The Germ, Issue #1: Thoughts Toward Nature in Poetry, Literature, and Art | ||
Hand and Soul
Although the Germ does not contain a declarative statement of the Pre-Raphaelites' creed, many critics have argued that "Hand and Soul" is Dante Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite manifesto. Even William Michael Rossetti believed his brother's short story contained the creed for the movement. In his introduction to the 1901 edition of the Germ, William Michael Rossetti wrote:
Though the form of this tale is that of romantic metaphor, its substance is a very serious manifesto of art dogma. It amounts to saying, the only satisfactory works of art are those which exhibit the very soul of the artist. To work for fame or self-display is a failure; but to paint that which your own perceptions and emotions urge you to paint promises to be a success for yourself, and hence a benefit to a mass of beholders. This was the core of the 'Pre-Raphaelite' creed; with the adjunct ... that the artist cannot attain adequate self-expression save through a stern study and realization of natural appearances. [Link to citation in appendix — as soon as we have it up?(p18-19)]
"Hand and Soul" not only offers its readers insight into the artistic intentions of Rossetti and the PRB, but as many critics have argued, the story is significant for research into many areas of study. "Hand and Soul" can be read as autobiography and self-prophecy, as an important turning-point in nineteenth century short fiction, and as a pre-cursor to Pater, Wilde, the Aesthetic movement and Decadence. D.M.R. Bentley has argued that the changes Rossetti made to the story for later publication provide "evidence... of Rossetti's youthful fascination with Catholicism and... of his later tendency to de-Catholicize the atmosphere of his early work" ("Rossetti's 'Hand and Soul.'" English Studies in Canada III, 4, Winter 1977,447). Changes made to later publications of the story have been noted to aid the reader in coming to his or her own conclusions in this matter.
"urbiciani""Rivolsimi in quel lato/ Lande venia
la voce./ E
parvemi una luce/Che lucea quanto stella:/La mia mente era
quella."
Bonaggiunta Urbiciani, (1250.)
The quote is from the third stanza of Urbiciani's Canzonetta, which
DGR translated in his The Early Italian
Poets. The translation is loose—the literal lines are 27-32, but
the meaning exceeds them.
Sore tempted to partake
Of dreams that seek thy sight:
Until, being greatly stirr'd,
I turn to where I heard (27)
That whisper of the night;
And there a breath of light
Shines like a silver star.
The same is mine own soul,
Which lures me to the goal
Of dreams that gaze afar.
This translation is taken from DGR, The Early Italian Poets. Ed. Sally Purcell. Los Angeles: U California P, 1981.
keen, grave
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
with
Changed to "a" in the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review
(1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel
Rossetti (1911)
edited by William Michael Rossetti.
crucifixes and
addolorate
Changed to "labours" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review
(1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel
Rossetti (1911)
edited by William Michael Rossetti.
Ciambue
Giovani Cimabue (1240?-1302) was a Florentine painter of
Da Vinci's
era. His most famous work, Madonna and Child with
Angels, and
others still in existence, is painted in a traditional
style, based on the
medieval art of the Byzantine Empire. His faces and figures
are formalized
and there is little realism in his work.
the voices which prepared his way in
the
wilderness
An allusion to John 1:23. "He said, I am the
voice of one crying
in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as
said the prophet
Esaias."
Chiaro di Messer Bello dell'
Erma
Dr. Aemmster
Chiaro, Dr. Aemmster, and many of the other seemingly
historical
figures in the story
are fictitious. As William Michael Rossetti explained in
his introduction
to the 1901 facsimile of The Germ: "All about Chiaro
dell' Erma
himself, Dresden and Dr. Aemmster, D'Agincourt, pictures at
the Pitti
Gallery, the author's visit to Florence in
1847, etc., are pure inventions or 'mystifications'; but so
realistically
put that they have in various instances been relied upon and
cited as
truths." (19)
Pfordresher describes "Chiaro" and other names in the story as a "quasi-allegorical . . . playing on Italian roots." He explains that "'Chiaro' means clear, bright, transparent (in reference to color), and serves as a punning allusion to the brightness and clarity of Pre-Raphaelite pictures. Erma comes from 'Ermies'/ Hermes Mercury, messenger from the gods, with a probable play on 'ermetico' —airtight, the artist sealed off from light" (115). According to Pfordresher, "Dr. Aemmster" also puns. "In German an 'Amme' is a wet nurse or (if one wishes to reach for an extreme meaning) an asexual orgasm" (115).
gallery
Changed to "Pitti gallery" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review 14 (1870) 692-702 and in The Collected Works
of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
as it were
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review (1870)
and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911) edited
by William Michael Rossetti.
Giunta Pisano
Another fictitious artist. Pfordresher notes the
etymological pun on
the name, "His teacher's name, Giunta, means an extra piece,
a surplus —
i.e. an expendable artist, and 'giunta' sounds like the verb
'guintare' —
to cheat or trick, characteristic of a bad teacher"
(115).
and shewn into the study of the famous artist
Changed to "soon stood among the works of the famous artist" in the reprint in both The Fortnightly Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
Bonaventura
Another fictitious artist. Pfordresher explains the pun,
saying
"Chiaro's rival Bonaventura is lucky, 'buono' — good and
'per avventura'
by chance or good fortune" (115).
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
[addition]
The reprint in both The Fortnightly Review (1870)
and
in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911) edited by
William Michael Rossetti added "And, being again within his
room, he wrote
up over the door the name of Bonaventura, that it might stop
him when he
would go out."
San Rocco
Changed to "San Petronio" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti. In
his
introduction to the 1901 edition of The Germ, William
Michael
Rossetti
claimed that this was the "only change of the least
importance introduced
into the reprint" (19).
During the offices, as he sat at work,
he could
hear the music of the organ and the long murmur that the
chanting left;
and if his window were open, sometimes, at those parts of
the mass where
there is silence through out the church,
his ear caught faintly the single voice of the priest.
Beside the matters of his
art and a very few books, almost
the only object to be noticed in Chiaro's room was a small
consecrated image
of St. Mary Virgin wrought out of silver,
before which stood always, in summer-time, a glass
containing a lily and a
rose.
This passage was omitted from the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti. and
the next
paragraph, beginning "It was here," was joined with this
paragraph.
Bentley and Rose have noted the similarity between
Rossetti's description
of Chiaro's room and the room he depicted in his 1849 study
for "The First
Anniversary of the Death of Beatrice." Both contain an
image of a female
saint, a rose, and books.
Chiaro
Changed to "he" in the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review
(1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel
Rossetti
(1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
paintings in fresco
Changed to "wall-paintings" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael
Rossetti.
fresco
Changed to "picture" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
girded up his loins
Probably an allusion to Job 38:3 "Gird up now thy loins
like a man; for
I will demand of thee, and answer thou me."
There was earth, indeed, upon the hem of
his
raiment; but this was of the heaven,
heavenly.
An allusion to I Corinthians 15:48. "As is the
earthy, such are
they also that are heavenly."
(now hardly in her ninth year, but whose
solemn
smile at meeting had already lighted on his soul like the
dove of the
Trinity)
An allusion to Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova, which
Dante Gabriel
Rossetti translated and published in his The Early
Italian Poets from
Ciulli d'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300) in the
Original Metres
together with Dante's Vita Nuova (1861).
and holy
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review (1870)
and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911)
edited by William Michael Rossetti.
with her virginal bosom, and her
unfathomable
eyes, and the thread of sunlight round her
brows
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review (1870)
and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911)
edited by William Michael Rossetti.
impress
Changed to "influence" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
in doing this, he did not choose for
his medium
the action and passion of human life, but cold symbolism and
abstract
impersonation.
Changed to "to this end, he multiplied abstractions, and
forgot the
beauty and passion of the world" in the reprint in both
The Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
[addition]
The reprint in both The Fortnightly Review (1870)
and
in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911) edited by
William Michael Rossetti added "wrought for the sake of the
life he saw in
the faces that he loved."
as they must certainly have
done
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review (1870)
and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911)
edited by William Michael Rossetti.
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
San Rocco
Changed to "San Petronio" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel
Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti. In
his
introduction to the 1901 edition of The Germ, William
Michael
Rossetti claimed that this was the "only change of the least
importance
introduced into the reprint" (19).
Gherghiotti
Pfordresher explains that "The Gherghiotti come from
'ghiotto' greedy,
gluttonous" (115)
Marotoli
The Marotoli, notes Pfordresher, die in the sea, the
"mare," for which
they are named (115).
frescoes
Changed to "pictures" in the reprint in both The
Fortnightly
Review (1870) and in The Collected Works of Dante
Gabriel Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael Rossetti.
so
Omitted from the reprint in both The Fortnightly
Review (1870)
and in The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1911)
edited by William Michael Rossetti.
For God is no morbid
exactor
Changed to "For with God is no lust of Godhead" in the
reprint in
The Fortnightly Review (1870)
Give thou to God no more than he
asketh of
thee; but to man also, that which is man's.
An allusion to Christ's reply to the Pharisees after they
had asked him
whether or not one should pay taxes. It appears in Matthew
22:15-22, Mark
12:13-17, and Luke 20:20-26. The verse from Matthew is
"Render
therefore
unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the
things that are
God's."
heats
Changed to "heat" in the reprint in The Collected
Works of Dante
Gabriel Rossetti (1911) edited by William Michael
Rossetti.
"roba"
mistica: 'st' Inglesi son
matti sul
misticismo: somiglia alle nebbie di la. Li fa pensare alla
patria, "E intenerisce
il core Lo di ch' han detto ai dolci amici adio."
"La notte, vuoi dire,"
"mystic stuff. These English are mad about
mysticism—it's like those
fogs they have over there. It makes them think of their
country: and melts
their heart in sighs
the day they have said farewell to their sweet friends."
[a third student replies] "The night, you mean." (The
translation of this
dialogue is from Welland, 203. Welland uses Laurence
Binyon's translation
of Dante's Purgatorio—the quotation is from the
opening lines of
Canto VIII).
"que dis-tu de ce genre-la?" "What do you think of this kind of painting?" (translation from Welland, 203).
"Je dis, mon cher, que c'est une specialite
dont je me
liche pas mal.
Je tiens que quand on ne comprend pas une chose, c'est
qu'elle ne signifie
rein."
"Me? I, my dear fellow, say that it's a specialty with
which I cannot
be bothered. I hold that when one can't understand a thing
it's therefore
of no importance." (translation from Welland, 203).
The Germ, Issue #1: Thoughts Toward Nature in Poetry, Literature, and Art | ||