Reading Notes: Inferno Part B

Lucifer devouring Judas, Cassius and Brutus

I just finished reading the excerpts from Dante's Inferno. I was taken with the imagery Dante used to describe Lucifer's dwelling. I liked the way he described Lucifer as a very large being with three heads. He was able to juxtapose this by explaining how beautiful he was. I found it quite comical that he was able to describe him a beautiful and menacing all at the same time. 

The way he described Lucifer was something different than I had ever seen before. Most of us picture a red man with horns, a tail and a pitchfork. But this depiction showed him is as a monster of another sort. One with three faces and a set of wings. I like the idea of changing the way the audience usually perceives a known character. I might take that approach in future stories I write. 

One thing that stayed similar to the common knowledge of hell was the eternal torture. What was seen with Brutus, Cassius and Judas seemed terrible and horrific. It truly explained why Dante was so afraid and hid behind Virgil so much.

Bibliography: Satan, Dante's Divine Comedy translated by Tony Kline (2002)      

Reading Notes: Inferno Part A

Dante and Virgil 

Dante's Inferno is a classic from his narrative poem from Divine Comedy. The purpose of this story is Dante's quest to fall back into God's good graces and overcome his sinful actions. He goes through several "circles" while in hell, each having a punishment created by God. He is aided on his quest by Virgil. A Roman poet from 70-19 BC. He is the one who takes Dante through the nine circles of hell.

I quite liked the story of Dante and Virgil's encounter with the Furies and Medusa. I think it's interesting that Dante included not only Christian lore but Greco-Roman mythology in the hellscape. It trumps all preconceived notions of hell belonging to one religion. For me this is a much more plausible iteration of what hell could really be like. I would like to play with the idea of creating an original character that has to go through the circles. I could possibly even connect it to my Achilles story. After his death he finds himself in hell with no guide to aid him. 

I found it curious that when Virgil named each Fury he only described one; Megaera, the weeping one. I haven't done enough research as to why she is considered, "the weeping one". But that could be another interesting storyline. A look into why she was given such a name. And her relationship with the other two Furies. 

Source: The Furies and the Heretics, Dante's Divine Comedy translated by Tony Kline (2002)     

Reading Notes: Russian Part B

 

Female spirit

This week I chose to read about Russian folklore. Many of the Russian folklore from the unTextbook surround the supernatural (i.e. ghosts, vampires, witches and warlocks) This is right up my alley because I am completely obsessed with the supernatural. I am not sure if I am a believer in ghosts per se, but I really want to. The story that took me the most was the first one in the collection. The story is about a the child of a husband and wife. When the wife dies the husband worries about how he will take care of the baby on his own. To aid his worries he hires an old woman to take care of the child. The old woman notices that the child is unruly during the day but at night can sleep soundly. When investigating one night she heard somebody walk into the nursery. After alerting the father, the townsfolk gathered to do a group investigation as to who was entertaining the child at night. Upon investigation the watched as the dead mother walked into the room and breastfeed the child. I like how the author described the townsfolk as "terror-struck". Unfortunately, in the end the child was dead upon discovery. In my opinion, I felt that the mother felt that if she could not have this private time with her child she would take him away from the wandering eyes. Therefore, by killing the baby, she could essentially be free to do as she desires. Be a mother. I think that if I was to retell this story I would definitely modernize it. Instead of the townsfolk I would write in paranormal investigators. I could try to spin it as if it was a group of investigators filming for a paranormal TV show, like the ones I'm so obsessed with.

Bibliography: "The Dead Mother", Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S Ralston (1887)   

Reading Notes: British/Celtic Part B

The Blessed Mother

The  story I decided to focus on was called The Prioress’s Tale: Little Hugh. The story follows a young boy named Hugh who has an affinity for the Virgin Mary. One day in school he hears a hymn his classmates are singing and is captivated. After asking an older classmate what the song means he karen’s that it is a dedication to the Blessed Mother. The boy was delighted and somewhat obsessive over the song. I believe that his obsession over the Blessed Mother and this song in general could signify devout Christians. High would sing the song to and from school. Eventually Satan grew tired if hearing this boy and called upon the Jews to discard of the boy. They hired a murderer to take care of the boy. I can also see this as a metaphor for those who seek to disprove those with faith. High is killed and left for dead in a ditch. But is found because even in death his voice rings out singing the remembrance song of the Blessed Mother. I found that the end of this story was a bit unnecessary. The fate of the Jews and an explanation of how the boy was able to sing was revealed but if I rewrote this I think I would leave it up to mystery as to what happens. 

Bibliography: “ The Prioress’s Tale: Little Hugh” The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908)

Reading Notes: British/Celtic Part A

 

Old crone from The Unknown Bride

From the first section of reading the story of the knight and his bride stood out to me the most. When sentenced to death a knight is given a chance at survival when he is asked, "what is it that women most desire". On his venture for the answer he stumbles across a haggard looking woman who agrees to answer his question but at a price. The knight must agree to whatever the woman requests no questions asked. Desperate, he agrees and his life is spared with the answer. The old woman shows up before the knight after giving the queen his answers and demands he fulfill his part of the deal by marrying her. He initially begs for any other  request of him but eventually gives in. While with the woman, she tells him about the more important features to a spouse. Money and beauty weren't the only thing the worry about. I found this a great message and a classic way to convey it through storytelling. There have been many examples of "ugly" women or men that change the protagonists mindset. And when the knight finally accepts the woman as his wife, flaws and all, she transforms into a beautiful girl. I couldn't help but think of the Princess and the Frog and wonder if it was possibly based of this story. 

Bibliography: "The Unknown Bride" The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappen (1908)  

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part B

 

Ancient Egyptian plowing

The story that stuck with me the most throughout this second part of reading was the story of "The Two Brothers". This story also had themes of familial deception and betrayal, similar to Part A. In this story A younger brother lives with his older brother and his wife. The wife makes a move on the younger brother. He of course rejects her out of respect for his older brother. But the wife calls for her husband telling him his brother made an advance on her. This family betrayal is an interesting theme I have been seeing in the Middle Eastern and Indian units. I think this could be a good theme to incorporate into my storybook project. My storybook project is surrounding the Greek mythology, however, they are all related and have sibling rivalry or backstabbing parents. In the end the brothers make up and go to save the younger brother's wife from a king together. I could bring together the family in my storybook by having them complete a common task.   

Bibliography: "The Two Brothers", by Donald Mackenzie (1907)

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part A

Egyptian Goddess Isis

This week we were to read Middle-Eastern and Indian mythology. I chose to learn about the Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. Part A started out with the creation of the gods. Nu was the essence which was found in the water. He created a son by the name of Ra. Ra was far more powerful than his father and became the "Mighty One", reigning over all the gods including his own father. It was from Ra that all the other gods were born. Ra had a child by the name of Isis. her story intrigued me the most. It dealt with unknown family betrayal. Isis was the the goddess of magic. But she was dealt to roam the lands as a woman. She grew tired of the ways of mankind and sought to walk alongside her father with the other mighty gods. Ra was given a secret name, from which his power derived. She betrayed her father in order to strongarm him into giving her the name as power of her own. The author's descriptions made this seem like it was a betrayal for a throne. Similar to the first Thor film. Loki found his father too weak to rule and brought along frost giants to put him in the Odinsleep. I believe that children defying and betraying their parents is not an uncommon theme in mythology. I just thoroughly enjoyed how Donald Mackenzie portrayed it in this retelling.

Bibliography: "The Secret Name of Ra", by Donald Mackenzie (1907)

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part B

Cartoon Donkey

    The ending of this story was very surprising in a way and definitely branched away from fairy tale norms. We are used to a knight in shining armor heroically coming in to rescue a damsel in distress. Instead we get a comic relief in the donkey coming in to save the fair maiden. I think this was a good example of using irony in storytelling. I like using this type of literary device in my own storytelling processes. I can see myself using a surprise ending and irony in a retelling of this story. It also did a great job of having a leaving all loose ends nicely closed, but also leaving some room for a cliffhanger. 

Bibliography: "Cupid and Psyche", by Apuleius translated by Tony Kline.  

 

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part A

 

Cupid and Psyche

    I am not as familiar with Roman mythology as I am with Greek mythology so the story of Cupid and Psyche was pretty new to me. However, for last week's comments assignment I got to read somebody adaptation of the story. It gave me an idea of what I was getting into before reading the actual one. The first thing that I noticed was that this story is in first person narration. That is different than most of the other stories I have read so far. It left me wondering who's point of view this story was being told from. Eventually, I realized that it was a story inside of another story. A woman is captured by a group of bandits and held for ransom. I thought the author did an interesting job of using irony and juxtaposition in this story. The thieves claim that the woman shouldn't fear her life or honor because all they were doing is holding her for ransom. They had no intentions of harming her. But the woman still feared them. Claiming to an old woman that they were going to hurt her and that she feared for her life. Another thing I thought that was interesting was the delivery of the story. I had the story read to me and it was a completely different experience. I felt like I was the captive woman being told the story by the old woman. It brought me back to the days of actual storytelling, no books or e-readers. If anybody is intrigued by that than I highly suggest you try it!  

Bibliography: "Cupid and Psyche" Written by Apuleis. Translated by Tony Klein

Reading Notes: Homer's Iliad Part B

 

(Greece scene of the Trojan War vase)

    The second part of the Iliad focused on Hector, the son of King Priam. In the first part of the story Hector is stubborn and naive and doesn't recognize that if Achilles joins the fight he is pretty much done for. It seems that his character has changed and that he has come to the conclusion he will die and it will be by the hand of Achilles. It's interesting to me because Hector and Achilles oddly parallel each other. They both had a sort of revelation about the fight. Achilles found that fighting would waste the amount of time left he has in his life. Although, he does decide to retaliate after learning of the death of his most loved ally, Patroclus. And Hector comes to terms that he must stand outside the gates of Troy and battle with Achilles for his city. I liked that the two central characters were given similar character arcs. It gives me plenty of ideas for what I could do in the future. If I were to rewrite this story I would probably play into the similarities between the two warriors a bit more than it does here. 

Bibliography: "Homer's Iliad" (retold by A.J. Church)

Reading Notes: Homer's Iliad Part A

 

Achilles in Battle

    When reading about Achilles during the battles against the Trojans, I couldn't help but wonder if there was going to be any part that told his "origin story". Most of us know Achilles from the phrase Achilles heel. The story where his mother, Thetis, dipped him into the River Styx by his heel. After coming out of the river he was invulnerable. Except for his heel, where his mother had held him by. Upon doing some after-reading research. I found that Achilles' origin story wasn't Homeric. Therefore, I couldn't have read anything about his childhood. 

    Something I found quite interesting was Achilles' new outlook on life. In The Embassy to Achilles; Odysseus, Phoenix, and the two heroes Ajax, were sent by King Agamemnon to convince Achilles to rejoin the Greeks in their attempts to thwart the Trojans. No matter how much money or how many cities were included in a dowry, Achilles stood his ground and said no. Achilles is the most fearsome warrior of the Agamemnon army and he even said so himself that in his youth he was always down for a fight. Now, after having his people pull out from battle for a while, he understands what is truly important in his life. Dying a fulfilled life unknown seems more important to him then dying young and famous. I would be interested in possibly doing a retelling of this but bridging the gap between his departure from the Agamemnon army to when the chiefs come to convince his return. I feel that I could illustrate the character development in his beliefs. It would be enjoyable because Achilles' character is the one that I felt more entranced by. 

Original Story: "Homer's Iliad" (retold by A.J. Church)

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

 

Pygmalion by Tony Kline (2000)

CHARACTERS

    Pygmalion, The statue and Venus

PLOT

    Pygmalion, a sculptor, has seen the evil and wicked ways of his village's ladies and vows to remain single. Because he is such a wonderful sculptor he created a sculpture of a beautiful woman. Who, at times, one would think was actually a real woman. At the Venus festival, Pygmalion prayed to the gods for a wife like the sculpture he created. The gods, hearing him, granted his wish and upon his arrival home he finds his statue transformed into a real woman. He lives out his life with the statue-turned-girl and ends up marrying her. 

TECHNIQUES

    The author used many high detail images. Especially, when portraying the displays of affection between Pygmalion and his sculpture. The author also uses specific types of imagery for different things. They use more masculine and rough descriptors when talking about the bull at the Venus festival. On the other hand, when talking about the sculpture, the author uses more feminine and dainty imagery to describe her. I like how this helped bring across the duality of ideas throughout the story.  

Pymalion and Galatea

   

Week 2 Reading Overview

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Homer's Iliad

Week 4: Cupid and Psyche

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Ancient Egypt 

Week 6: Life of the Buddha

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: Brer Rabbit 

Week 9: Japanese Mythology

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: British North America 

Week 11: Cherokee

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Celtic Tales

Week 13: Canterbury Tales

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Russian

Week 15: Inferno

Week one I decided to start off with some of my favorite mythology. I've got a soft spot for the Greeks and their stories. I'm also very excited to read about the stories from the Native Americans from British North America. My home state, Virginia, was originally one of the thirteen British colonies so I'm intrigued to see if I read an stories from familiar tribes. The Russian stories also looked great. I am a big fan of the supernatural so ghosts, vampires and witches is right up my alley. It looks like I am going to have a lot of reading to do but it's a good thing I am excited for it!

(Bookshelf)