Tara E. Pedersen. Mermaids and the Production of Knowledge in Early Modern England. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015. Pp. xi + 155. $104.95. Hybridity, monstrosity, and difference: these unstable early modern ontological categories are difficult to locate precisely or theorize vigorously. Tara E. Pedersen's Mermaids and the Production of Knowledge in Early Modern England, however, deftly mobilizes conceptions of sexuality and identity to argue for the cultural relevance of mermaids as objects of mystery and knowledge in the early modern English imagination. Pedersen begins with Sir Thomas Browne's discussion of the mermaid as a "picture" in his Pseudodoxia Epidemica and charts the circulation of its representation and conceit. Pedersen notes how it "becomes a way to 'think' or picture the body" (3). The introduction highlights several theoretical trends to which the work speaks, including feminism, queer studies, and animal studies. Pedersen's research deliberately intersects with these approaches but then moves beyond them to demonstrate how the mermaid asks us to reconsider the mechanics of seeing and acquiring knowledge on the early modern stage. In this inquiry, Pedersen also sketches some of the more resonant associations of the mermaid in early modern culture. Adorning religious and domestic environments, the mermaid traversed many iconographic landscapes and genres, including science, theology, and literary representations. In occupying a position of mystery, contradiction, and monstrosity, Pedersen shows, the mermaid is a touchstone for exploring a diversity of early modern connections and forms of understanding. Chapter 1, "Identifying Mermaids: Economies of Representation in Dekker and Middleton's The Roaring Girl" focuses on urban topographies and the figure of Moll, frequently identified as a mermaid, within economies of exchange and sexual energies. Such representations, however, are structured by the viewers' perspectives, shifting and altering the image of the woman--virgin or whore--that one encounters. Moll elicits such contradictory responses and serves as a source for the play's engagement with considerations of London as a sprawling urban locale and the body of a woman as both monstrous and dissembling. Drawing on strands of criticism that identify Moll as a subversive figure, Pedersen argues that the many representations of Moll--particularly as a mermaid--elucidate the many signifiers of identity and economics in Dekker and Middleton's drama. The mermaid was identified with the siren and often disparaged as a figure who seduces sailors to their doom through beauty and deception. Pedersen cites Queen Elizabeth's Armada portrait and Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI in her analysis of how the mermaid disrupts economies of exchange and production. Interestingly, Moll is not the only figure to be likened to a mermaid in The Roaring Girl. Sir Alexander, the worrying father, is also positioned as inimical to trade and changeable in categories of identity: in cheating or refusing to obey the tradition of open methods to exchange and instead acting secretively, Sir Alexander undermines the play's London market of marriageable bodies and goods. Like Sir Alex, Moll resists expected roles and the rules of commodity exchange. The following chapter, "'We shall discover our Selves': Practicing the Mermaid's Law in Margaret Cavendish's The Convent of Pleasure" pairs the Duchess's closet drama with representations of the mermaid in religious buildings in early modern Britain. Regarding the singular scene with the figure of Lady Happy as a sea nymph, Pedersen argues "the mermaid's role is pivotal because she functions as a critical metaphor for the pragmatic process of becoming (or self-construction) that we see Lady Happy undertaking throughout the play" (55). Pedersen begins with a discussion of early modern shifting understandings of empiricism and Cavendish's response to the role of women as producers of scientific knowledge in early modern England. …

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美人鱼与早期现代英格兰的知识生产 作者 Tara E. Pedersen

塔拉·E·佩德森。美人鱼和现代早期英国的知识生产。佛蒙特州伯灵顿：阿什盖特，2015 年。Pp。xi + 155。104.95 美元。混杂性、怪异性和差异性：这些不稳定的早期现代本体论类别很难精确定位或理论化。然而，Tara E. Pedersen 的美人鱼和早期现代英格兰的知识生产巧妙地调动了性和身份的概念，以论证美人鱼在早期现代英国想象中作为神秘和知识对象的文化相关性。Pedersen 以托马斯·布朗爵士在他的 Pseudodoxia Epidemica 中关于美人鱼作为“图片”的讨论开始，并描绘了它的表现和自负的传播方式。Pedersen 指出它如何“成为一种‘思考’或描绘身体的方式”（3）。引言强调了该作品所涉及的几个理论趋势，包括女权主义、酷儿研究和动物研究。Pedersen 的研究有意与这些方法交叉，但又超越了它们，以展示美人鱼如何要求我们重新考虑在早期现代阶段观看和获取知识的机制。在这项调查中，佩德森还勾勒出早期现代文化中美人鱼的一些更能引起共鸣的联想。美人鱼装饰宗教和家庭环境，穿越了许多图像景观和流派，包括科学、神学和文学表现。佩德森表示，美人鱼处于神秘、矛盾和怪物的位置，是探索早期现代联系和理解形式多样性的试金石。第1章， ” l 戏剧。美人鱼被认为是海妖，经常被贬低为一个通过美貌和欺骗引诱水手走向灭亡的人物。Pedersen 在分析美人鱼如何破坏交换和生产经济时，引用了伊丽莎白女王的无敌舰队肖像和莎士比亚的 3 亨利六世。有趣的是，摩尔并不是《咆哮的女孩》中唯一被比作美人鱼的人物。令人担忧的父亲亚历山大爵士也被定位为不利于交易和身份类别的可变性：在欺骗或拒绝遵守公开交换方式的传统和秘密行动方面，亚历山大爵士破坏了该剧的伦敦适婚身体市场和商品。像亚历克斯爵士一样，摩尔抵制预期的角色和商品交易规则。下一章，“' 将公爵夫人的壁橱戏剧与现代英国早期宗教建筑中的美人鱼形象相结合。佩德森认为，对于快乐女士作为海神的形象的奇异场景，“美人鱼的角色至关重要，因为她作为我们看到快乐女士在整个过程中所进行的成为（或自我构建）的实用过程的关键隐喻。播放”（55）。佩德森首先讨论了现代早期对经验主义的理解转变，以及卡文迪什对现代早期英国女性作为科学知识生产者的作用的回应。… 将公爵夫人的壁橱戏剧与现代英国早期宗教建筑中的美人鱼形象相结合。佩德森认为，对于快乐女士作为海神的形象的奇异场景，“美人鱼的角色至关重要，因为她作为我们看到快乐女士在整个过程中所进行的成为（或自我构建）的实用过程的关键隐喻。播放”（55）。佩德森首先讨论了现代早期对经验主义的理解转变，以及卡文迪什对现代早期英国女性作为科学知识生产者的作用的回应。…