Review

Author(s): Monique O'Connell

Review by: Monique O'Connell
Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring, 2002), pp. 298-300
Published by: Sixteenth Century Journal
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4144314
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298 Sixteenth Century ournal XXXIII/1 (2002)

demona is so filled with turbulence that the marital bed becomes a location of rage and thus
rape. Little suggests that it is impossible to read, indeed to speak, outside such discourses of
race (and, secondarily, gender); in fact, there is no discourse that exists beyond the racialized
language through which we speak (and must write). Cultural understanding (more exactly,
misunderstanding), then, is fixed within the very structure of language, in its tone, its ca-
dences, and its structure.We see this discourse played out nowhere more clearly than in per-
formance. In the performing of Othello, which is the white actors' performance of
blackness, the creation of Othello as separate and black becomes a performing of whiteness
(the actor is what Othello is not-Othello is what the actor is not).As Othello is reduced to
a metaphor for black (thus, rapist) the white actor is granted the power to confirm his own
whiteness. He inevitably finds himself in dialogue with race and in dialogue about himself.
Black Cleopatra, on the other hand, is portrayed by a young white male actor who,
through his performance of Cleopatra, demonstrates his power to represent (thus define)
gender and race. But consider this: he undermines his own power through his appearance
in drag and blackface. Even more, because he is male and playing a person of color,
"Shakespeare's black boy Cleopatra...[makes] densely problematic England's assumption of
...cool control over cultural alterity" (174).
In schizophrenic, complicated and, indeed, "densely problematic" ways, the imperial
cause called for the sexual and physical death of women and the production of racial im-
ages that have become historically fixed. Even more, racist beliefs are, indeed, centered in
white womanhood, and the fear of her violation by the darker races; sexism, he says, is the
stage-prompt for racism. The story is told about blackness in the early modern period not
because it is true, but because it is the single most complete way to affirm whiteness and
maleness.
Throughout his book, Little talks about artistic renderings created as a complement to
productions and texts, images that confirm the place of white womanhood (virginal vic-
tims), white manhood (passive heros), and black men (rapists). In a very interesting conclu-
sion to this book, the author outlines his view of the descendants of this dangerous tradition
of cultural supremacy: Matthew Shepard (the white, gay male college student who was tied
to a fence and beaten to his death), James Bryd (the African American man tied to a truck
and dragged to his death by two white men), and O. J. Simpson (whose memorabilia were
purchased and publicly burned before a mob that had gathered at the Los Angeles County
Courthouse-the cheering mob frighteningly reminiscent of a lynching scenario).
In the end, Little argues convincingly that Shakespeare has been the most discerning
critic of early modern England's attention to issues of alterity, that he positioned himself
within his culture as both insider and outsider, so that his work might provide a discrimi-
nating read of England's cultural and racial investments.
Audrey Kerr...... ............... Southern Connecticut State University

The Absence of Grace: Sprezzatura and Suspicion in Two Renaissance Courtesy

Books. HarryBerger. Stanford:Stanford University Press, 2000. 267 pp. $18.95.
ISBN 0804739048.
In this work,BergerusesBaldassareCastiglione'sTheBookof the Courtier and Giovanni
della Casa'sGalateoas departurepoints for his discussionof self-representationand perfor-
mance anxiety in the court society of northern.Italyin the sixteenth century.The central
question Berger brings to these two well-known courtesybooks is whether they embrace
the valuesof the society they aredescribingor whether thereis a critiqueof society'svalues

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 Book Reviews 299

embedded in the text. Berger relies on a close reading of both texts to argue that both The
Book of the Courtierand Galateo actually function as criticisms of the court culture they de-
scribe. Berger's analysis begins with the common features of the two texts: both lay out the
requirements for a successful courtier, and in doing so, define the way in which performing
certain behaviors works to create the culture of self-representation in operation at the court
of a Renaissance prince. For Berger, the central idea in both texts is sprezzatura, or "the
courtier's ability to show that he has the [ability :] and, if called upon, is capable of
deceiving" (11). This concept encompasses both the need to perform as a perfect courtier,
learned in literature, music, and the arts, as well as the underlying performance anxieties
which arise from constant deceptions and misrepresentations of the self.
Berger ties the rise of the ideal courtier into the sociopolitical developments of the pe-
riod, including the rise of seignorial regimes and princely courts and the influx of successful
merchants and "new money," into elite social circles.The frequent wars, epidemics, and pres-
sure from newly wealthy classes, according to Berger, put a severe strain on the traditional
aristocratic regimes, which responded by placing more emphasis on behavioral standards.
The courtier described in Castiglione's and della Casa's texts is a person with grazia, or
grace. Both authors address the traditional debate on whether grace derives from noble
birth or from character, and Berger interprets the texts as presenting grace as a quality pos-
sessed by a lucky few, but that is able to be imitated and performed by those without natural
grace. The quality of this performance is what defines a successful courtier, but the fact that
everyone in a court is constantly performing also creates a persistent, underlying suspicion
of misrepresentation.
Berger's reading of the two texts is well integrated with the other scholarly literature
on the texts of the Renaissance. He uses an incident in Galateo in which the narrator criti-
cizes a visiting count for his noisy chewing as entry into discussion of Norbert Elias' famous
The Civilizing Process,but where Elias used Galateo as a source text for his history of the in-
crease of self-restraint and manners, Berger sees Galateo's descriptions of table manners as
masked critiques. For instance, Galateo begins a chapter by saying disgusting things should
never be mentioned and spends the rest of his time describing them, under the guise of
proscriptive warnings.
When discussing The Book of the Courtier, Berger takes as his central theme
Castiglione's representation of the play of sex roles and gender in the space of the princely
court. By analyzing the representations of male and female in the text, Berger concludes
that Castiglione's representation of male-female interaction in Urbino is "an effect of the
discourse, a response to its contradictions, a medium in which they can be embodied and
made perspicuous" (76). As in Galateo, Berger finds that the text of The Courtierdoes not
champion societal values but offers a veiled critique of them.
Berger closes his analysis with a discussion of the two narrators inscribed in the texts.
In both cases, Berger finds the narrator unreliable, a representation of the author which,
upon close reading, disintegrates into rhetorical depictions of memory and narration which
result in decisive ambiguities about which version of events is "real."The result of the narra-
tor's untrustworthy nature is that "the reader is encouraged-or at least entitled-to keep all
the possibilities in play" (177).
In this book, Berger offers a comprehensive analysis of the literary and sociopolitical val-
ues represented in two important texts which create the figure of the Renaissance courtier.
He is thoroughly familiar with the scholarly debates surrounding the texts, and he is able to
integrate others' analyses into his work without blurring the focus on his own interpretations.

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300 Sixteenth CenturyJournal XXXIII/1 (2002)

The book is based on extremely careful readings of the two texts, and Berger displays
his familiarity with the works while including enough citations to orient the reader.This
book will be most useful to students of reading and texts in the Renaissance, and it also of-
fers a valuable perspective on the literary production of court society in early modern Eu-
rope as a whole.
Monique O'Connell .......................Northwestern University

Das Grosse Zeughaus in Danzig. Baugeschichte,ArchitekturgeschichtlicheStel-

lung, RepriisentativeFunktion.ArnoldBartetzky. 2 vols.Stuttgart:FranzSteiner
Verlag, 2000.290 pp.+ 329 illus.n.p.ISBN3515075429.
Gdansk(orDanzig)reacheditshistorical peakduringtheperiodfromabout1585un-
til 1625whenit servedasthe leadingBalticseaport.With a populationof about50,000,it
was the largestcity in Polandandone of the biggestin CentralEurope.Eventhe great
plagueof 1602,whichkilledabouta thirdof theresidents (85-86),scarcelyslowedthe am-
bitiouspublicbuildingprogram thattransformed thefaceof thiscity.Themajorprojectsin-
cludedthe massivedefensivewallsringingthe town,the imposingHohesTor(1586-88)
andLanggasserTor (1612-14),the two cityhalls(Altstdidtisches Rathaus[1587-95]andthe
Rechtstidtisches Rathaus [rebuilt 1593-96, 1608-11]), and the elaborateArtushof(1616-
17) wherewealthycitizensmet.Perhapsthe mostarchitecturally distinctivebuildingis the
ZeughausorArsenal, whichis the subjectof ArnoldBartetzky's 1998dissertation (Freiburg
im Breisgau) andnow hisexcellentmonograph.
The Arsenalis a primeexampleof late Renaissanceor Manneristarchitecturein
NorthernEurope.LikemanyCentralEuropeantownsduringthe latesixteenthandearly
seventeenth centuries, Gdanskdecidedto erecta singlebuildingasa repository foritsarma-
ments.The structure is prominently locatedin the centerof the citynearthe westernwall.
Previously, weapons,armor,andothermaterialswerescatteredamonga dozenor more
sites.Now armssufficientto equip20,000men werehousedunderone roof.Measuring
thirty-nineby fifty-twometers,the Gdanskarmorywasquitelarge.Althoughhighlyutili-
tarianin design,the buildingis unusuallyimpressive Facinginto the heartof
artistically.
Gdansk, the Arsenal's three-story easternfacadevisually rivalssome of thefinestcontempo-
rarypalaces in its grandeur and the unity of its design.Highly ornamented scrolledgables
andflankingstaircase towersrichlyanimatethe surface. The simplerwesternfacade,which
faceson to the Kohlenmarkt by the westernfortifications, looksmorelike a rowof four
identicaltown houseslinkedby two largeportals.The rich architectural vocabulary and
sculptural decoration of the entire exterior reveal the influence of Netherlandish prints,
mostnotablythe designsof HansVredeman deVries.
Bartetzky providesan outstanding analysis of theArsenal, its chronology, its
its artists,
sources,its placewithinthebroaderhistoryof armoryarchitecture, anditsroleasa symbol
of civicmightandsovereignty. EventhoughGdansk's Arsenalis mentionedfrequentlyin
the literature, such
including English-language books asHenry-Russell Hitchcock's Nether-
landish ScrolledGables of the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries(NewYork, 1978), much
of the discussion is inaccurate andverysuperficial. Bartetzkychallenges manyof the stan-
dardassumptions aboutthe datingof thebuilding,the identitiesof itsartists, anditsstylistic
sources.Havingcarefullyreexaminedthe extantpaymentrecords,variousearlydescrip-
tions,andthe edificeitself,theauthorhasthescholarly weaponsnecessary forrewritingthe
Arsenal's history.For instance, the buildingis typicallydated 1600/02-1605 withthe termi-
nus providedby an inscriptionabovethe statueof Minerva on the eastfacade.Payment

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