Okay, I've never done this polling thing before, so I have no idea if it'll work or not. But I thought it would be fun to try.
I want some feedback on what people would prefer to read next. We had talked about a new publication of Euripides, but we have readers all over the place. It may not be possible for them to get a particular edition. And I don't want the reading to present any financial hardship. (Okay, full disclosure -- my husband just got laid off and I think I'd better ease up on the book buying until things settle down in the financial department!)
So -- here are two plays that should be easy to get wherever you are, and are frequently anthologized, so you might even already have them in a collection. You might even try looking around on the Internet -- I was interested in Aristotle's Poetics once, and found a copy of it available free online.
Antigone is about a young woman whose brothers were caught on separate sides of a civil war. Both brothers died, but only the one who ended up being on the winning side got funerary rites and honors. The king, who is also Antigone's uncle, has decreed that the corpse of the losing-side brother must be left out to rot as an example and a warning. Antigone wants to bury him anyway, but her uncle has said that anyone caught trying to do so will be sentenced to death.
Medea is the wife of Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts). She saved his life and helped him win the golden fleece, married him and had two children. Now he's saying that he wants to marry another woman. She is a powerful woman -- a sorceress not to be messed with. She wants revenge. She won't kill her faithless husband; instead, she wants to torture him by destroying everything that means anything to him. Can she take this resolve to its horrifying, logical extreme?
Well, I'm enjoying The Oddyssey far more than I thought I would have. Thank you for spurring us on! Still, I haven't finished it. I'm wondering in Book 8, though I must confess I'm READING it, not studying it. So I've greatly appreciated the extra material you've provided, Queen Demon.
As for the new read, well, I'm greatly disturbed by news of late. So heavy, so violent. Are there any ancient writings that are, well, a bit lighter? More uplifting? I realize "Greek" and "tragedy" go hand in hand in literary circles, but perhaps there's something more?
If we can't avoid the murder and mayhem that is, despite all our efforts, human nature, then I supose these'll do. (Please forgive my thinking out loud.)
Clearly, I need that brownie recipe!
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Jen in Orcutt, Calif.
www.BestFamilyAdventures.com
First, thanks so much for all the feedback. I'm very new at this whole forum thing, so it's great to hear what you enjoy seeing here.
Your question about the choices of what we'll read next brings up such an excellent point that I can hardly stand it. I could write a whole essay. I probably will. But not here, because you're a nice person and I wouldn't do that to you.
On the one hand, I am a staunch detester of the idea, sadly prevalent in literary circles, that if it's not tragic, it's not "serious" literature. I have actually heard lit-crit types say that Jane Austen, while a terrific writer, simply isn't as much of a literary heavyweight as, say, George Eliot, because she wrote no tragedies.
I hate this so much that I can barely stay in my chair long enough to type it. I loathe the idea that humor, comedy, or even just not being so darned depressing is a lesser form of writing.
In writing closer to our own time -- the late eighteenth century and beyond -- there is the possibility of a subtle division between comedy and tragedy. For instance, is Austen's Persuasion a comedy just because, technically, it has a happy ending? It's the darkest and most somber of her books. In fact, in many ways it's also the most flawed of all her books. It never achieves the brilliance of Emma or P&P. And what about, oh, Dickens? David Copperfield and Oliver Twist -- comic or tragic?
But in the ancient times, the line between comedy and tragedy was drawn with a big fat Sharpie marker. Comic was comic and had a happy ending; tragic was, well, tragic.
Which leads to some difficulties when it comes to reading something more chipper from this time period -- at least something of any substance. The tragic Greek plays explore, with subtlety and beauty, the questions of life and love and meaning. The comic ones explore how many jokes the playwright can make about the penis.
I'm incredibly not kidding about this one. Believe me, I wish I were.
Got to go to sleep now, but let's continue this discussion tomorrow!
Well, while I could go for some lighter reading, penis jokes aren't exactly what I was looking for!
For light reading I'll stick with "The Enchanted Castle" (Nesbit) which I'm reading to the girls this week, then go Greek Tragedy with the group when we're ready. Meanwhile the adventures of Odysseus will keep me enthralled in my moments between reading to children, writing for bosses and (once in a while) catching winks.
Finished one of those payin' gig pieces tonight, so must to bed. May not be able to chat much tomorrow (Brownie Day) due to previous family commitment.
I know...we all used to read more, didn't we? ;)
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Jen in Orcutt, Calif.
www.BestFamilyAdventures.com
I like Greek tragedy because it reminds me that humans have been insane for thousands of years and they are still here. Sometimes I look around me and think that this MUST be near the end of time, but then I read something from thousands of years ago that makes me think they probably thought the same thing!
