Steve Mentz

THE BOOKFISH

THALASSOLOGY, SHAKESPEARE, AND SWIMMING

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The Way of a Ship

February 6, 2012 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was a copy of John Hattendorf’s new edition of Lawrence Wroth’s The Way of a Ship, first published in 1937.  It’s a wonderfully-written, smooth and generous outline of the history of navigation in the West.  Its old-fashioned and in spots probably out of date — but it’s a great introduction and review of material that’s close to my heart.  If I’d had it when I was putting Lost at Sea together, it might have saved me some time.

 But no matter what national preferences may have been between cross staff and astrolabe, English and Latins alike were agreed that the astrolabe was, to meet certain conditions, an essential part of the ship’s equipment.  In its use it was not necessary, except in hazy weather, to gaze directly upon the sun; it was held by its ring upon the thumb and its revolving arm was manipulated until a beam of the sun passed through the slits in the vanes at either end of the arm.  There remained but to read the figure on the scale, found in the outer edge of the instrument.  (39)

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Books, Lost at Sea

The Royal Sovereign at Home

September 20, 2010 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

Commissioned by Charles I in 1634, this ship was the terror of the Dutch wars, the first 100-gun ship in the Royal Navy, & the prototype for Lord Nelson’s Victory. The States-General of the Netherlands in 1652 offered 3000 guilders to any ship that could “ruin” the Sovereign.

After a good summer’s run at the Folger, she’s now come to rest on the CT shoreline, above my fireplace.  Looks nice.

Filed Under: Lost at Sea

A Different Salty Allegory: The Mariner’s Mirror

September 18, 2010 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

Last week we talked about the chaotic opening scene of The Tempest as a representation of the educational process.  I’ll suggest a different, and perhaps more palatable, image this week.  The Mariner’s Mirror was a Dutch atlas translated into English in the late Elizabethan period, in order to advance English navigation and cartography.  The Folger copy was hand-colored at some later date —

For some more information on the Mirror, you can look at the entry in the Lost at Sea website

Mariner’s Mirror Website

and also listen to my 90-second description of it on the Audio tour

Mariner’s Mirror

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, E. 110 Fall 2010, Lost at Sea, The Tempest

A Summertime photo

September 13, 2010 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

Thanks for this photo , taken outside the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, to Regina Corallo.  The show closed on Sept 4, 2010.

For other images, see www.folger.edu/lostatsea

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Lost at Sea

The Tempest & Grad School in English

September 7, 2010 by Steve Mentz 28 Comments

Here’s a cover image of The Tempest from a 1707 ed of Shakespeare’s Works that I used in the opening case of the Folger show last summer.  If you look at the terror on the faces of the mariners, the demonic glee of Ariel in the clouds, & the bemused unconcern of Prospero on shore (hard to see on the left hand side), it’s a pretty good image of grad school in English.

Please comment below  & read this image back for me: do you see a different allegory, of teaching or learning or something else?

(This’ll give me a chance to test the comments, & to approve each of you as a commentor for the blog going forward.)

Filed Under: E. 110 Fall 2010, Lost at Sea, New courses, The Tempest, Theater

Night Swims

September 5, 2010 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

Saturday 4 Sept 2010 was a big end-of-summer day on the local blue humanities front.  Turnings of the tide…

My son Ian & I swam in the Short Beach Days swimming races; Ian placed fourth as a nine year old in the 9-10 age range, & I placed third in the old guys 40+ category.  We both need to work on our starts.

Both kids, plus some neighbors, entered the Sand Sculpture contest in the “unassisted” division, which meant that I could not help sculpt & instead got a great mid-day swim out to Half-Tide rock in the middle of the bay.  Back in time to see them awarded “Most Original” for sculpting the “Short Beach Alien Invasion.”  Nice use of seaweed & other plant materials…

As part of the haul from the kids’ “Juice Stand” in the afternoon, Olivia received a US quarter stamped with “Northern Mariana Islands” — one of the most coveted in our collection.

We’ve found three now from the non-state territories: Grandpa Bill received Guam in change from a DC taxi-cab, Ryan the babysitter got Samoa for Ian in a Branford Dunkin Donuts, & now Olivia’s Marianas from the Short Beach juice drinkers.  Changes how you look at change.

Just after the 8:19 pm high tide, Olivia & I took a night swim — the moon hadn’t risen yet, a few bright stars behind fleecy clouds, warm water, and cold air.  The beach is lit by street lights, and they dim fast as you swim out. Swimming is always about putting your body in a place that it can’t fully understand, where you move slowly & can’t see well.  At night, in warm water, in the dark, swimming doubles itself — opaque and invisible and all around you. I love a night swim.

Also, “Lost at Sea” struck its sails in DC at 5:00 pm.  Into the dark night…

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Lost at Sea, Swimming

New York Times on “Lost at Sea”

August 19, 2010 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

New York Times, Th Aug 19, 2010, C1, C5

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Lost at Sea, Uncategorized

Down to the sea in discontent

August 5, 2010 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

An engaging, slightly rambling, response to Lost at Sea, piracy, and Shakespeare’s Ocean in (of all places) the Washington Times —

Down to the Sea in discontent

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Lost at Sea

Lost at Sea

June 8, 2010 by Steve Mentz 1 Comment

The show is up: www.folger.edu/lostatsea

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Lost at Sea, The Tempest

About Steve

Steve Mentz
Professor of English
St. John’s University
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