MSU English 212

I am the class judge-high-arbitor of decency! Woohoo!

First I must say two things: One, googling images is rediculous amounts of fun and I encourage everyone to do this occasionaly. It is rewarding and exciting. You never know what you might find next. Two, don't click on ANYTHING if you are offended by nipples, buns, nude babbies, etc. 1/2 of the art described in Cadmus and Harmony has these. The nipples and buns might be covered with a sheet, but the billowy wind will still leave little to the imagination. By clicking on the right links, you could concievably get to some very raunchy stuff. If it offends you, stop there. Don't keep clicking on the offensive material. Blame your own curious self if you keep clicking. So, here's my system to indicate the indecent, the clothed, and the particularly relevent art.

• * Iindicates nipples, butts, naked babbies and potentialy anything else(painting, barbie doll or any other form/medium). Also, please use the word "Caution" or "Graphic" somewhere visible.
  
• + Indicates a work of art which appears to be one of Calasso's inspirations. These would be the important ones to look at as they relate to class material.
• Blank(or no notation) indicates a relevence to the subject but with no potentialy offensive material.
  

That being said, here are some pictures I googled up from the first half of chapter 1.

Zeus taking Europa
*+ http://www.uco.es/~ca1lamag/Galerias/RUBENS%20El%20rapto%20de%20Europa.JPG
+ http://www.thekeffs.freeserve.co.uk/EU%20Flag_files/Zeus%20&%20Europa%201.jpg
http://www.informatika.bf.uni-lj.si/zeus&europa.jpg
http://www.themosaicmaker.com/europanew.jpg
* http://www.tfsimon.com/EUROPA.bmp.jpg
http://www.theoi.com/image/K1.10Zeus.jpg
* http://www.beloit.edu/~classics/main/courses/classics150/museum150/zeus/image8.jpg
* http://www.arts-cape.com/hollypedlosky/manifoldimages/europa400p.jpg
http://www.pizzeria-europa.de/images/europa/goet2.gif

Talos protecting Europa
http://www.entrenet.com/~groedmed/greekm/images/talos.jpg

Boreas and Oreithyia
*http://www.revilo-oliver.com/Kevin-Strom-personal/Art/MorganEvelynDe_BoreasAndOreithyia_1896.jpg
http://www.theoi.com/image/T28.2Boreas.jpg
http://www.ub.uit.no/northernlights/images/pyth01d.jpg
http://www.paeonia.ch/Hist/Daph/Bilder/B0436KU01.JPG

Persephone
http://www.mitovi.beotel.yu/graphics/persephone%20leighton.jpg

Interesting side note: "Creusa felt appolo's hands llock around her wrists as she bent to pick saffron"(p4)
Look at how in most of these abduction pictures, the wrists are the object of motion. We are shown the wrist as it would indicate motion from both subjects. It represents the subjects idea of control in the paintings. Also, see how the horns can simulate the wrist. Early femanism!

Io priestess in the Heraion near Argos
http://www.trincoll.edu/~greger/hist111-2005.html
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/images/109images/greek_archaic_classical/architecture/model_heraion.jpg
http://greciantiga.org/img/tpl/sjsu-tplherargos.jpg
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~classics/greece2003/updates/week3_4/april10.html

Ariadne and Baccus
* http://www.wga.hu/art/c/carracci/annibale/farnese/farnese1.jpg

Minotaur at Crete
http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/knossos/minotaur.jpg
http://www.all-hotels.com/images/homepage_pics/cretemino.jpg

Theseus and Helen
http://www.sikyon.com/Athens/Theseus/theseus_helen1.jpg



These were fun sites I stumbled accross while googling. Watchout for the occasional nudie.
http://www.dani-on-tour.ch/Travelogues/Tibet-D/tibetinfo-ca-ph.html
http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/knossos/knossos_text.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ia2/athena06/miscstories.html
* http://www.fjkluth.com/helen.html contains graphic barbie material(good site)
infact, check out all of www.fjkluth.com because it's hilarious(almost entirely graphic)
* http://www.ncf.ca/~bf906 contains graphic cross stich material. yes, cross stich.

Here is a Haiku I composed in anticipation of Frye-Frustration. I am preparing for my brain to be Fryed. I'm feeling like a peeled potato about to be dropped into the Fryer. Once I'm done, I'll need lots of catch-up. Oh ok, that one was really bad. I'll stop before I'm tied and hung by a Northrop e.

Soft Cover Hard Book.
Sentence Is Impossible.
Reading Frye. OH! Why?

First interesting Frye Quote: In the introduction he says "To summerize briefly my central thesis on this point: every human society possesses a mythology which is inherited, transmitted and diversified by literature."(pxiii) It caught my attention because it 1) had the owrth "thesis" and 2) can be taken two very different ways if the comma is not recognized. Note: the comman between "inherited" and "transmitted" changes the way the sentence is read. If the comma were not there, the sentence would be saying all cultures have a mythology modified by writing. Be prepared for these grammerical odities when reading his sentences. Don't get fooled!

edit: But now that I'm rereading it, just what is he saying!? Argh! Now I'm full of maybes. What is this? This isn't reading. This is madness. I don't mind foggy obscure meanning but right now I'm is so far removed from normal retrospective thought I feel like shouting at the author. I can just tell, this book is going to be interesting but it's also go to waste my time while I scratch my head wondering just what the hell he's saying.

update: I can't read more than about 10 pages per day. This book somehow steals the joy of philiosophy from me. It leaves my brain feeling parched. And the light bulbs don't feel particularly lightbulbish. :-(

I went backpacking for labor day weekend. Woohoo! In case you are wondering, the spanish peaks are still beautiful. I read most of the first chapter by firelight, waiting for the logs to burn down into coals. Then I would star gaze waiting for the coals to go out. I found it interesting that the constellations I was looking at were named by the Greeks, the subjects of the first chapter also being Greek. There seemed to be a parallel going on between the reading and the stars by way of firelight. But I don't think I want to put words to it. I'll simply remember the feelings.





Chapter 1: The theme which stuck out most to me is "that which is said". This is emphasized through the agencies of abduction and metamorphosis. Abduction and metamorphosis are similar and each appear to overlap the other. Abduction is the act of change from one setting into that of another. Metamorphosis appears to be nearly the same in its application towards humans(and what is left of a human after partial or total metamorphosis). Herodotus: "To abduct women is considered the action of scoundrels, but to worry about abducted women is the reaction of fools... it is clear that, had they not wanted to be abducted, they would not have been."(p8) The justification towards indifference concerning the situation of abducted women is an acceptance of the practice by society and form of metamorphosis. We have 'what is said' dictated by the change occuring without control for that change.

"What is considered unnameable among other peoples is available for all who want to hear in Create. -- Mystery, in Crete, was made plain to all, no one tried to hide it."(p9) Here, "that which is said" is shown in connection with mystery. The vailed, the hidden, the mysterious is that which is never spoken. When the wall of silence is broken, the mystery and its answers are displayed for all to see. "Crete, with its hundred cities and not a single defensive wall around them," has cities which do not wall mystery. The spoken life in Crete and its explination of mystery is an abduction of the silence and mystery surrounding life of the Greek mainland. The stage is set for the gods and mans metamorphosis.