An Imaginary Life

David Malouf's "An Imaginary Life" was an ingenious and poetic approach to Ovid Naso's exile. This place in the book was unamed, as no one seems to know EXACTLY where Ovid was after exile. It allowed the reader to wander freely about the theme, experiencing life from all aspects of the self. Ovid was placed in an unkown place in which was an unknown tongue, but he soon learned the language and the people and discovered the Child who was wild.

Ovid being a poet, language was important. Well understanding a native language in place of residency is generally important. But as an upperclass poet of a distant land, he had thought that this new language was not so pretty and lyrical. He learns to accept it. In fact, upon caring for this wild boy, he decides to teach the boy language or sounds in this land's tongue. He says he once knew a language once (latin) that he must rediscover it again.

It seems that his story was of transformation, but not necessarily into anything, just change, metamorphosis. He says, "I must drive out my old self and let the universe in....the spirit of things will migrate back into us....Only then will we have som vision of our true body as men."

Its as though he must get rid of anything that he thought made him a man or human or his personality, and relearn life again in truth. Its ironic since he tries to humanize the Child, by giving him a specific language. The language in itself is ironic, since Ovid probably defined himself through his poetics. This whole time of teaching hte Child and even finding the child during hunting parties, he is conflicting wihtin with his relationship wiht his dad and deceased brother. He is also conflicting of how he fits in with the people he lives with.

Ovid seems most close and comfortable around the Child. Its as thought the Child represents what he used to be, simple, and eventually trapped, and then at last free, simple again. After the old man dies in the home, he takes the child and leaves, as there is lack of protection for them. Once they are out in the wild, and he realizes the Child has no destination, he feels free. Free from complexity of time, language, society.

Life goes on. We, individually, may die, but something else lives. While we live, we must learn from the past, learn from life. Hell, just learn to live in this universe rather than separating ourselves from everything in it. The separation seems to cause the trouble, the wars, the internal conflict, the other external conflicts with people and nature.

thesis

Much of the past is seen everyday. The common phrase, history repeats itself, is accurate. Through works of euripides, aristophanes, sophocles, and perhaps an imaginary life, i will show that what is past posesses the present through the women and metamorphic characters. They will portray everyday life as we experience it, and my own as well.

The Death of Cygnus

Cygnus, the son of Poseidon, supported the Trojans in the Trojan war. Achilles tried to kill him with weapons but it wouldn't kill Cygnus, so instead he prevented him from breathing, by according to the Ovid, smashing his nose and strangling him. When Cygnus died he was turned into a swan. Cygnus is the latin word for "swan." The language is so vivid, it is almost funny, well amusing anyway. "his jaw lolling" just hanging after Achilles beat him...I really like the one minute story retellings. They are fun and its interesting to see what other poeple take from each of the metamorphoses...Metamorphoses...

Ah! phallocentricism! Geez, so some friends and i went to Chico hot springs last week. My buddy was drivin us and as he braked, his car made consistent jerking movements...and I had said, "Hey your car is doing the same thing mine used to. Ya might need your roters turned." and another friend started nameing off a bunch of other stuff, like bad breakes, ball bearings goin out etc....OK! Just because i'm a girl does not mean im stupid about cars. I hate when men or any one for that matter, women do the same, overestimate gender differences!! PHEW. ok. This is sort of a good transitioning into euripides which shall be posted soon (late i know)
And one quick note on Ted Hughes, i read through a few tales and i cannot figure out why the hell such language would be put out of print. The death of Cygnus is really really gruesome...good stuff. ha. but more on the tales from ovid in the next 2 or 3 days.

phallocentricism and the related

So i was mistaken by what it means to be phallocentric. It means centered on the masculine point of view. That brings up the issue of male privelege. We discussed As You Like It briefly, where Rosalind disquises herself as a man. Its been a long time since we performed this in speech and drama in highschool. But from what i remember, she was disquised to be able to have a little more freedom while running away, all the while she falls in love with Orlando while disquised. Celia and Rosalind are pretty comic in some places. Its an interesting twist to experience the male privelege, for women who didn't have the same rights as men. Even authors such as the bronte sisters or characters in Louisa may alcotts books, the women diguise their names as male to be able to have their writings published. That sounded like a good idea but they still didnt get credit, it was their male counterparts. We still live in a phallocentric world. Women still only make 70-80 cents for the man's dollar. ((to be continued))

hurdling insults

Oh man, where do i start, which story shall i tell?
I've got the girls nights where we sit and have a few drinks...play king's cup or truth or dare jenga. Those games always let out some interesting stories, which procede to teasing. The teasing leads to the insult hurdling. We think of every little kid insult we can, like: butt-face, dork, poop-head...yes we are that mature haha. Usually after throwing insults and we can think of anything "good" to say back, it turns physical and we start wrestling.
Then again there was a not-so-playful banter last summer. My ex-roommate was...a little unstable...If she got mad, she would write me a note and stick it on the counter. Then she'd leave for a day or two. Most of the time it was because people came over that she didnt like. The notes usually said something along the lines of : "You know, i don't appreciate...," or "Thanks for taking a shower when i had to work..." or the best one was when we were paying half the rent, half the utilities, found the appt together and signed a lease..."We agreed you could move in with me, and my rules are..." At that point in the last note, i did not finish reading. I crumpled it up and started toward her room. She came up the stairs and i told her we needed to act like adults and she shut her bedroom door. i continued to yell, "This is my home too! Quit being so stupid! You didn't like the notes from the last roommate and now your doing it to me. I refuse to put up with this shit again! If you'd act mature and more adult-like we wouldnt have this big of a problem. You want me out? say the word and i'll leave you with the rent for yourself!" She never said another thing to me. So i moved out. Its too bad our friendship ended but communication doesn't work with one person. Even if the communication is hurdling insults, it only works if both do it.
So i guess we have fun and not-so-much fun hurdling insults occasionally.

Lysistrata!

While reading Lysistrata, my roommate looked at me with eyebrows up when i bursted into a giggle here and there. I like the way the translator wrote her intro and footnotes. She put her own voice in it. The conflict between men and women can be found in this play, again. I haven't read the essays yet, but I look forward to it. The dialogue was so blunt and colorful! Even one of the youtube clips quite literally colorful. The women with vibrant colors and langerie, the men as soldiers with attached (large) penises. I got to thinking, why on earth didn't our Drama coach in highschool have us do a piece from this play?! It could have been a hoot and a half for classical duo! (then again perhaps it was because our little school wouldn't have a approved because sex is so tabooed...)
I was thinking about this men vs. women conflict...and the other day i was hanging out with one of my girlfriends and she was talking about her boyfriend. Apparently he was getting on her nerves about driving home after a nite out at the bars. She actually said something along the lines of, "I just don't know how to get it through his head to not drive after drinking! Maybe I should just deny him." That whole conversation was even funnier after reading Lysistrata. Its funny, how if we take someone's weakness, and hold on to it, how they will bend in the direction we want them to.

As a quick vent before normal blogging again:
Next time we get a freak winter storm, i hope the roads find you all safe! And i hope that other people dont forget how to drive in snow and ice: sloooooow and not following too close behind a person that you can't stop if they do.
I was rear-ended on thursday after class. Trying to keep up with my busy classes and busy work schedule, this obviously did not help with the stress! phew...
But it doesn't look like the frame was damaged and so not a total loss :) i owe thanks to someone or something...Maybe Demeter, for though the crazy winter so close to spring brought this on, i did not die or lose my car haha! ...ah the joys of laughter finally...wow, putting humor in tragedy works! i do not feel as sullen and defeated as i had thursday, friday, or even saturday! Now just to get a move on catching up!
Holy shit! ... $4,000.00 to fix is the estimate i just found out! (but the other insurance co. covers it!)
PHEW! ... and it always could have been worse...