lecture

what is Redcrosse?

  • a liturgy: a form of public worship

  • draws from religious, (Church of England Christian), political, (Liberal/left-leaning post-colonial), poetic, (Edmund Spenser’s The Faery Queene, The Book of Common Prayer), symbolic/environmental (Earth, Air, Water, Fire) sources

  • written n performed 2011

  • aim: to create an English solidarity, that would translate universally

4 propositions

1. meaning is not contained in objects - it is always constructed

  • no inherent meaning

tools of construction:

  • symbols

  • imagery

  • context

  • local, global, personal history

  • performance

  • intertextuality

  • experience

2. language has transformative power - when accompanied by practical application (ritual) and recognised by social bodies (empowered)

  • examples of ritual and performance:

    • remembrance day

      • poppy wreaths

    • flying of the flag

3. representation, accessibility, relatability - whose story is being told and how?

  • eg:

    • art of Saint George and the Dragon

  • important to critique representation

    • relies on subjective reaction

  • why is it important to feel represented?

4. Reading something relies on imagination » multiple interlocking perspectives and methods of reading and analysis

subject position:

  • literally where you are: reader, viewer, participant, leader?

  • the formal position: as an essay/text, repeating/performing, writer?

  • surface reading/contextual depth or examining the interrelations between the surface and the depth?

  • imagination: linked to sympathy, empathy, understanding

3 ways into Redcrosse

  • text as ritual and performance

  • the binaries set up within the text

  • the symbolic possibilities and limitations of the text

ritual

  • liturgy = meant to be performed, in a particular way

  • single speaker vs congregation

  • chance for participants to ask questions/investigate & express individuality?

  • does participation change anything?

binaries

  • experience and imagination

  • surface and depth

  • specific and abstract

symbols

Redcrosse & the 4 propositions

  1. meaning is not contained in objects » the meaning of Redcrosse is not fixed; depends upon interpretation

  2. language has transformative power » the ritual of the liturgy here is designed to transform individuals into a collective who are tasked with ‘questing’ for new ways of imagining ‘England’ and questioning how England is imagined today

  3. representation, accessibility, relatability » the language of the text is ‘universal’ and specifically Christian, reveals the wider contradictions of a National religion that is not representative

  4. reading something relies on imagination » imagery, metaphor and sensual engagement in the creation of a ‘God’ that is being addressed