Grief

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 205 of 263 · 20 per page

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  Yet even as a child she had sat at the piano and picked out little tunes of her own inventing. He had done his best; she had been taught to play by Miss Morrison of the next-door village, since music alone seemed able to tame her. And as Jamie had grown so her tunes had grown with her, gathering purpose and strength with her body. She would improvise for hours on the winter evenings, if Barbara would sit in their parlour and listen. He had always made Barbara welcome at the manse; they had been so inseparable, those two, since childhood — and now? He had frowned, remembering the gossip. Rather timidly he had spoken to Jamie. ‘ Listen, my dear, when you’re always together, the lads don’t get a chance to come courting, and Barbara’s grandmother wants the lass married. Let her walk with a lad on Sabbath afternoons — there’s that young MacGregor, he’s a fine, steady fellow, and they say he’s in love with the little lass. . . .’ Jamie had stared at him, scowling darkly. ‘ She doesn’t want to walk out with MacGregor! ’ 408 THE WELL OF LONELINESS The minister had shaken his head yet again. In the hands of his child he was utterly helpless. Then Jamie had gone to Inverness in order the better to study music, but every week-end she had spent at the manse, there had been no real break in her friendship with Barbara; indeed they had seemed more devoted than ever, no doubt because of these forced separations. Two years later the minister had suddenly died, leaving his little all to Jamie. She had had to turn out of the old, grey manse, and had taken a room in the village near Barbara. But antagonism, no longer restrained through respect for the gentle and child-like pastor, had made itself very acutely felt — hostile they had been, those good people, to Jamie. Barbara had wept. ‘ Jamie, let’s go away . . . they hate us. Let’s go where nobody knows us. I’m twenty-one now, I can go where I like, they can’t stop me. Take me away from them, Jamie! ’ Miserable, angry, and sorely bewildered, Jamie had put her arm round the girl. ‘ Where can I take you, you poor little crea- ture? You’re not strong, and I’m terribly poor, remember.’ But Barbara had continued to plead. ‘ PII work, PII scrub floors, I’ll do anything, Jamie, only let’s get away where nobody knows us!’ So Jamie had turned to her music master in Inverness, and had begged him to help her. What could she do to earn her liv- ing? And because this man believed in her talent, he had helped her with advice and a small loan of money, urging her to go to Paris and study to complete her training in composition.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  And the young man who kept watch looked up, and behold, many people were coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain. 35 And Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king’s sons are coming. It has turned out just as your servant said.” 36 And when he finished speaking, the king’s sons came, and they raised their voices and wept; and the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly. 37 But Absalom fled and went to [his mother’s father] Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David g mourned for his son every day. 38 So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there for three years. 39 And the heart of King David longed to go to Absalom; for he was comforted regarding Amnon, since he was dead. 2 Samuel 14 The Woman of Tekoa 1 N OW JOAB the son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart longed for Absalom. 2 So Joab sent word to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there and told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning clothes, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has for many days been in mourning for the dead. 3 “Then go to the king and speak to him in this way.” So Joab a told her what to say. 4 When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she bowed with her face to the ground and lay herself down, and said, “Help, O king.” 5 The king asked her, “b What is the matter?” She said, “Truly I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6 “Your maidservant had two sons, but the two of them struggled and fought in the field. There was no one to separate them, so one struck the other and killed him.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  On the morrow, having meanwhile revolved in himself many and divers devices, he betook himself, after eating, as of his wont, to his daughter's chamber and sending for the lady, who as yet knew nothing of these things, shut himself up with her and proceeded, with tears in his eyes, to bespeak her thus: 'Ghismonda, meseemed I knew thy virtue and thine honesty, nor might it ever have occurred to my mind, though it were told me, had I not seen it with mine own eyes, that thou wouldst, even so much as in thought, have abandoned thyself to any man, except he were thy husband; wherefore in this scant remnant of life that my eld reserveth unto me, I shall still abide sorrowful, remembering me of this. Would God, an thou must needs stoop to such wantonness, thou hadst taken a man sortable to thy quality! But, amongst so many who frequent my court, thou hast chosen Guiscardo, a youth of the meanest condition, reared in our court, well nigh of charity, from a little child up to this day; wherefore thou hast put me in sore travail of mind, for that I know not what course to take with thee. With Guiscardo, whom I caused take yesternight, as he issued forth of the tunnel and have in ward, I am already resolved how to deal; but with thee God knoweth I know not what to do. On one side love draweth me, which I still borne thee more than father ever bore daughter, and on the other most just despite, conceived for thine exceeding folly; the one would have me pardon thee, the other would have me, against my nature, deal harshly by thee. But ere I come to a decision, I would fain hear what thou hast to say to this.' So saying, he bowed his head and wept sore as would a beaten child.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  30 “Thus says the LORD , ‘Write this man [Coniah] down as childless, A man who will not prosper (succeed) in his lifetime; For not one of his descendants will succeed In sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.’ ” Jeremiah 23 The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch 1 “W OE TO the shepherds (civil leaders, rulers) who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD . 2 Therefore thus says the LORD , the God of Israel, in regard to the shepherds who care for and feed My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; hear this, I am about to visit and attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” says the LORD . 3 “Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and bring them back to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 “I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” says the LORD . 5 “Behold (listen closely), the days are coming,” says the LORD , “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as King and act wisely And will do [those things that accomplish] justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called; ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’ [Matt 1:21–23 ; Rom 3:22 ] 7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD , “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but [they will say], ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them.’ Then they will live in their own land.” [Jer 16:14 , 15 ] False Prophets Denounced 9 Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, All my bones shake; I have become like a drunken man, A man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders]. 10 For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God); The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it]. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness; And their power is not right. 11 “For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted); Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD .

• From Understanding the Old Testament (2019)

  leCtUre 19 | hoW sCholars stUdy Psalms 119 Parallelism works in one of two ways. In synonymous parallelism, the same thought is echoed. For example, in Psalm 113:7, take this echoed thought: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.” On the other hand, one can express an opposing thought in the second line. This is called antithetic parallelism. Consider Psalm 126:5: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.” It’s metaphorical. Metaphor is a major part of what makes the psalms poetry. This isn’t about literal sowing and reaping. It’s about planning and enjoying the results. The psalm authors are very skilled at using parallelism to map out large patterns in a psalm. For instance, the first verse may not correspond to the second. Imagine that the first verse corresponds to the last verse, and the second verse corresponds to the penultimate verse. This is called a chiasm. In Psalm 22, verses 1 and 11, there are words that correspond to each other in some way. Both verses are pleas to God to not abandon the one praying. Verses 1 and 11 are in parallelism with each other. That means that the entire unit of verses 1 through 11 is designated by inclusion. There are other examples of inclusion throughout the book of Psalms. A Difficult Passage Understanding parallelism can also help with difficult passages. For instance, the final stanza of Psalm 137 is addressed to Babylon. It is in the context of the exile of Jews in Babylon after the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 586 BCE: “Blessed shall be he who takes your little children and dashes them against the rocks.” At first, it seems Israel is calling for the massacre of innocent children. However, the true reading lies in parallelism. The prior verse is this: “Blessed shall be he who repays you what you have done to us.” The phrase “your little children and dashes them against the rocks” stands in poetic parallelism with “repays you what you have unto us.” This isn’t about Babylonian babies and all. It’s about Israelite babies. It is about coming to terms with what happened in the conquest of Jerusalem in 586. This is a way Israel can say, “You massacred our infants,” without saying it directly. The point is not a wish against Babylon; the point is articulating the pain.

• From Understanding the Old Testament (2019)

  l e Ct Ure 20 | t he mU si C of the Psalms 127 A lament also has a format, though it’s more complex. There are seven parts. In a long psalm, parts might repeat. In a short psalm, a part might be left out. The parts are: 1. A general cry to God. 2. A stated problem. 3. A request or petition for help. 4. An avowal of innocence. 5. A profession of trust. 6. A promise to thank God. 7. Actual praise. The Purpose There is a reason for this format. The psalms are doing something psychologically. The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has said, “There is a close correspondence between the anatomy of the lament psalm and the anatomy of the soul.” In the lament format, the Israelite is praying a lament psalm. The lament actively embraces angst, grief, and anger, and then it moves on to trust and thanksgiving. It’s ancient Israelite therapy, so to speak. There are also ancient Near Eastern incantations that begin with an address of praise to a god using his standardized titles. These move to a petition, and finally move to a promise to praise and attract new devotees to that god. The psalms reflect raw emotions. The writers of the psalms were convinced that God wanted to hear all of those emotions. Suggested Reading Brueggemann, Spirituality of the Psalms . PROVERBS IN THE BIBLE: WISDOM LITERATURE LECTURE 21 This lecture is an introduction to the Old Testament genre of wisdom literature and to the book of Proverbs specifically. Imagery from Proverbs became repeatedly re-used in later religious traditions in fascinating ways. Hokhma Scholars translate a specific Hebrew term, Hokhma, as meaning “wisdom.” However, Hokhma has a fairly wide meaning. It can mean the kind of knowledge of cultural traditions that is found especially in non-literature cultures. This knowledge of cultural traditions includes etiquette, rules of jurisprudence, and practical skill. 21

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  Tuar night the weight against Stephen’s heart, with its icy cold- ness, melted; and it flowed out in such a torrent of grief that she could not stand up against that torrent, so that drowning though she was she found pen and paper, and she wrote to Angela Crossby. What a letter! All the pent-up passion of months, all the ter- rible, rending, destructive frustrations must burst from her heart: ‘ Love me, only love me the way I love you. Angela, for God’s sake, try to love me a little — don’t throw me away, because if you do I’m utterly finished. You know how I love you, with my soul and my body; if it’s wrong, grotesque, unholy — have pity. THE WELL OF LONELINESS 223 Pll be humble. Oh, my darling, I am humble now; I’m just a poor, heart-broken freak of a creature who loves you and needs you much more than its life, because life’s worse than death, ten times worse without you. I’m some awful mistake — God’s mis- take — I don’t know if there are any more like me, I pray not for their sakes, because it’s pure hell. But oh, my dear, whatever I am, I just love you and love you. I thought it was dead, but it wasn’t. It’s alive — so terribly alive to-night in my bedroom. . . .” And so it went on for page after page. But never a word about Roger Antrim and what she had seen that morning in the garden. Some fine instinct of utterly selfless protection towards this woman had managed to survive all the anguish and all the madness of that day. The letter was a ter- rible indictment against Stephen, a complete vindication of Angela Crossby. 5 ANGELA went to her husband’s study, and she stood before him utterly shaken, utterly appalled at what she would do, yet utterly and ruthlessly determined to do it from a primitive instinct of self-preservation. In her ears she could still hear that terrible laughter — that uncanny, hysterical, agonized laughter. Stephen was mad, and God only knew what she might do or say in a mo- ment of madness, and then — but she dared not look into the future. Cringing in spirit and trembling in body, she forgot the girl’s faithful and loyal devotion, her will to forgive, her desire te protect, so clearly set forth in that pitiful letter.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  13 They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted [as a sign of mourning and respect] for seven days. 1 Samuel 1 a 1:1 Lit mountains of . b 1:1 It is sometimes claimed that Samuel was from the tribe of Ephraim (rather than the tribe of Levi) and so was not eligible to serve as a priest. He was an Ephraimite only in the sense that his family lived in the tribal area of Ephraim. His genealogy is given in 1 Chr 6:22–28 . At least two other men in the passage are named Elkanah. Samuel’s father, Elkanah, is the man mentioned in 1 Chr 6:27 . The men mentioned in 1 Chr 6:23 , 24 , and 26 are several generations removed from Samuel. c 1:3 Lit from days to days. d 1:5 Lit closed her womb . e 1:6 Lit closed her womb . f 1:10 Lit bitter of soul . g 1:11 Lit shearing knife . This was a requirement of a Nazirite vow which would apply to Samuel all of his life (see Num 6:2 ff). h 1:13 This implies that the custom at that time was to pray aloud; the outcome (vv 19 , 20 ) shows that God hears prayer, whether it is spoken or silent. i 1:20 The name possibly means “The Name [i.e. Yahweh, LORD ] is God” or “His name is God,” but the etymology is uncertain. j 1:21 Lit sacrifice of days. k 1:22 At this time children were nursed until about age three. But it may be fair to say that Hannah also wanted to keep the boy as long as she reasonably could; giving up her only child—even for the best of purposes—must have been terribly difficult. l 1:24 These containers were made from almost the entire skin of an animal and were used for holding wine. 1 Samuel 2 a 2:4 Or filled with terror . b 2:10 This would first apply to Saul, whom Samuel would anoint as king of Israel (10:1 ), and then to David (16:13 ) and other earthly kings. Ultimately it can be applied to Christ, who will rule over Israel and the world. c 2:11 Lit in the presence of . d 2:12 Lit sons of Belial . e 2:14 In general, sons of Israel or Israel or Israelites refers to all the people (males and females) of the various tribes descended from the twelve sons (Gen 35:23–26 ) of Jacob (later renamed Israel by God). In verses concerning things such as warfare or circumcision sons of Israel or Israel or Israelites usually refers only to the males. Tribes of ancient people were identified by the name of their founding ancestor. Therefore, this same general rule applies when referring to individual tribal groups, e.g. sons of Reuben, Reuben, Reubenites and so throughout.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  Instead I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” False Prophets 13 But I said, “Alas, Lord GOD ! Behold, the [false] prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I [the LORD ] will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ” 14 Then the LORD said to me, “The [counterfeit] prophets are prophesying lies in My Name. I have neither sent them nor authorized them nor spoken to them. They are prophesying to you made-up visions [pretending to call forth responses from handmade gods], a worthless divination and the deceit of their own mind. 15 “Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the [false] prophets who are prophesying in My Name, although I did not send them—yet they keep saying, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’: by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end and be consumed. 16 “And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword; and they will have no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their [own] wickedness on them [and not only on the imposters posing as prophets, for the people could not have been deceived without their own consent]. 17 “Therefore [Jeremiah] you will say this word to them, ‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day, And let them never cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a great blow, With a very serious and severely infected wound. 18 ‘If I go out into the field, Then I gaze on those slaughtered with the sword! And if I enter the city, Then I gaze on [those tormented with] the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest [who should have guided the people] Go about [bewildered and exiled] in a land (Babylon) that they do not know or understand.’ ” 19 Have You [O LORD ] completely rejected Judah? Do You loathe Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace and completeness, but nothing good came; And [we hoped] for a time of healing, but behold, terror! 20 We know and acknowledge, O LORD , Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You. 21 Do not treat us with contempt and condemn us, for Your own name’s sake; Do not disgrace Your a glorious throne; Remember [with consideration] and do not break Your [solemn] covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who can send rain? Or can the heavens [of their own will] give showers? Is it not You, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait and hope [confidently] in You, For You are the one who has made all these things [the heavens and the rain].

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  27 The LORD said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, just as I have removed Israel; and will reject this city which I have chosen, this Jerusalem, and the house, of which I said, ‘My Name [and the pledge of My Presence] shall be there.’ ” Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah 28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Neco (Necho) king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates [to help him fight Nabopolassar the king of Babylon]. King Josiah went out to meet him, but Pharaoh killed Josiah at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 Josiah’s servants carried his dead body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in his father’s place. 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned for [only] three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 He did evil in the sight of the LORD , in accordance with everything that his forefathers had done. 33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, so that he would not reign in Jerusalem, and imposed a fine on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Jehoiakim Made King by Pharaoh 34 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, where he died. 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money as Pharaoh commanded. He collected the silver and gold from the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 He did evil in the sight of the LORD , in accordance with everything that his forefathers had done. 2 Kings 24 Babylon Controls Jehoiakim 1 I N HIS days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 The LORD sent marauding bands of Chaldeans, Arameans (Syrians), Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim. And He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke through His servants the prophets.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  The women would have comforted her and bidden her arise, not yet knowing her; but after they had bespoken her awhile in vain, they sought to lift her and finding her motionless, raised her up and knew her at once for Salvestra and for dead; whereupon all who were there, overcome with double pity, set up a yet greater clamour of lamentation. The news soon spread abroad among the men without the church and came presently to the ears of her husband, who was amongst them and who, without lending ear to consolation or comfort from any, wept a great while; after which he recounted to many of those who were there the story of that which had befallen that night between the dead youth and his wife; and so was the cause of each one's death made everywhere manifest, the which was grievous unto all. Then, taking up the dead girl and decking her, as they use to deck the dead, they laid her beside Girolamo on the same bier and there long bewept her; after which the twain were buried in one same tomb, and so these, whom love had not availed to conjoin on life, death conjoined with an inseparable union." THE NINTH STORY [Day the Fourth] SIR GUILLAUME DE ROUSSILLON GIVETH HIS WIFE TO EAT THE HEART OF SIR GUILLAUME DE GUARDESTAING BY HIM SLAIN AND LOVED OF HER, WHICH SHE AFTER COMING TO KNOW, CASTETH HERSELF FROM A HIGH CASEMENT TO THE GROUND AND DYING, IS BURIED WITH HER LOVER Neifile having made an end of her story, which had awakened no little compassion in all the ladies her companions, the king, who purposed not to infringe Dioneo his privilege, there being none else to tell but they twain, began, "Gentle ladies, since you have such compassion upon ill-fortuned loves, it hath occurred to me to tell you a story whereof it will behove you have no less pity than of the last, for that those to whom that which I shall tell happened were persons of more account than those of whom it hath been spoken and yet more cruel was the mishap that befell them.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  When the day came and Girolamo was found dead before his own door, great was outcry, especially on the part of his mother, and the physicians having examined him and searched his body everywhere, but finding no wound nor bruise whatsoever on him, it was generally concluded that he had died of grief, as was indeed the case. Then was the body carried into a church and the sad mother, repairing thither with many other ladies, kinswomen and neighbours, began to weep without stint and make sore moan over him, according to our usance. What while the lamentation was at it highest, the good man, in whose house he had died, said to Salvestra, 'Harkye, put some mantlet or other on thy head and get thee to the church whither Girolamo hath been carried and mingle with the women and hearken to that which is discoursed of the matter; and I will do the like among the men, so we may hear if aught be said against us.' The thing pleased the girl, who was too late grown pitiful and would fain look upon him, dead, whom, living, she had not willed to pleasure with one poor kiss, and she went thither. A marvellous thing it is to think how uneath to search out are the ways of love! That heart, which Girolamo's fair fortune had not availed to open, his illhap opened and the old flames reviving all therein, whenas she saw the dead face it[254] melted of a sudden into such compassion that she pressed between the women, veiled as she was in the mantlet, and stayed not till she won to the body, and there, giving a terrible great shriek, she cast herself, face downward, on the dead youth, whom she bathed not with many tears, for that no sooner did she touch him than grief bereaved her of life, even as it had bereft him. [Footnote 254: _i.e._ her heart.]

• From Unbought and Unbossed: Transgressive Black Women, Sexuality, and Representation (2014)

  In calling attention to sexualized violence, in no way do I attempt to overshadow or undermine the transgressive behavior, sexual agency, or empowerment of these characters or, moreover, to suggest that transgressive behavior operates alternatively or as an intrinsic reactionary stance to sexual(ized) aggression or violence. Nor do I postulate that sexual vulnerability is a prerequisite or, for that matter, conduit for liberatory black female sexuality. Since transgressive behavior, sexual empowerment, and sexual vulnerability are not entirely discrete categories, I am interested in how they imbricate in a Hegelian sense. For, if "sexual violation" constitutes part of a "legacy of racialization," as literary and queer studies scholar Darieck Scott posits, how does (racialized) sexualized violence interface with transgressive behavior-or, in what ways, if any, does transgression in these post-civil rights literary productions operate?5 To what extent does black women's transgressive behavior, whether expressed as recalcitrance, sexual excess, or subversion of established norms, serve as a medium by which to broach and transgress a complex, albeit at times fractured, past and to navigate-as autonomous subjects-the temporal moment? And, read collectively, how do Morrison, Shockley, Walker, Jones, and Naylor, as literary and sociocultural activists, shift paradigms of black womanhood and female sexuality; and, how do they attend to the concrete issues governing black women of the post-civil rights era and beyond without essentializing the totality of black women's experiences? Unbought and Unbossed begins its analysis with post-civil rights novels of the twentieth century (while offering critical comparative analysis of other literary, sociocultural, and historical moments) to establish a nexus in which literary texts, movement ideologies, and the politics of identity and representation intersect to provide a broad interdisciplinary discursive framework for analyzing these complex dynamics. At its very core, this book is grounded in critical race studies, black feminist theory, and representations of black womanhood. As such, it is in dialogue with a multidisciplinary cadre of pioneering black feminist scholars, particularly Darlene Clark Hine, Patricia Hill Collins, Paula Giddings, bell hooks, Deborah McDowell, and Mary Helen Washington, who have produced landmark work in these intellectual arenas. In its conceptual orientation and grounding in interdisciplinary literary and cultural studies, this book is in concert with scholars who have advanced scholarship on constructions of black womanhood, race, and their intersectional affinities with political desire and/or nationalism: most notably, Hazel Carby, Claudia Tate, Ann duCille, and Madhu Dubey-and, more recently, Candice Jenkins and Lisa Thompson.'

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  7 For he left to Jehoahaz [king of Israel] an army of no more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Aram (Ben-hadad) had destroyed them and made them like dust to be trampled. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, everything that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9 Jehoahaz slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him in Samaria; Joash his son became king in his place. 10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, b Jehoash (Joash) the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. 11 He did evil in the sight of the LORD ; he did not turn away from all the [idolatrous] sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; but he walked in them. 12 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, everything that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 Joash slept with his fathers [in death], and Jeroboam [II] sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Death of Elisha 14 Now Elisha had become sick with the illness by which he would die. And Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” [2 Kin 2:12 ] 15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17 And he said, “Open the window to the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And Elisha said, “The LORD ’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram (Syria); for you will strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have destroyed them.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. 19 So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.” 20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now marauding bands of Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. 21 And it happened that as a man was being buried [on an open bier], they saw a marauding band [coming]; and they threw the man into Elisha’s grave.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  The gentle lady, thus grown a wild creature, abiding on this wise, it befell, after some months, that there came on like wise to the place whither she had aforetime been driven by stress of weather, a little vessel from Pisa and there abode some days. On broad this bark was a gentleman named Currado [of the family] of the Marquises of Malespina, who, with his wife, a lady of worth and piety, was on his return home from a pilgrimage to all the holy places that be in the kingdom of Apulia. To pass away the time, Currado set out one day, with his lady and certain of his servants and his dogs, to go about the island, and not far from Madam Beritola's place of harbourage, the dogs started the two kids, which were now grown pretty big, as they went grazing. The latter, chased by the dogs, fled to no other place but into the cavern where was Madam Beritola, who, seeing this, started to her feet and catching up a staff, beat off the dogs. Currado and his wife, who came after them, seeing the lady, who was grown swart and lean and hairy, marvelled, and she yet more at them. But after Currado had, at her instance, called off his dogs, they prevailed with her, by dint of much entreaty, to tell them who she was and what she did there; whereupon she fully discovered to them her whole condition and all that had befallen her, together with her firm resolution [to abide alone in the island]. Currado, who had know Arrighetto Capece very well, hearing this, wept for pity, and did his utmost to divert her with words from so barbarous a purpose, offering to carry her back to her own house or to keep her with himself, holding her in such honour as his sister, until God should send her happier fortune. The lady not yielding to these proffers, Currado left his wife with her, bidding the latter cause bring thither to eat and clothe the lady, who was all in rags, with some of her own apparel, and charging her contrive, by whatsoever means, to bring her away with her. Accordingly, the gentle lady, being left with Madam Beritola, after condoling with her amain of her misfortunes, sent for raiment and victual and prevailed on her, with all the pains in the world, to don the one and eat the other.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Now began the long and bloody conflicts for the recovery of the lost province, in which several foreign powers took part. The question of the Valtellina (like the Eastern question in modern times) became a European question, and was involved in the Thirty Years’ War. Spain, in possession of Milan, wished to join hands with Austria across the Alpine passes of the Grisons; while France and Venice had a political motive to keep them closed. Austrian and Spanish troops conquered and occupied the Valtellina and the three leagues, expelled the Protestant preachers, and inflicted unspeakable misery upon the people. France, no less Catholic under the lead of Cardinal Richelieu, but jealous of the house of Habsburg, came to the support of the Protestants in the Grisons, as well as the Swedes in the north, and sent an army under the command of the noble Huguenot Duke Henri de Rohan, who defeated the Austrians and Spaniards, and conquered the Valtellina (1635). The Grisons with French aid recovered the Valtellina by the stipulation of Chiavenna, 1636, which guaranteed to the three leagues all the rights of sovereignty, but on condition of tolerating no other religion in that province but the Roman Catholic. Rohan, who had the best intentions for the Grisons, desired to save Protestant interests, but Catholic France would not agree. He died in 1638, and was buried at Geneva. The Valtellina continued to be governed by bailiffs till 1797. It is now a part of the kingdom of Italy, and enjoys the religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution of 1848.247 In this wild episode of the Thirty Years’ War, a Protestant preacher, Colonel Georg Jenatsch, plays a prominent figure as a romantic hero. He was born at Samaden in the Upper Engadin, 1590, studied for the Protestant ministry at Zürich, successively served the congregations at Scharans and at Berbenno in the Valtellina, and narrowly escaped the massacre at Sondrio by making his flight through dangerous mountain passes. He was an eloquent speaker, an ardent patriot, a shrewd politician, and a brave soldier, but ambitious, violent, unscrupulous, extravagant, and unprincipled. He took part in the cruel decision of the court of Thusis (1618), and killed Pompeius Planta with an axe (1621). He served as guide and counsellor of the Duke de Rohan, and by his knowledge, pluck, and energy, materially aided him in the defeat of Austria. Being disappointed in his ambition, he turned traitor to France, joined the Austrian party and the Roman Church (1635), but educated his children in the Protestant religion. He was murdered at a banquet in Coire (1639) by an unknown person in revenge for the murder of Pompeius Planta. He is buried in the Catholic church, near the bishop’s palace. A Capuchin monk delivered the funeral oration.248 § 40. The Congregation of Locarno.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  There’s no payoff to this story and I repeat it only because the snapshot of Lou, so lost and so remote, impeccable despite the chaos in his apartment, still speaks to me with the force of an event (my plots are all scrapbooks). That night as we lay in bed, Lou’s room lurched here and there as though the camera were hand-held by a skater. He told me how he’d played jazz trumpet when he was nineteen. “I fell in love with our vocalist, a Negro woman a few years older than me, and when she became pregnant, my parents paid her off to go away somewhere. So I’ve got a twelve-year-old son wandering around—” “You’re sure it’s a son?” Lou looked bewildered, then irritated. “I’m not sure of anything, but I dream of a boy the nights when I’m able to dream of anything.” I asked him what happened to him after that. “I’d become addicted to heroin and my parents put me in an expensive psychiatric hospital, the one where the movie stars go. My brother was already there.” “What a wild family!” I exclaimed, although my burst of enthusiasm made the whole room dip nauseatingly. I propped up on two pillows that had lost their cases and I prayed for solid ground. “Yes,” Lou said witheringly, “quite wild . My brother committed suicide soon after my arrival. He was living in a halfway house after five years of expert professional treatment.” A small black toad of a laugh hopped through his lips. “Oh, Lou,” I said, “I’m sorry,” and I wanted to touch him, but I was afraid his body would be cold. “But the wildness of my tale is just starting,” Lou insisted. He told me of a family reunion shortly before his brother’s suicide, when both boys had been on leave from the hospital and the whole family had celebrated by going to the Lyric Opera. They sat together in the family box, but during the second act they, the brothers, started fighting. Everyone including the parents was dead drunk, a knife flashed out of a pocket, Lou was spurting blood, his mother was shrieking above the soprano, ushers and then the police were coming through the door, the orchestra was breaking up and bleeping into silence, the audience was in an uproar, and the houselights came up. “That’s when I got this,” Lou said, pointing to his stomach scar. “Not from my brother. I lost so much blood I passed out, and when I woke up I was in Methodist Central.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  At last I escaped to the Meat Rack, that stretch of scrub pines and sassafras bushes that lay between the ocean and the bay. I was so sad about losing Sean that I felt my life was over. In the mirror, we’d looked into our reflections as though we were contemplating an allegory whose symbolism had been lost but that was still replete with meaning, a serenade on the grass that may speak of sacred and profane love or of the Platonic love of wisdom or of Meleager’s love of Atalanta—but love in any case, some strong form of love. In the dunes I felt sacralized by suffering. If as a child I’d known my whole long life was going to be so painful, I’d never have consented to go on leading it. At each step I had looked forward to more freedom. Paul had told me someday that I’d have too much freedom, and he was right. At least, I had too much free time. I had wanted to have fun with other gay men and to make my own money. Now I’d done that and I’d made my body beautiful, or so people told me; but I loved Sean and he wasn’t even part of my life anymore. My suffering had humbled me, and his had extracted something vital out of me. I worked out every evening at the gym, wishing I could start a conversation with another man, but I lacked the confidence or necessary hope. I snatched up every issue of the Post , which was running a series on love, on how to give it and receive it, and I read every word. Sean seemed like a sickness I’d contracted, a sickness such as malaria that you never get over and that gives you a spell of chills during the least expected moments. Because I had always doubted the authenticity of my feelings, I was shocked at the virulence of my love. Now I could only wander around the world, charismatic with suffering, handing myself over to whoever would have me, just as a Buddhist monk must eat whatever is placed in his begging bowl, even if it is meat, even poisoned meat (the very dish that had killed the Buddha). In the pines under the moon, listening to the surf—which was invisible, since it was on the other side of the dunes, crashing slowly and voluminously—I felt the shock of each wave in the ground under my moccasins and moved, a mendicant, eating whatever was given me. I ate all the men and didn’t mind or even really notice. I cried while I sucked one cock because it was bent to one side, just as Sean’s had been. I came back to the city and my sad serenity vanished. At night I’d be about to drift off to sleep when I’d sit straight up, gasping for air. The magazine I worked for published an editorial on homosexuality for no particular reason.

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  And yet the next day I didn’t phone him. And the day after I couldn’t, and the third day confirmed my silence, and I couldn’t understand why I’d betrayed Fred, betrayed myself. It seemed after all that I was just another gay man who lost interest after the deed of darkness. Maria called me from Chicago to tell me that Paul had killed himself—Paul, the painter I had so much admired when I was at Eton and who’d told me, “Someday you’ll have more freedom than you’ll want.” Maria had heard the story from Paul’s girlfriend, who’d found Maria’s phone number in Paul’s address book. Apparently Paul had moved to the Brooklyn suburb of Sheepshead Bay, where he’d rented the attic in someone’s old wooden house. He’d painted a bit but grown so despondent that he’d thrown himself off the Staten Island ferry. There was talk of organizing a memorial show of his work at the Eton museum. The friends I’d chosen seemed to be going crazy or dying or getting arrested or succumbing to drugs. The self-destruction all around me scared me. Maria cried over the phone. I knew she and I must take care of each other. Paul had once told me that art should be a consolation for life, not a reflection of its ugliness. Until now I’d seen my own writing as nothing but a polygraph test, but now the suffering I witnessed led me to reconsider my work. Since I was a Freudian, I told myself that wish fulfillment should join the repetition-compulsion as a motive for making art. According to Freud, people repeated the most painful events of their past in order to gain mastery over them—my fiction until now had seemed born out of just such an urge. But now the fresh colors of a wished-for world, a utopia in which kindness reigned, called to me. The puritan in me was afraid to falsify this vale of tears by rendering it as Happy Valley, but Lou had said truth must be sacrificed to beauty, which made Freudian sense if truth means repetition and beauty our fondest wishes in search of fulfillment. I hitchhiked the three hundred miles to Chicago and stayed with Maria. Again we set sail every night, flying the colors of art and love. Again we drank wine and played Manon Lescaut, an opera in which the jumbled text scarcely justifies the pell-mell duets and ecstatic high notes—a disparity that resembled our love, Maria’s and mine, so reticent though ardent. Half playfully, we flirted with the idea of marrying. “Would I have to change my name?” she said. “I’d change mine to yours.”

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  “I can’t bear this,” William said. “I thought I was getting a girlfriend, but I’ve come up with one of Sheila’s botches, just scrambled eggs for brains.” He threw a tweed jacket on over his striped button-down shirt and headed for the door, but Annie sank to the floor and wrapped her arms around his legs. “Don’t go,” she said in a normal hostessy voice, “I promise to be more amusing,” and she actually managed a beguilingly sociable smile, but then a high moan, an Algerian widow’s moan, started in the back of her throat and grew louder. William went white. He said, “You’ve spoiled everything,” kicked free of her, and headed out. Then we were all three out in the brilliant blue-and-white day, a day so surgically clean and sharp that even the clouds looked like cotton soaked in alcohol. It was the ten-minute break between classes. The walkways, bordered with snow-laden bushes, were jaunty with red scarves flowing into the wind like blood the instant it’s drawn up the pipette. William was walking briskly ahead, his baggy khakis luffing around his legs. He was talking to himself, chatting up the wind. I was embarrassed, wishing my cigarette smoke would condense and turn into new friends or at least conceal me from the ones I already had. I looked back, as did William, and there was Annie, still in her slip, but on her knees in the snow, her mouth an oblong of grief, her hands raised and hyperflexed. She was crawling on her knees in the snow. I had to take charge. She should be hospitalized, but it wasn’t my place to do that; yet I could get her indoors, warm her up, dress her, try to calm her. Suddenly I saw her as my sister, not the hard tyrannical sister I actually had, but another waif. William had vanished. He’d left his door open and Annie and I returned to his room. Hours later, long after sunset, O’Reilly arrived, his nose inflamed from the way he kept clawing at the infected spot with his mini-nails, for he’d chewed them down nearly to the quick. His white hair was flying. He was wearing sandals in the snow. Nevertheless, he had an expensive silk-lined cashmere overcoat on, the sort a broker wears, but underneath he wore his embroidered cossack shirt, and a rope for a belt. He embraced Annie, whom I’d wrapped in William’s plaid bathrobe. He crushed her against his chest. The two of them stood there rocking back and forth for a long time.