Bibliography
Mar. 4th, 2007 03:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyIphigenia in Tauris - Goethe
This is Goethe's variation of Euripides' play, depicting yet another element of the saga of the House of Atreus. It's all good stuff in the typical German drama five act structure, although obviously the plot has been seriously mucked around with. In fact, the differences between the Euripidean forefather and the variation are very interesting (although obviously note that Euripides isn't the only source for Goethe). For instance, whereas the pivotal concept of Euripides is the movement of a cult statue from point A to point B, in Goethe, the prophecy that the statue needs to be moved turns out to in fact to be Iphigenia herself. There are also a lot of moral waverings about human sacrifice, doing what one is supposed to, and the whole matter of female agency.
It's a very dense play, even in the original German - the issue of language is brought to the fore, as is the problem of meaning and interpretation. At the same time, there is a narrative of learning going on here - how does one grow into being a proper human being? (Presumably by giving up human sacrifice, but that's a whole other discourse.) Plus Iphigenia is completely avoiding the role of mother, which with a mum like Clytemnestra is perhaps understandable.
The play as a whole is generally a lot of fun, and I enjoyed reading it a great deal. Possibly not worth bothering with if you're not particularly keen on the classical background and not in the mood for attempting to unravel the words, but I'd try to get round to it at some point.
Madeline: One of Life's Jansenists - Hope Mirrlees
Finally! As the next stage of the HM project, I managed to get my hands on a copy of Madeline, which was nigh-on impossible and only facilitated by a facsimile copy from the University of Iowa, of all places. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that this is the same authorial voice that wrote The Counterplot, even though this is the prior novel; it sounds much more like the voice of Lud-in-the-Mist.
The novel is set in and around the literary circles of the 17th Century Précieuses; Madeline, the heroine, desires to gain entrance into this elite circle, but sabotages her own attempts with alarming frequency. She is rather a woman who is in love with being in love, but not actually that captivated by the object she has convinced herself she is enamoured with. As a 17 year old, she's rather nicely drawn, constantly willing to believe in a particular token or amulet for whatever situation, but putting her own foot into her mouth with alarming frequency. For a woman who grew up in an all-female environment and thus watched some ladies of only slightly older go through the typical early 20th century experience of 'crushing', this is a fairly accurate portrayal, I'd say.
However, it's also a novel meticulous researched. The concept of Jansensism, a Catholic line of theological thought that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination, is thoroughly incorporated into Madeline's quest for the love of a famous novel writer, and her theological waverings to whatever affirms her own quest, ignoring those aspects that question or downright condemn her. It's a study of a mind that is able to justify itself regardless of external circumstances, and a deeply troubled mind at that.
I have to say I was very impressed with this and enjoyed it a great deal; I look forward to hopefully working with it closer detail, although I'd really like to see it in print again.
This is Goethe's variation of Euripides' play, depicting yet another element of the saga of the House of Atreus. It's all good stuff in the typical German drama five act structure, although obviously the plot has been seriously mucked around with. In fact, the differences between the Euripidean forefather and the variation are very interesting (although obviously note that Euripides isn't the only source for Goethe). For instance, whereas the pivotal concept of Euripides is the movement of a cult statue from point A to point B, in Goethe, the prophecy that the statue needs to be moved turns out to in fact to be Iphigenia herself. There are also a lot of moral waverings about human sacrifice, doing what one is supposed to, and the whole matter of female agency.
It's a very dense play, even in the original German - the issue of language is brought to the fore, as is the problem of meaning and interpretation. At the same time, there is a narrative of learning going on here - how does one grow into being a proper human being? (Presumably by giving up human sacrifice, but that's a whole other discourse.) Plus Iphigenia is completely avoiding the role of mother, which with a mum like Clytemnestra is perhaps understandable.
The play as a whole is generally a lot of fun, and I enjoyed reading it a great deal. Possibly not worth bothering with if you're not particularly keen on the classical background and not in the mood for attempting to unravel the words, but I'd try to get round to it at some point.
Madeline: One of Life's Jansenists - Hope Mirrlees
Finally! As the next stage of the HM project, I managed to get my hands on a copy of Madeline, which was nigh-on impossible and only facilitated by a facsimile copy from the University of Iowa, of all places. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that this is the same authorial voice that wrote The Counterplot, even though this is the prior novel; it sounds much more like the voice of Lud-in-the-Mist.
The novel is set in and around the literary circles of the 17th Century Précieuses; Madeline, the heroine, desires to gain entrance into this elite circle, but sabotages her own attempts with alarming frequency. She is rather a woman who is in love with being in love, but not actually that captivated by the object she has convinced herself she is enamoured with. As a 17 year old, she's rather nicely drawn, constantly willing to believe in a particular token or amulet for whatever situation, but putting her own foot into her mouth with alarming frequency. For a woman who grew up in an all-female environment and thus watched some ladies of only slightly older go through the typical early 20th century experience of 'crushing', this is a fairly accurate portrayal, I'd say.
However, it's also a novel meticulous researched. The concept of Jansensism, a Catholic line of theological thought that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination, is thoroughly incorporated into Madeline's quest for the love of a famous novel writer, and her theological waverings to whatever affirms her own quest, ignoring those aspects that question or downright condemn her. It's a study of a mind that is able to justify itself regardless of external circumstances, and a deeply troubled mind at that.
I have to say I was very impressed with this and enjoyed it a great deal; I look forward to hopefully working with it closer detail, although I'd really like to see it in print again.
