Rocky Mountain E-Review
of Language and Literature
Spring 1998
Volume 52, Number 1
CONTENTS
Welcome to the Rocky Mountain E-Review
From the Editors
RMMLA Review Back Issues
RMMLA Editorial and Administrative Staff
Articles
The Vampiric and the Urban Space
in Dalton Trevisan's O vampiro de Curitiba
Andrew M. Gordus
Arizona State University
Dalton Trevisan, one of the preeminent short story writers of
contemporary Brazilian letters, demonstrates a preoccupation with
revealing the grotesque and horrific underside of modern urban
life. Through an analysis of his works this paper attempts to
demonstrate the vital link between the urban space and representations
of the vampire and the vampiric. Comparisons with nineteenth-century
literary representations of the vampire reveal a fear and pessimism
toward Brazil's emerging cities and towards the government's official
project of modernization. Brazil's growing metropolises rather
than curing its economic and social ills are shown to be replicating
its authoritarian and feudal past on multiple levels.
"To Save the Life of the Novel":
Sadomasochism and Representation in Wuthering Heights
Robin DeRosa
Tufts University
This essay explores the limits of representation, specifically
how the novel form impedes a certain kind of transcendence which
a narrative itself might endorse. Theory on the "death drive"
suggests that there is a shattered identity, a merged, masochistic
identity which offers the "subject" an escape from any
interpellating ideologies. Wuthering Heights engages with
these ideas, positing both a space outside of discourse and an
inevitable retreat back into the discursive realm of the novel
form. The essay explores the relationship between the "real"
and the "romantic," and how these two terms both suggest
a realm beyond the symbolic order which is inaccessible to authors
and readers alike.
Los acto-espacios y los espacios queer
con una aplicación a la obra Don Juan Tenorio
Francisco Manzo-Robledo
Washington State University
The existence and confrontation of two main forces, one external
(provided by society's pressures, religion and tradition) and
one internal (provided by one's will), are said to define the
limits within which each person acts: the act-space (acto-espacio).
When the individual's act-space does not conform with society's
expectations, a conflict occurs and a solution to the conflict
is necessary. Sometimes the proposed solution is outside the
society's imposed limitations, making necessary the creation of
a queer-space, a space where there is room for solution to transgression.
This notion, together with concepts from cultural and queer theory,
serve as a critical instrument in the analysis of literary works.
In this essay, Jose Zorrilla's Don Juan Tenorio serves
as an example of such application.
Forum
First Aid for Listeners:
Why Humanities Conferences Need to Change their Format
Bonnie Zare
University of Wyoming
Scientists don't do it. Many social scientists don't do it.
And we ourselves never do it in the classroom. Why then do we,
in the humanities, insist on reading our academic prose at conferences?
Generally speaking, we now espouse post-structuralist epistemology,
decenter the classroom, and discourage the "open-head-pour-in-information"
model of teaching. Is it not hypocritical to leave the classroom
and enter the professional conference only to barely be able to
look at our esteemed peers as we direct our exclusive copy of
prewritten speech at them? This article explains how and why
this method has come to be accepted. It outlines alternatives
that should better allow us to inspire our audience with the same
excitement we experienced when making the intellectual discoveries
we are describing.
Translation
"The Look-Alikes," by Eduardo Mendicutti
David William Foster
Media Reviews
Virtual Tribal Voices: Native American Literary Resources on the
Web
Reviewer: Anna Christiansen
El placer de la memoria
Reviewer: María Angélica Hernández
The Pleasure of Memory
Reviewer: María Angélica Hernández, trans. Ana María
Rodríguez-Vivaldi
Book Reviews
Sex Scandal, The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction, by
William A. Cohen
Is Heathcliff a Murderer? Puzzles in 19th-Century Fiction,
by John Sutherland
Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? More Puzzles in Classic Fiction,
by John Sutherland
Reviewer: Carol A. Martin
Women Healers & Physicians: Climbing a Long Hill, ed.
Lilian R. Furst
Reviewer: Ann Owens Weekes
Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English Literature from Chaucer
to the Restoration, by Stanton J. Linden
Reviewer: Elizabeth Holtze
The Conversational Circle: Rereading the English Novel, 1740-1775,
by Betty A. Schellenberg
Reviewer: John E. Loftis
Language and Gender in American Fiction: Howells, James, Wharton,
and Cather, by Elsa Nettels
Reviewer: Patricia VerStrat
Loving Arms: British Women Writing the Second World War, by Karen
Schneider
Reviewer: Lois A. Marchino
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