A change of scenery (many thanks to the keeper of Castle Logan) and the malaise of break prompted a slow and reflective meandering across a mere 8 stanzas to the end of canto vi. We saw Artegall work his way into Britomart’s heart “with fair entreatie and sweet blandishment” and feminine rhyme (brought her/wrought her). John notes the rhyme echoed those from the beginning of the canto—a feature rendered noticeable by its shorter length. MK brought us back to the book-defining question of friendship; are Britomart and Artegall friends? We discussed how the ambiguity of their relationship depends on gender confusion (with some looking ahead to Book 5’s gender transgression as punishment) and traced some dominant discourses around the problematic of friendship with the help of our resident classical receptionists. Friendship and its gender was an enduring concern in English politics; Will took us through the problem of the polis in English Republicanism and its manifestation in stanza 47, with reference to ‘fate’ and ‘misfortune’ as indexing a kind of natal slavery for women. This prompted a discussion of temporality and terminology: ‘Republicanism before the Republic’ served as a useful formulation to consider an idealized intellectual humanism, distinct from the enactment of these political values.
Some recommendations: Georg Simmel’s “The Adventurer”, from John, on the ideal number of people in an adventure; James Hankins’ Virtue Politics. Some threats: a splinter group on English Republicanism (or, more aptly riffed John, an “Oxymoron Club.”) On to canto 7! [CM]