I'm reading Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde right now and I absolutely love it. I've read a couple of English and French romances, but those were all about a lover and his married and therefore unreachable lady. Maybe I've misunderstood the Middle English text somewhere, but aren't Troilus and Criseyde both single? Why do they have to keep there love a secret then? Can't they just marry and love each other in all openness? I understand that these are the expectations of courtly love, but it feels a bit overly complicated to me.

Could anyone maybe shed some light on Chaucer's work? I would also be very interested in some general points about courtly love between unmarried people, does that happen in medieval literature?

Thank you!

With collectivized agriculture, frequent shortages of basic and luxury food items, and various attempts to "remake" aspects of Russian (and minority ethnic) culture, were there any traditional Russian dishes that were "lost?" New dishes that came into popularity? Significant changes to traditional recipes to accommodate general shortages?

I've often heard that between the Meiji era and WWII, Japan had expected to be treated as a major world power, yet was continually rejected by the West. How would this story sound from the perspective of Western leaders at the time? Would they agree that they were actively rejecting Japan? Was it unconscious racism? Or was Japan not using the expected channels?

With the eclipse coming up, it got me thinking. Have there ever been historical accounts and writings on such an event? What were the reactions? Was it shock and awe? Terrifying?

On the surface it seems hard to understand.

Would they have imported lots of timber for firewood? Or perhaps tried to harvest the seas for oil-bearing creatures?

title

From my understanding one of the current fears is that NK can strike Seoul with conventional weaponry and SK lost Seoul pretty fast in the 50s wouldn't it make sense to move it away from NK?

Edit: Spelling

Edit2: I just realized how I butchered the title holy shit

If you were living in the south during the American Civil War, could you choose whether or not to fight? Were these guys drafted or did they choose to fight for slavery?

As above.. would love to read a great book on "The Troubles" to gain a deeper understanding. Any recommendations?

[deleted]

I am a psychotherapist myself and am reading "How Emotions are Made", by Lisa Feldman Barrett.

This is a great book on how emotions are formed, but that's not really way I'm posting here. She writes that a smiling, which we associate with happiness was not how Romans would express happiness.

P. 51 she writes; "the historical fact record implies that Ancient Greeks and Romans did not smile spontaneously when they were happy. The world "smile" doesn't even exist in Latin or Ancient Greek. Smiling was an invention of the Middle Ages".

My question; what was the common, accepted way to express (in a physical way) happiness in Roman times. With "times" I'm interested in all answers, but if one wants a specific time period, during the time of Julius Caesar.

Thank you!

On the one hand, they obviously were very patriotic and pro america, and against foreign powers, but they most certainly would have agreed with the racial views of the Nazis. So did the Klan openly sympethize with the nazis?

Also, how come nazi imagery became associated with white supremacy. I can't remember where but I swear I saw a photo of someone holding a swastika placard at a civil rights rally in the 60's, which seems strange since many of the major white supremacists were proud World War Two veterans, such as George Wallace.

Sorry if this sounds dumb, i am not from USA so don't know about this extensively.

So the basic premise is that even after emancipation the slaves were disenfranchised and discriminated against. Didn't they want to start over again somewhere free from all that persecution , maybe like Jews who faced terrible pogroms and antisemitism in eastern Europe and went on to form Israel. Was it lack of financial resources or political organisation like that of Zionist ?

Also didn't the US government thought it would be wise to help them start over somewhere else.

I've heard for years that the rice planters of the antebellum South in South Carolina and Georgia were among the wealthiest people of their time. Who were they selling their rice to in order to get so rich?

Pardon me if this has been asked before here (pretty new to this site) but, were the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan absolutely, 100% necessary? Could there have been another way to end the war quickly or whatever the reason was?

Thanks in advance.

I once read in a curiosity magazine that many people with the surname Hitler, both Germans and German diaspora, largely vanished from records after the end of World War II. As I can't recall what the magazine said about them, I'm guessing that those people changed their surname to disassociate themselves from Adolf Hitler. That said, why exactly did people with the surname Hitler started to vanish from the records about that time?