Baroque, Venice, Theatre, Philosophy

266 Pages·2017·13.047 MB·English

by  Will Daddario (auth.)

Performance Philosophy
Series Editors
Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca
University of Surrey
Guildford, United Kingdom
Alice Lagaay
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Weimar, Germany
Will Daddario
Independent Scholar
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
PerformancePhilosophyisanemerginginterdisciplinaryfieldofthought,
creative practice and scholarship. The newly founded Performance
Philosophy book series comprises monographs and essay collections
addressing the relationship between performance and philosophy within
a broad range of philosophical traditions and performance practices,
including drama, theatre, performance arts, dance, art and music. It also
includesstudiesoftheperformativeaspectsoflifeand,indeed,philosophy
itself.Assuch,theseriesaddressesthephilosophyofperformanceaswellas
performance-as-philosophyandphilosophy-as-performance.
SeriesAdvisoryBoard:EmmanuelAlloa,AssistantProfessorinPhilosophy,
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland; Lydia Goehr, Professor of
Philosophy, Columbia University, USA; James R. Hamilton, Professor
ofPhilosophy,KansasStateUniversity,USA;BojanaKunst,Professorof
Choreography and Performance, Institute for Applied Theatre Studies,
Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany; Nikolaus Müller-Schöll,
Professor of Theatre Studies, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main,
Germany; Martin Puchner, Professor of Drama and of English and
Comparative Literature, Harvard University, USA; Alan Read, Professor
of Theatre, King’s College London, UK; Freddie Rokem, Professor
(Emeritus)ofTheatreArts,TelAvivUniversity,Israel
http://www.performancephilosophy.org/books/
More information aboutthisseries at
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WillDaddario
Baroque, Venice,
Theatre, Philosophy
WillDaddario
IndependentScholar
Asheville,NorthCarolina,USA
PerformancePhilosophy
ISBN978-3-319-49522-4 ISBN978-3-319-49523-1(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-49523-1
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017938277
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017
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I dedicatethisbook to Joanne,Finlay, Phalen,and thegardens we
cultivatetogether.
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Iam gratefulto theOfficeofInternationalProgramsatthe Universityof
Minnesota,whichfundedmyearlyresearchinVeniceonthistopicduring
my last two years as a graduate student. Likewise, the Graduate Research
Partnership Program provided funding that helped me to track down
secondary sources and to carve out time for in-depth analyses of those
sources. In Venice, I would like to thank the archivists at L’Archivio di
StatodiVenezia,LaBibliotecaNazionaleMarciana,andLaBibliotecadel
Museo Civico Correr for facilitating many truly baroque encounters with
thepast.WithouttheadviceofJohnMartinandDennisRomanosolicited
overemailinthespringof2009,Iprobablywouldnothavebeenableto
return to the collections in Venice after suffering humiliating defeats
during myfirst forays there.
Thanks are also due to the Jesuit and Jesuit-inspired pedagogues who
shaped my early education, including Mike Foy and Susan Renaud at
Assumption School in Seattle, Paul Peterhans and Father Dave Thomas
S.J., at Seattle Preparatory School, and Father Robert J. Spitzer S.J. at
Seattle University. Without them, I would not have learned the spirit of
critical inquirythat drives muchofthe historicalanalysis in thesepages.
Inadditiontothesourcematerialsandeducationalbackgroundneeded
to write this book, I have drawn upon the strength and wisdom of many
friendsandadvisers.Withoutthefollowingpeople,myworkwouldnotbe
as strong. Bruce Burningham, I greatly appreciate your insights on neo-
baroque studies, without which I would not have discovered the work of
Angela Ndalianis, and your suggestion to look more closely at the aes-
theticsandphilosophyoftheMiddleAges.RichardLeppert,thankyoufor
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
theencouragingfeedbackduringtheinitialdraftingstagesofthedisserta-
tion chapters. Margaret Werry, thank you for your incredible tenacity,
yourscholarlyassiduity,yourremindersaboutthenecessityofsoundand
creative research methodologies, and, most importantly, your warm
friendship in the last several years. LauraCull Ó Maoilearca,our partner-
shipssince2010havehelpedmetounderstandtheimportanceofperfor-
mance philosophy in today’s academic landscape and in life in general.
Indeed, what does it mean to think? Your work ethic and leadership are
admirableandIlookforwardtomanymoreyearsofworkingtogetherso
that we can come up with answers to that question. Freddie Rokem and
AliceLagaay,thankyouforyourguidanceonthebookproposalandyour
keen understanding of the “shape of the discipline” as it continues to
unfold. Freddie, in particular, thank you sincerely for having faith in my
work and for your kindness and friendship. Matthew Goulish and Lin
Hixson,yourcreativityemanatesfromChicagoandprovidesabeaconthat
I can see wherever I am. Thanks for your work and the inspiring new
directions in which you are taking it. And finally, Michal Kobialka, you
haveadvisedmeonthisprojectsinceitsinceptionandareverymuchpart
ofitsfinalfabric.Countlessbottlesofwineandchampagnehavefueledthe
late-night discussions about the life of the mind and the necessity of
pushing the boundaries of thought. I look forward to many more of
thoseconversations andto continuingour worktogether.
I offer the ultimate acknowledgement, for which no words seem ade-
quate, to my wife, Joanne Zerdy, and our two sons, Finlay Emilio and
PhalenSage.Thelightandthedarksidesoflifehaveenwrappedthefour
of us, and from within the folds, together, we manage to produce new
forms ofbeauty andfind newexpressions of strength.Ilove you all.
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
PartI BaroquePastoral
2 GardenThinking andBaroque Pastoral 21
3 PastoralAskew andAslant:Ruzzante’s
Historico-TheatricalConsciousness 51
4 Jesuit PastoralTheatre: The Caseof FatherPietro
LeondaValcamonica 79
PartII DisciplineandExcess
5 RuzzanteTakesPlace 111
6 TheEnscenement of Self andthe JesuitTeatro delMondo 159
7 BaroqueDiarchic Self 203
Bibliography 247
Index 257
ix
CHAPTER1
Introduction
This book begins neither by carving out a niche within baroque studies,
norbypresentingamanageablescopeofstudy,but,instead,byrevelingin
the excesses of baroque thinking that have illuminated the pages of so
many notable works. Sprouting from a footnote in the chapter “The
Inversion of What Can Be Thought” of The Writing of History, one
finds(ifonelooksforit)anenigmaticdefinitionofthebaroquecultivated
bytheJesuitpsychoanalystandhistoriographerMicheldeCerteau:“[The
Baroque:]aspectacleofmetamorphoseswhichceaselesslyhidewhatthey
show”(deCerteau145n33).Withinsomepagesdevotedtoseventeenth-
centuryChristianmysticism,thisdefinitionlimnstheparadoxicalnatureof
thebaroqueasanexpressionwhichhideswhatitshowsandcallstomind
thepainfulactofstaringattheSun.There,wheretheSunshinesbrightest,
a dark spot appears as if to cover one’s eyes from the power of the light.
Evenuponlookingaway,thedarkspotlingers,bothasaholeburnedinto
our vision andasanegative of the cosmicshine.
StaringattheworkofCervantes,literaryscholarandproponentofthe
neobaroque William Egginton sees a similar spectacle and asserts that,
“The Baroque is theatre, and the theatre is baroque” (Egginton 39).
Overcoming the tautology of that statement, he continues, in a thought
reminiscent of de Certeau, by explaining the purpose of such theatre,
which unfolds not organically but rather through a concerted strategy.
“ThemajorstrategyoftheBaroque[...]assumestheexistenceofaveilof
appearances, and then suggests the possibility of a space opening just
©TheAuthor(s)2017 1
W.Daddario,Baroque,Venice,Theatre,Philosophy,
PerformancePhilosophy,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-49523-1_1