Figure1. "TheCountesseofPembroke'sArcadia," by Philip Sidney, fol. 136v. Huntington Library. trastbetweentheprince'sgreat"expectation"and"bloud"andhislow position as assistant executioner would get lost, as would the nobleman'signorantsorrow,whichtheparenthesispassesdirectlytous,the readers.Altogether,wewouldlosethestructureofintimateexchange between ourselves and the narrative voice, a structure for which the parenthesescreateatextualspaceandthattheyeffectivelyconstitute. That structure, along with the marks that create it, belongs inextricably to Sidney's book, and in fact defines it. This essay argues that the parentheses are essential not just to the passage above but to the whole rhetorical framework of the Arcadia. While some editors and scholarshavenoticedtheparenthesesbutignoredtheirpossiblemeanings, others have analyzed the Arcadia in terms of privacy, intimacy, andsubjectivitywithoutdiscerningthetextualandrhetoricalmarkers Parentheses and Privacy in Sidney's Arcadia thatbearonthoseveryissues.ByattendingtothewayparenthesesliterallydefinetwodistinctmodesofdiscourseintheArcadia,wecansee howtheyestablishforthereaderaprivatebutstillvisiblespaceoutside(andatthesametime,inside)thenormativeandpublicnarrative textandhowtheythusarticulateadistinctwayofthinkingaboutone's relationshiptothelargerworld.Althoughtheusual"privatevs.public" division might lead us to consider anything denoted "private" as http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in Philology University of North Carolina Press

Parentheses and Privacy in Philip Sidney’s Arcadia

Lamb, Jonathan
Studies in Philology , Volume 107 (3) – Jul 9, 2010
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Abstract

by Jonathan P. Lamb hefollowingexcerptfromthefirsteditionofPhilipSidney'sArcadia typifies the book's pages.1 The numbers heading each paragraph--hereanumeral8--correspondtochaptersummariesconvenientlyprovidedeveryfewpages.Here,aselsewhere,thetaleitself isthrilling:thissectioncomesfromtheepisodeinwhichPrinceMusidorusgiveshislifeasransomtofreehisfriend,PrincePyrocles,andthe latterreturnsthefavorbyspringingMusidorusfromtheexecutioner's scaffold.Andevenacursoryglanceoverthepagerevealsthenumber ofparenthesismarks,unusuallyfrequentbycomparisontoothercontemporary texts (see Figure 1). These curved marks appear on every page.KnownsinceErasmusaslunulae(Latinfor"littlemoons"),they distinguishtextwithoutwhollyseparatingit.Modernreadersmayskip overthemasunnecessary,whileevenreadersfamiliarwithsixteenth- centuryprose--includingthosewhoreadtheArcadiainrecenteditions thateditoutmanylunulae--mayfindthemdistracting,abothersome remnantofanearlierage. Butiftheparenthesismarksandthetexttheycontainwereremoved, the passage would appear and read very differently. The voice that speaksattwodistinguishablelevels,onemoreprivatethantheother, would then speak at a single level to an undifferentiated public. We wouldnolongerheartherhetoricalquestionaffirmingPyrocles'swit andcourage("whatwouldtheynotbringtopasse?"),justaswewould nolongerunderstandpreciselywhyhemustactalone("hecouldget ...noforces").Wewouldalsolosetheprivilegedinsightintohisstate of mind, his "little hop[e]" for something better than death. The con1PhilipSidney,The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia(London,1590).Citationsaretothis editionandwillappearinthetext.ImagesaretakenfromtheEarlyEnglishBooksOnline (EEBO)database,copiedinturnfromtheHuntingtonLibrary'scopy. 310 ©2010TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Jonathan P. Lamb Figure1. "TheCountesseofPembroke'sArcadia," by Philip Sidney, fol. 136v. Huntington Library. trastbetweentheprince'sgreat"expectation"and"bloud"andhislow position as assistant executioner would get lost, as would the nobleman'signorantsorrow,whichtheparenthesispassesdirectlytous,the readers.Altogether,wewouldlosethestructureofintimateexchange between ourselves and the narrative voice, a structure for which the parenthesescreateatextualspaceandthattheyeffectivelyconstitute. That structure, along with the marks that create it, belongs inextricably to Sidney's book, and in fact defines it. This essay argues that the parentheses are essential not just to the passage above but to the whole rhetorical framework of the Arcadia. While some editors and scholarshavenoticedtheparenthesesbutignoredtheirpossiblemeanings, others have analyzed the Arcadia in terms of privacy, intimacy, andsubjectivitywithoutdiscerningthetextualandrhetoricalmarkers Parentheses and Privacy in Sidney's Arcadia thatbearonthoseveryissues.ByattendingtothewayparenthesesliterallydefinetwodistinctmodesofdiscourseintheArcadia,wecansee howtheyestablishforthereaderaprivatebutstillvisiblespaceoutside(andatthesametime,inside)thenormativeandpublicnarrative textandhowtheythusarticulateadistinctwayofthinkingaboutone's relationshiptothelargerworld.Althoughtheusual"privatevs.public" division might lead us to consider anything denoted "private" as

Journal

Studies in Philology – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Jul 9, 2010

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