Browsing by Author "Huston, J. Dennis"
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Item A biography of Dr. Dennis Huston(Rice University) Huston, J. DennisProfessor Huston is the author of Shakespeare’s Comedies of Play and co-editor of a collection of Renaissance plays. His teaching has received national recognition: he was named the CASE 1989 Professor of the Year and has recorded video lectures on Shakespeare and detective fiction for The Teaching Company. He teaches courses in Shakespeare, performance, and Renaissance and modern drama.Item Battles, beasts, and banquets: pattern of imagery in Much Ado About Nothing(1981) Gammill, Karen Russell; Huston, J. Dennis; Skura, Meredith; Grob, AlanTo date, the three most important works on Shakespearean imagery are Caroline Spurgeon's Shakespeare's Imagery and What It Tells Us, Edward Armstrong's Shakespeare's Imagination, and translated from the German, Wolfgang Clemen's The Development of Shakespeare's Imagery. Surprisingly, though, only Clemen attempts to relate image-clusters to the theme of each play—and has nothing to say about Much Ado about Nothing. My thesis traces three patterns of imagery through the play and attempts to relate changes in the use of these three images to the development of the characters and the theme of the play. The image of battle pervades Much Ado on many levels, from the "skirmish of wit" between Beatrice and Benedick to the conflict over Hero's reputation and Beatrice's demand that Benedick "Kill Claudio." In Benedick and Claudio, Shakespeare gives us two variations of Miles Gloriosus; romantic and anti-romantic pride contrast in the two characters. Ultimately, Benedick's use of battle imagery confirms a change in his entire approach to life and love. His main concern is no longer to avoid humiliation, and Beatrice's "paper bullets of the brain" no longer deter him. The play finally comes full circle back to a comic use of battle imagery, with Benedick "dying" in Beatrice's lap by. the end of the play. Animal imagery serves to point up the changing patterns of predators within the play; characters are transformed from predators to prey very quickly. Also emphasized are the characters' efforts to bait or trap one another into love, anger, or deception. Animal imagery strengthens the undercurrent of sexuality between Beatrice and Benedick in particular, and ultimately highlights the changes these two characters undergo as Beatrice vows to "tame my wild heart" and Benedick shrugs off ridicule to assert that "the only reverent staff is one tipped with horn." I have divided banquet imagery into two separate chapters, one dealing with images of food and eating, the other dealing with images of song and dance; the movement of the two sets of images in the play is parallel. Much Ado begins with a homecoming feast and masque, and these traditional symbols of community are disrupted with the plottings of various attending characters. As the play then moves into darkness, images of eating become expressions of aggression, while the light songs of the early play become a dirge for Hero's "death." As do the other two images, the banquet metaphor comes full circle; Much Ado ends with a wedding feast and dance, and our awareness in this final scene of community is heightened by the changes that these three sets of images have undergone.Item Bernard of Clairvaux and the structure of love in Dante's Commedia(1984) Morris, Anne C.; Chance, Jane; Huston, J. Dennis; Nelson, DeborahSt. Bernard of Clairvaux is not only Dante's final guide in the Commedia. but the saint's mystical theology has also provided the poet with the means to that end of the beatific vision, the process of love. Bernard’s De Diligendo Deo explains that there are four degrees of love, ranging from the carnal to the ecstatic. These four levels correspond to major divisions in the Commedia and to the characters found in each. Primary, yet sometimes puzzling figures such as Francesca, Cato, Beatrice, and Mary can be understood within the terms of Bernard's concept of love. Furthermore, the traveler Dante himself assents to the Bernardian explanation of Christian love in Canto XXVI of the Paradiso, during the second part of St. John's examination on love. The entire Commedia climaxes in Dante's mystical vision, achieved with the guidance of the character of St. Bernard and fraught with characteristics of Bernard's thought, including his Marian devotion and his emphasis upon grace.Item Evian and Magdalenic representations in medieval and Elizabethan drama: The expression of contemporary antifeminism(1983) Englerth, Rachel; Doughtie, Edward; Chance, Jane; Huston, J. DennisItem Othello: Love and Chaos (final 5 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Othello: Love and Chaos (opening 10 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Parting words from legendary Rice professor Dennis Huston(Rice University, 2016-05-09) Huston, J. DennisItem Richard III: the Actor as Villain (final 5 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Richard III: the Actor as Villain (opening 10 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Romeo and Juliet: Explosive Contraries (final 5 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Romeo and Juliet: Explosive Contraries (opening 10 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Taming of the Shrew: the Actor as Hero (final 5 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Taming of the Shrew: the Actor as Hero (opening 10 minutes)(Rice University, 1992) Huston, J. Dennis; The Teaching CompanyItem Unconventional Education at Rice(Rice University, 2011-09-15) Huston, J. Dennis