Aphoristic modernity : 1880 to the present

293 Pages·2020·2.878 MB·English

by  Kostas Boyiopoulos (editor), Michael Shallcross (editor)

Aphoristic Modernity
<<UUNN>>
Literary Modernism
Series Editor
Gernot Wimmer (University of Vienna, Austria)
Editorial Board
William Egginton (Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, usa)
Patrick Fortmann (University of Illinois, usa)
Roland Innerhofer (University of Vienna, Austria)
Cindy K. Renker (University of North Texas, usa)
Simonetta Sanna (Università degli Studi di Sassari, Italy)
Andrew J. Webber (Churchill College, University of Cambridge, uk)
volume 6
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/limo
<UN>
Aphoristic Modernity
1880 to the Present
Edited by
Kostas Boyiopoulos
Michael Shallcross
leiden | boston
<UN>
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2019026749
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 2405-9315
ISBN 978-90-04-40004-7 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-40006-1 (e-book)
Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi,
Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite
910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
<UN>
In loving memory of
Michael O’Neill
1953 – 2018
and
Don Walls
1929 – 2018
∵
<UN>

Contents
Acknowledgements  ix
List of Illustrations  x
Notes on Contributors  xi
Introduction. Like a Burr: Aphoristic Writing and Modernity  1
Kostas Boyiopoulos and Michael Shallcross
1 Aphoristic Gaps and Theories of the Image  21
Peter Robinson
2 ‘A Ruin Amidst Ruins’: Modernity, Literary Aphorisms, and Romantic
Fragments  37
Mark Sandy
3 Social Notes: Oscar Wilde, Francis Bacon, and the Medium of
Aphorism  53
Simon Reader
4 Brilliancy and Mimicry: Epigrammatic Wit in Oscar Wilde, Max
Beerbohm, and Ada Leverson  73
Kostas Boyiopoulos
5 We Moderns: Katherine Mansfield and Edwin Muir in the
New Age  94
Chris Mourant
6 ‘You must remain broken up’: Wyndham Lewis, Laughter, and the
Subjective Aphorism  113
Alan Munton
7 Knowing Nothing: Wilde and Beckett Deranging the Aphorism  133
Rebekah Scott
8 Aphoristic Interruption in Stevie Smith  158
Noreen Masud
<UN>
viii Contents
9 Stepping into the Same River Twice: Jorge Luis Borges’s Aphoristic Short
Stories  178
Baylee Brits
10 Aphorisms and Archipelagos: Relationality in Modernist Studies  190
Maebh Long
11 Epigrammatic Writing and Remix Culture: Memes and Mastery  206
Francesca Coppa
12 ‘I saw a sign that said “Drink Canada Dry”’: Alcoholic Epigrams, Modern
Marketing, and the Value of Moderation  224
Michael Shallcross
Bibliography  251
Index  272
<UN>
Acknowledgements
This essay collection emerged from a conference held at the University of
York in July 2015. We would like to thank all of our excellent speakers, many of
whom have contributed to this collection, and the Department of English and
Related Literature at the University of York for sponsoring the event. We also
wish to express grateful thanks to Masja Horn at Brill for her patience and faith
in the project, and to Thalien Colenbrander for her skill and professionalism in
guiding the book to production.
Many thanks to Oxford University Press for permission to republish a
slightly amended version of Simon Reader’s article, ‘Social Notes: Oscar Wilde,
Francis Bacon, and the Medium of Aphorism’, from the Journal of Victorian
Culture (18.4, 2013: 453–471). Thanks also to the William Andrews Clark Memo-
rial Library for granting permission to reproduce text and images from Wilde’s
manuscripts, and to the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa for permis-
sion to reproduce text from the manuscripts of Stevie Smith. Extracts taken
from Sweeney Agonistes, copyright The Estate of T.S. Eliot; ‘From the Greek’, ‘On
the Death of a German Philosopher’, ‘If I lie down’, ‘Childhood and Interrup-
tion’, ‘Thoughts about the Person from Porlock’, copyright The Estate of Stevie
Smith. Reproduced by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd and New Directions
Publishing Corp.
Finally, Kostas would like to thank Yoonjoung Choi for her love and unwa-
vering support. Michael would like to thank Tracy Knowles for her forbearance
through many evenings lost to the laptop, and Thomas Shallcross, who intro-
duced himself to the world just as the project was nearing completion, and
whose smile is more eloquent than the most finely wrought aphorism.
<UN>
Illustrations
3.1 The inside front cover of Wilde’s ‘Notebook on Philosophy’  65
3.2 The name ‘Bacon’ crossed out, from the Oxford Notebooks  68
11.1 The @oscarwilde Twitter account  212
11.2 The Gutenberg Parenthesis  214
11.3 ‘Bitch I might be’  216
11.4 Gucci Mane meme  218
11.5 Further variations on the ‘Bitch I might be’ meme  219
11.6 L.H.O.O.Q., Marcel Duchamp  220
12.1 Ernest Hemingway advertising Ballantine Ale  230
12.2 John Steinbeck advertising Ballantine Ale  231