« Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne

Abstract : Although Donne’s works hardly ever allude to Early Modern games, they are far from being play-free. In them, however, play takes on a poetic guise. This article first examines the context in which Donne started to write, in the 1590s. It points out that together with his peers from the In...

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Main Author: Guillaume Fourcade
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut du Monde Anglophone 2021-05-01
Series:Etudes Epistémè
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/12385
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author Guillaume Fourcade
author_facet Guillaume Fourcade
author_sort Guillaume Fourcade
collection DOAJ
description Abstract : Although Donne’s works hardly ever allude to Early Modern games, they are far from being play-free. In them, however, play takes on a poetic guise. This article first examines the context in which Donne started to write, in the 1590s. It points out that together with his peers from the Inns of Court and “convivial societies” he contributed to the rise of a playful ex tempore poetry at a time when collections of paradoxical statements and pseudo-encomiums had become very popular. As theorised by American anthropologist Gregory Bateson, play always involves an implicit self-referential comment and it is deeply paradoxical for it always transforms and transfers the meaning of what it represents. Borrowing from Bateson’s work, this article analyses the paradoxes and, more particularly, the self-reflexive paradoxes in “The Paradox”, “The Triple Fool” and “Paradox VII” (“That a wise man is knowne by much Laughinge”) from Paradoxes and Problems (1633) as a form of play, that is to say, in the mechanical sense, as a space in which fluctuations occur. These figures indeed cause the constant and dizzying migration of meaning.
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spelling doaj-art-4abd89d1d3a64f8f94816c7d95258d952025-08-20T03:47:25ZengInstitut du Monde AnglophoneEtudes Epistémè1634-04502021-05-013910.4000/episteme.12385« Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez DonneGuillaume FourcadeAbstract : Although Donne’s works hardly ever allude to Early Modern games, they are far from being play-free. In them, however, play takes on a poetic guise. This article first examines the context in which Donne started to write, in the 1590s. It points out that together with his peers from the Inns of Court and “convivial societies” he contributed to the rise of a playful ex tempore poetry at a time when collections of paradoxical statements and pseudo-encomiums had become very popular. As theorised by American anthropologist Gregory Bateson, play always involves an implicit self-referential comment and it is deeply paradoxical for it always transforms and transfers the meaning of what it represents. Borrowing from Bateson’s work, this article analyses the paradoxes and, more particularly, the self-reflexive paradoxes in “The Paradox”, “The Triple Fool” and “Paradox VII” (“That a wise man is knowne by much Laughinge”) from Paradoxes and Problems (1633) as a form of play, that is to say, in the mechanical sense, as a space in which fluctuations occur. These figures indeed cause the constant and dizzying migration of meaning.https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/12385playJohn Donneparadoxesself-referentialityGregory Batesonfluctuation
spellingShingle Guillaume Fourcade
« Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne
Etudes Epistémè
play
John Donne
paradoxes
self-referentiality
Gregory Bateson
fluctuation
title « Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne
title_full « Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne
title_fullStr « Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne
title_full_unstemmed « Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne
title_short « Lo, here I lie » : les jeux du paradoxe chez Donne
title_sort lo here i lie les jeux du paradoxe chez donne
topic play
John Donne
paradoxes
self-referentiality
Gregory Bateson
fluctuation
url https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/12385
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