An Imaginary Life

I see An Imaginary Life as pertaining to the overall theme of our class, the idea of all that is past possesses the present. However it is a little different. Those texts we used to connect a past to our own present. An Imaginary Life seems to connect the past with an even further past. That is, it connects humanity with the nature that we seem to have forgotten. Even Ovid, who we seem to see as a man of a far distant and ignorant past can look even further back to see a time when the world was not as civilized as that he was used to in Rome and then again even farther back to a time when we lived among the wild animals of the world, when nature was as much of a master over us as we have, even in Ovid's time, become over it. Ovid is able to witness an unadulterated connection to the natural world in the child he meets in exile, and it is this I would argue that helps him connect to the world and realize that all that is past possesses the present.

Arachne

Arachne is the story of a girl by the same name who is the best at what she does, which is to say weaving. The only problem with this is that she does not see the skill as a gift from the goddess Minerva, the patron goddess of weaving, but as her own skill. She then becomes arrogant enough to challenge Minerva to a weaving contest. Minerva first appears to Arachne as an old woman and cautions her to give thanks for her gifts and the goddess will forgive her, but Arachne does not heed the warning. Minerva then appears in her true form, and even then Arachne does not back down from her claim as greatest weaver. So the two begin their weavings.

Minerva weaves a tapestry that portrays the founding of her city Athens. Around this central image she also puts four images of different people who challenged the gods and were punished with transformations for their indiscretions.

Arachne, on the other hand, weaves a story of the infidelity of the gods, how several of the most powerful gods tranformed into different beings and raped those they saw as beautiful. Around this central image she put a vine of roses as if in mockery of the image.

In the end it was determined that Arachne's weaving was better. Minerva, in her rage, tore the fabric to shreds and broke the loom. Arachne, disgraced, thought to hang herself with the threads she had so recently used, but Minerva instead turned her into a spider so that she would be eternally punished.

The Trojan Women

I just finished the Trojan Women and thought that I would share my thoughts on it. First of all I think that this is perhaps the first play that I have had to read that I have enjoyed without having watched the whole thing first. I am much more oriented towards the visual when it comes to plays and other things that are geared towards watching and listening audiences, however, the Trojan Women is such a powerful story full of raw emotion that I often found myself wondering how I had never heard of the play to begin with. It is something that everyone can fear, the loss of everything that you know and once took for granted and the sheer terror of having to struggle through that loss and still live your life. I myself cannot begin to relate to the horror that Hecuba must deal with in this story. Not only has she been stripped of her crown and lost the city she once ruled to become a slave, but she must also lose every member of her household to the war and even bury the grandchild that had once promised to bury her in a lavish funeral. It is enough to bring even the stoutest heart to tears and wipe away thoughts of one's own suffering in the face of what can only be described as perhaps the worst day for any one person.

Finnegans Wake

Having just recently heard one of our classmates recite the final page and a half of Finnegans Wake, I became extremely interested in the whole thing. It sounds like a bunch of nonsense but after taking an oral traditions class I am beginning to see the importance, not of the printed word, but of the word that stays with us for all time. We read books so often that we enjoy, that strike us as masterpieces of literature. Yet none of us can truly recite word for word any extensive passages from any one book. That is until today, when Jenny-Lynn quoted nearly two pages of a book that most people can make neither heads nor tails of.

I think then, that it is not the book itself which we find memorable, but those ideas which we find in it, and Joyce's Finnegans Wake is so full of memorable ideas and moments that, if we take the time to read it, we might find the greatest book ever written.

On another thoght, I took the time to google Finnegans Wake and came up with some really interesting links from google. Here they are.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DMUS_enUS305US312&q=finnegans+wake+