Biblical/Classical Literature - English 212

Final Paper: Displaced Myth

2005-12-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

Displaced Myth

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
- John Muir

As a sophomore in college I have come to the conclusion that by the time I graduate with a degree in English Literature I’ll be the best English Literature Trivial Pursuit player in the world (if there is such a thing, which I doubt) and that’s about it. Why do I study it then? Because I enjoy it, yes, but enjoying reading and literature definitely isn’t going to get me that house and car I need to have when I grow up. So I ask myself every day, why am I here? Why am I paying thousands of dollars a year to do something that may not pay me back? And every day, the answer escapes me. Then I was asked to write this paper and my thought process led me to something much more profound than “what I learned in English 212.”
“All literature is displaced myth,” has become a mantra running through my head in every one of Dr. Sexson’s classes. And although I am sure that I will never forget the saying, I never took the time to contemplate it’s exact meaning or impact on my life. After one of Dr. Sexson’s classes I went home to write a paper for American Literature and read Emerson’s The American Scholar. As I was reading, things started to click and I found the connection I had been subconsciously looking for. In his essay Emerson talks about the importance of books and says:
The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth…. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires. Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.

This passage reminded me of the idea that all literature is displaced myth. Emerson seems to be accepting the same idea. He says that the world around the ancient scholars was taken in and “uttered again” to inspire others and be repeated for generations to come. The same idea is present in the classical Greek and biblical traditions. The world around the ancient Greeks and Israelites was accounted for and told so that it would never be forgotten. These ancient “scholars” represented their world so that it would inspire the world and scholars to come. All stories are a reflection or displacement of another, of the beginning of literature. I think that all literature is a reflection of the author’s surroundings and human relationships. And although all people are different, their interactions with each other are not.
As humans, we learn how to write and record our thoughts by reading and imitating the works of others. As Emerson said in his essay, “Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.” We carry the practice of imitation through to our own writing by recording our experiences with others which have been repeated through each decade.
As I thought about this phenomena of repetition throughout the ages, I looked for it in my own life. When I was helping baby sit three young boys a few nights ago, they pleaded with me to watch Veggie Tales before they went to bed. I had never seen Veggie Tales before, so I agreed and was interested to see what it was. It turns out that Veggie Tales are a series of movies that use talking vegetables to tell biblical stories and teach lessons. This was obviously a very creative displacement of the biblical tradition. I realized that every story has some reference to something before it. Our British literature book constantly adds footnotes explaining the references made in the texts to ancient traditions. The stories of revenge like the Orestia and stories of helping others like those in Jesus’ parables are repeated over and over with only different characters and settings. Emerson says that the purpose of books is to inspire, but I think that it is the purpose of all literature to inspire. And it is the duty of all readers to take that inspiration and fly with it; to never question the limits of the imagination and to use the consistent themes present in all literature and portray them your own way. Every displacement is unique and yet every displacement carries a common thread. The displacement of myth was and is surrounding me in every creative aspect of my life.
So this brings me back to my original question. Why am I here studying literature? Why am I paying thousands of dollars a year to do something that may not pay me back? And maybe I have found part of the answer. In his essay, The American Scholar, Emerson says, “There is some awe mixed with the joy of our surprise, when this poet, who lived in some past world, two or three hundred years ago, says that which lies close to my own soul, that which I also had wellnigh thought and said.” I also find this awe mixed with joy and surprise when I read something that triggers remembrance and repetition in my head. I realize the real importance of literature, to connect. Literature serves as a bridge that connects us all. I will never meet an ancient Greek or Biblical scholar, but I feel as if I know them. I understand the struggle of human relationships that every person must experience. I know the feelings and emotions that come with happiness and sadness. Although I will never know everyone in my world or even in my small state by name, I am connected with them through the words that flow through us all.

This is never going to end.........

2005-12-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

Dr. Sexson asked us all to post a blog reporting a time when we thought, “this is never going to end.” Like others, I have had many of these experiences. One vivid memory of this happening is when I was in a car accident. As a sophomore in high school, I rolled my Toyota Tundra eight times off of the interstate. (To this day I am a horrible driver.) It was not during the wreck that I felt that time would not end, it was after. I still cannot believe that it was only an hour and a half from the time we wrecked until the time that I was at the hospital. Laying on a backboard (which are hard and totally uncomfortable) was traumatizing. I had no major injuries, but the constant comings and goings of people were a blur. Time seemed to slow and it seemed as if the relentless questions would never stop. I am sure that anyone who has been in the same situation will testify to some of the same feelings. Although many people have had these feelings of demonic time in situations where bad things happened to or around them, I think that this time can also be a happy time. For example, I think that being in love is one of those situations as corny as that sounds. I have vivid memories of falling in love and being ecstatic that this feeling, this moment would last forever. Like the first kiss, when you know it’s right and seems to last forever when it only happens for the briefest of seconds. And even now, I can remember that second like it was minutes or even hours. The “this is never going to end” feeling always ends but I don’t agree with the idea that it is demonic time. Demonic time, to me, is time in hell, terrible, everlasting time. And to me, falling in love and that first kiss is never terrible even though it may feel everlasting.

Another Calasso Lightbulb

2005-12-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

Calasso pg. 243: “At a certain point in their history, when the palaces had been burned down, writing lost, gold become unobtainable – at a certain point in their history, about which we know very little, since it left us neither words nor monuments, the Greeks chose perfection as opposed to power. Power dreams of indefinite expansion, perfection cannot. The perfect is only one of the innumerable points in the process that is ceaselessly transforming existence. But this point has a hidden flaw, which terrifies the Greeks: the point of perfection is the moment that closes the circle, that brings death.”
I think that this is intriguing because I have to wonder why the Greeks chose perfection, which leads to death. Why not be content living on forever and choosing power. The answer to this question I don’t think will ever be know but I also think that it is something to ponder. In American society we seem to strive for perfection yet we never reach it. With each reach toward a perfect society, comes more corruption and debate. This makes me wonder if America somehow chose to release its power, would we be able to achieve perfection? Just something to think about………….

Class Notes 11/23/05

2005-11-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Quiz #2 Review

* Know information about each of the group presentations
CAVE – Maggie and Abdul
GARDEN – Allison
MOUNTAIN – Amy
FURNACE AND OVERALL NOTES – Mick
*Which of the gospels is earliest? Mark
* esoteric – describes Jesus and his disciples, means inside, private, mysterious
* naked man – Mark 14 suggests Christianity was a mystery religion
* According to Calasso, why does the earth have seasons? The story of Persephanie and Demeter
* What are the four levels of the Axis Mundi?
1. heaven
2. paradise
3. earth
4. hell
*According to Black Elk, where is the center of the earth? Wherever you happen to be standing at the moment.
* What are the three synoptic gospels? Matthew, Mark, Luke
* Why isn’t John? More spiritualized
* What word does Mark use 42 times in his gospel? Immediately
* What were the Eumenedies before? The furies
* Why do we suffer? Matching
Aeschylus = suffer into the truth
Homer = so bards can sing about us
Job = because you did something wrong
English 212 = because you didn’t go to class
* What is retributive justice? Justice for something you did wrong
* theodicy – justice of the gods
* what is preferable to death? To have never been born
* What view does the previous statement come from? Tragedy
* “Remember your creator in the days of your youth…” Ecclesiastes 12
* What were the prophets concerned with? Exclusive worship of YHWH and social justice
* Why is the gospel not historical evidence? Intended to be a kerygmatic testimonial
* Where does the word testimony come from? In the biblical tradition, a man would put his hand on another’s genitals and swear by them.
* What is the message of the New Testament? Live for others, not yourself – love thy enemy
* What title did Jesus use for the Old Testament and what book did he quote from most? Law and prophets, Isaiah
* What was Jesus’ most commonly used phrase? Kingdom of God
*What are the two types of wisdom literature? Polonian and Hamletian
* Why did the furies attack Orestes and not Clydemnestra? Blood crime
*What is the precedent behind all action? Myth
*What is the meaning of the word apocalypse? Unveiling or revealing of a new way of seeing
*hubris = extreme pride or arrogance
* What are the 3 things to revere in Greek religion? 1. gods 2. parents 3. stranger
* Who did Agamemnon sacrifice? Iphigenia
* What is the difference between Prometheus and Job? P was defiant, J was submissive

Class Notes 11/21/05

2005-11-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

Harper Magazine study said that 70 percent of Christians polled said, “God helps those who help themselves,” is the message of the New Testament. This is wrong. The correct/real message is to, “Actively treat your neighbor as you would yourself,” or “Love thy enemy.”

Defining yourself by the things that you haven’t done is not the same as defining yourself by the things that you have done.

Ten commandments

Mostly do not murder, do not commit adultery, etc.
Proactive commandment – honor thy mother and thy father

Apocalypse is not pessimistic – catastrophic events are not mean to be taken literally in Revelation. Instead, Revelation is meant to be a new way of seeing, an unveiling of the truth

The book of Revelation is a book of variables, cryptic (needs to be read into), can be understood allegorically or numerically, etc.

Mark 13 – the Little Apocalypse
Theme focuses on the idea that the end of the world is imminent (coming soon)
Frye says that an apocalypse is a destruction of a way of seeing

Eschatology
Literal Eschatology – world will end at a certain time and place
Realized Eschatology – Everything is metaphor because you can easily be lost in the numerical

Class Notes 11/16/05

2005-11-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

Parables
Expectations = when things seem familiar, ordinary, mundane
When expectations disrupted = unfamiliar, uncanny, sacred
New Testament

Accepted by some Jews and most Gentiles as the new sacred text

Christ means anointed one

3 main parts to the bible

1. The Gospels (4 of them) = good news, narrative on the life, sayings, and claims about the meaning of Jesus
2. Epistles = letters written to an entire community, mostly from Paul
3. Apocalypse = book of Revelation, a new way of seeing

Prophets interested in two things

exclusive worship of Yahweh

social justice

With the Apocalypse comes 2 notions

1. end times
2. metaphorical language

Gospels

1. Mark (earliest)
2. Matthew *Matthew and Mark seem to have an esoteric view (insiders)
3. Luke *Mark, Matthew, Luck are the three synoptic gospels
4. John (latest, different view of Jesus)

Class Notes 11/14/05

2005-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

*Have a question ready on Monday for Test #2

gospel = good news
Eschatology = consideration of the end times
Book of Job
Type A wisdom – “so true”
Type B wisdom – “how can that be true?”
Parable – attack on the structure of your expectations
Book of Job – metaphor of the oreo cookie
Job is actually not patient, demands to know why these things happen to him(ie Job 7:11)
God says Job’s 3 friends were wrong, he was right

Class Notes 11/9/05

2005-11-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*comment on someone else’s displacement of the Oresteia

Calasso
Pg. 243, 273, 337, 359, 383, 387
Pg. 383 – Definition of Myth, myth is the precedent behind every action, “mythos” means story
Pg. 359 – Why we suffer, Helen says that we suffer so that someone may sing about us later
Deus ex machine – God from the machine
Ecclesiastes – wisdom, success is folly, futile

Practice of Wives

2005-11-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

We were asked in class to look up the standards of the time during the Bible with reference to multiple wives and concubines. As I googled these terms, I found an informative site on concubines (posted in another post) and many biased, opinionated sites for or against polygamy. Many of these were using quotes from the Bible as reasons to support their case. It was very difficult to find a site that simply had information instead of an opinion, but I think that this one does a pretty good job. It helps explain the practices and how they were accepted in Hebrew times. Here is the link, hope it helps!
WARNING: This site talks about the different types of marriages and living arrangements in Hebrew times and today. Because of some beliefs, some of the views presented may be offensive to some individuals.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bibl.htm

Temple Prostitutes

2005-11-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

Most of my Google searches on temple prostitutes brought up sites advocating for or against homosexuality. Since I do not have a definite stand on this and do not think it has a lot of relevance to Biblical and Classical Backgrounds to Literature, I decided not to pursue this topic. Instead I found two sites that contain some unbiased information on the temple prostitutes in Hebrew times and their roles. Although these sites are not a wealth of information, they do provide some help.
http://www.bibleresourcecenter.org
and
http://www.ivmdl.org/wil.cfm?study=128

Friedman Lightbulb

2005-11-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

I have previously taken a course called Intro to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and I would recommend it to anyone who was interested in the Biblical elements we talked about in class. It was great! Anyways, because I had previously taken this class, the Friedman book did not surprise or intrigue me as much as the others. But I do have a few things to say about it. I thought that the excerpt in the middle containing only the J text was wonderful. It was so much easier to read and understand the J writer when you did not have to pick him out from the others. One thing that I found interesting and new in the Introduction to the Friedman text was on pg. 47:
What the work does provide is a description of the personality or character of God….This conception of a God who is torn between justice and mercy informs the whole work. This is not the “Old Testament God of wrath” that people frequently (and erroneously) imagine. It is more a picture of a God who can get angry but not stay angry.
I think that this is interesting because even though I have taken Religious Studies classes in the past, I thought of the Old Testament God as a wrathful and angry one. When the J text is read in its entirety without the encroachment of the other writers, this view of a God that can “get angry but not stay angry” is really apparent. I think this different view of God could lead to a whole different perspective on the Old Testament and the stories presented there.

Class Notes 11/7/05

2005-11-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Literature
Divides the world into two things or sets of people:

Righteous, prudent person

Wicked, foolish person

2 Types of Wisdom Literature
1. Polonius – Type A – proverbial, right vs. wrong
Retributive Justice – everyone who suffers did it to themselves, it is a result of something you did to yourself

Hamlet – Type B – Ecclesiastes and Job, speculative and pessimistic

Class Notes 11/4/05

2005-11-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Read Wisdom Literature – Job and Ecclesiastes (all), Proverbs (browse)
*What is the difference in the articulation of Wisdom Literature?

Oresteia – The Eumenedies
Apollo and Furies are polar opposites
Apollo = light and harmonious music
Furies = darkness and death
Pg. 243 = “I have suffered into the truth.” – no truth is ever gained without suffering
En-theos = to be possessed by a god
Pietho = persuasion
Pg. 258 – Furies cannot haunt Clydemnestra because hers was not a blood crime
Pg. 260 – Apollo’s famous acquittal of Orestes crimes
Proverbs – Wisdom Literature
Polonian = traditional, practical experiences of wisdom sayings
Proverbs 8 – wisdom personified as female
2 Kinds of Wisdom Literature
1. traditional (Polonian)
2. speculative (Hamletian)

2005-11-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

Orestes judged by Athena, Apollo, and Furies

2005-11-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

Gorgon, in Greek mythology, one of three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife, Ceto. The Gorgons were terrifying, dragonlike creatures, covered with golden scales and having snakes for hair. They lived on the farthest side of the western ocean, shunned because their glance turned people to stone. Two of the Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal; Medusa alone could be killed. The hero Perseus killed Medusa and brought back her head, with the help of the deities Hermes and Athena. From her blood sprang the winged horse Pegasus, her son by the god Poseidon.

2005-11-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

A Greco -Roman mythological creature with the lower body, wings and claws of a bird and the chest and head of a woman, often portrayed as very ugly and loathsome. Harpies were fierce, extremely ill tempered, and lived in an atmosphere of filth and stench, contaminating everything they came near. They are associated with the wind, ghosts , and the underworld. Their chief employer was Hades who sent them to bear away by force and bring to Tartarus those who were unwilling to die. But they also did vengeful errands-for the other gods.

2005-11-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Three goddesses of vengeance: Tisiphone (avenger of murder), Megaera (the jealous) and Alecto (constant anger). They were also called the Daughters of the Night, but were actally the daughters of Uranus and Gaea. They are commonly known as the Furies. Without mercy, the Furies would punish all crime including the breaking of rules considering all aspects of society. They would strike the offenders with madness and never stopped following criminals. The worst of all crimes were patricide or matricide, and first and foremost, the Furies would punish this kind of crime. Horrible to look at, the Furies had snakes for hair and blood dripping from their eyes. They changed into the Eumenides, protectors of the suppliant, after Athena had made them merciful sparing Orestes, whom they had stalked for a long time after the murder of his mother and her lover.

Class Notes 11/2/05

2005-11-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Google and give pictures of: 1. Furies 2. Harpies 3. Gorgons (3 groups of unpleasant mythological women)
*Fagles explanation of Furies pg. 73 – Intro

Oresteia
*Repetition of justice and being caught (noose, harness)
*Comparison of Orestes and Joseph – both dream interpreters and both do not reveal themselves immediately
*3 Main Commandments in Greek tradition
1. revere your gods
2. revere your parents
3. welcome strangers
*Suffering not eliminated in the play – we suffer into the truth
*Tragic sense of life recognizes that all life is suffering
*Greek word for justice is Dike
*Repetition of dogs, hounds
*Pg. 221 – what is the master plot of the play?
*Eumenedies = kindly ones, Furies turn into these

Class Notes 10/31/05

2005-11-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Look at Mick’s website for pictures of presentations
*Read the complete Oresteia

“There are no new stories, only different versions of old ones.” – MS

Oresteia
Eumenedies – the Furies become this in the last play
Marriage comes from the classical tradition

Zeus makes a contract with the feminine (Demeter) – uneasy contract

Harness, Yoke, Chain – metaphors of entrapment

Aeschylus uses the net as a metaphor for destiny, can we escape our destiny?

Pg. 161 = Clydemnestra makes a connection between how she feels killing Agamemnon and agriculture

Calasso Lightbulb

2005-10-30T15:27:00.000-08:00

On pg. 209 Calasso talks about the abduction of Kore by Hades and he uses the wisdom of Sophocles to make a point. Although I found this hard to follow at first, once I started thinking about it, it made sense.
Kore doesn’t just mean “girl,” but “pupil” too. And the pupil, as Socrates says to Alcibiades, “is the finest part of the eye,” not just because it is “the part which sees” but because it is the place where another person looking will find “the image of himself looking.” And if, as Socrates claims, the Delphic maxim, “Know thyself” can be understood only if translated as “Look at thyself,” then the pupil becomes the sole means of self knowledge.
I cannot do this quote justice by trying to explain it. I really, to tell you the truth, don’t know what there is to explain. I just find this reasoning fascinating and something worth thinking about for a minute.

Oresteia Response

2005-10-30T14:58:00.000-08:00

I was reading Amy’s blog and I think that she posed a very important question about the Oresteia: if the Furies attack those who have committed blood crimes, why was Agamemnon not attacked for killing Iphigenia? Although there is no definitive answer to this question, I think that it comes down to the reason for murder. Instead of killing for revenge, as Clydemnestra and Orestes do, Agamemnon sacrificed his virgin daughter. Yes, it may have been in trickery (which is another matter entirely) but his murder was a sacrifice to the gods, not revenge. I think that this is the most important difference in the murders. Although they are sinister, ugly women, the Furies are associated with Hades and the gods. If Agamemnon was making a sacrifice to the gods, they would have no reason to attack him. They would have no reason to punish someone making a sacrifice to them. Also, Amy’s suggestion that it was a patriarchal society could have some influence over the outcome. The only problem that I see with this answer is that once Agamemnon is dead, Orestes is the new patriarch of the family and he is attacked by the Furies anyway.

Class Notes 10/28/05

2005-10-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Answer someone else’s question about the Oresteia

Oresteia
*Clydemnestra (woman) – very cunning and devious, tragic character
*Principle Characters: Agamemnon, Clydemnestra, Cassandra, Orestes, Electra, Iphinegenia, Aegisthus, Athena, Furies, Apollo
*Aegisthus – the only son left of Thestes who escaped from being served in a stew to his own father with his brothers
*Atreus – served Thestes sons to him in a stew, Atreus’ sons are Agamemnon and Menelaus
*Prosecuting Attorney = Furies, later the Eumenedies
*Defense Attorney = Apollo
*Judge = Athena

Oresteia Question

2005-10-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

In today’s society, murder is murder. And unless it is in self defense, no one has a justified reason for committing murder. Yet, in the Oresteia, Orestes is acquitted of the murder of his mother even though he had no self-defensive motives. What would the reaction of society be today? Would Orestes have a justified reason for killing his mother? If any, what would the punishment of Orestes be in America today?

Frye Lightbulb

2005-10-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

I found the following passage in Frye enlightening and surprisingly funny and simple.
Frye, pg. 52
Consciousness frequently assumes that it has a monopoly on sanity and common sense, and it is true that a creative personality may often be accompanied by an ordinary one that is allied to neurotic states, even approaching schizophrenia. But there is no rule about this, and in fact most major writers seem to withdraw from the kind of subjectivity that the conscious discursive writer possesses and come out on the other side. Many poets even speak of the disappearance of subjective personality, of their lack of “identity,” in Keats’s phrase. William Blake was generally assumed to be mad in his day and for several decades afterwards. A story in Gilchrist’s biography tells how once he was walking from the pub to his house carrying some beer, and encountered a member of the Royal Academy who had met him the night before and was about to speak to him. But, seeing him carrying the beer himself, instead of employing a servant or pot-boy, the R.A. thrust his hands back into his pickets and hurried on without speaking. He was only dong what his social conditioning told him to do, but in obeying its voice he was the hallucinating neurotic, not the visionary poet-painter.

Maybe this passage grabbed my attention because Frye, the master of droning on and on, told a story and a slightly funny one at that. This paragraph also grabbed my attention because we were recently talking about Samuel Johnson in British Literature and many people thought that he was mad because he would walk around muttering to himself. But when he started to speak, people were enthralled with his intelligence and prominent way of conveying what he had to say. I think that this so-called lack of identity in great writers is fascinating because they seem to be giving their whole selves to their writing instead of only their conscious mind.

Class Notes 10/26/05

2005-10-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*ask an important question about the Oresteia
* Major Extra Credit: Write a displacement on the story of the Oresteia – would have to be updated into modern language – names and situation still connected with the Oresteia – use any form of literary media that you want

The Oresteia – Agamemnon
Tragedy – how do we deal with human suffering?
Answers to the question of suffering
Pg. 37-39 in Calasso – tragedy comes from the “dance of the goat” explanation
Furies are female agents of retribution (come after blood crimes, family murders)
Chthonic = underworld
Trampling on grapes is main metaphor throughout the play – juice of grapes = blood

Frye Lightbulb

2005-10-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

“Myths have thus two contexts. In their structure they resemble other types of story, and so are potentially literary. But in early societies they also develop a social function that we have been calling ideological. They play a leading role in defining a society, in giving it a shared possession of knowledge, or what is assumed to be knowledge, peculiar to it. Its proclamation is not so much “This is true” as “This is what you must know.” Such a mythology is close to what is meant by the Biblical term torah, essential instruction, including the laws, which no one can be excused from learning. So a mythology creates in the midst of its society the verbal equivalent of a temenos or sacred ground, a limited and sacrosanct area.” - Frye pg. 31

When I first came to college, I took a religion class called Intro to the Hebrew Bible from Susan Cohen and the first day of class she stressed the fact that the bible would be considered a secular work and a myth while at a public college. This bothered me for a long time until we started studying the Hebrew Scriptures and what happened in them. I found the fact that there were different writers and different telling of each story fascinating. It was then that I became really interested in the Bible and how it was a cultural myth and one of the shaping backgrounds for our American culture that we live in today. Throughout that class, some other religion classes I have taken, and this class I have become more and more interested in the way that myths shape our background. I like the mythic stories because they are just that, a story. But I also like them because they do “play a leading role in defining a society” as Frye states. I was surprised during this class when I realized how little I actually know about the classical tradition. Yes, the Bible and Christianity have shaped our culture in ways that no other work can, but the classical Greek myths have done this as well, in their own way. I am struck every day by the different things in our society that have classical backgrounds. It makes them all that much more poignant for me when I know their historical background and I can form the connection between the myths of long ago and those we are just forming today.

Class Notes 10/24/05

2005-10-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

Mountain Group

Mt. Moriah

Mt. Sinai

Mt. Cook (Arokori)

Mt. Olympus

Chief Mt.

Mt. Harney

Ethnocentric = culture centered
All Frye chapters centered around the Axis Mundi

center of the world/ universe

all things are metaphors of ascent/descent

Literature dealing with people that are better than they appear is tragedy – opposite is comedy
Mt. Harney – South Dakota, Black Elk told some people that he knew where the center of the world was, when they got to the top of Mt. Harney, he told them “This is it. The center of the world is wherever you happen to be standing.”
Origin of Drama

Origin of the word is Dromenon

Means a ritual or something that is done

Comes from the god Dionysus

Main works/authors of tragedy:

Aeschylus

Sophocles

Euripides

Hubris = arrogance

Class Notes 10/17/05

2005-10-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Light bulb Calasso
*Read and Engage the Orestia

Calasso: Read Chapters 6-8
Chapter 6 – know story of Aegsthus
Chapter 7 – Pg. 209 – The story of Korie

Class Notes 10/10/05

2005-10-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

*Use Emily’s e-journals for notes
www.livejournal.com/users/emilykuipers

Exam Review

What are the names of Adam and Eve’s children?

Cain, Able, and Seth

How did Jacob get his name changed?

When he wrestled a divine being, changed from Jacob to Israel

How many of the Danaids were forced into the underworld pouring water?

During abduction of women by the divine being, what body part is most often grabbed?

Wrist

What are the 3 stages we go through in our relationship with the gods, according to Calasso?

Conviviality, rape, indifference

What does canonized mean?

psyche means soul

sparagmos = rending or tearing of live flesh

paronomasia = word play

Which tradition exhibits the tradition of lacunae?

Biblical

patriarchy = rule by the fathers, refers to the head

What are the 4 levels of discourse in Frye?

Descriptive

Conceptual

Ideological

Kerugmatik

Literal meaning of the name Prometheus?

Forethought- thinks before he acts

What happened to Thesteus sons?

Chopped up and served in a stew to their own father

What biblical phrase best describes Frye’s concern?

Life more abundant

Which books are contained in the Torah?

The first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Pentateuch = Torah

Friedman, what were the Philistine towns plagued with for storing the Ark of the Covenant?

Hemorrhoids

How did Zeus stop the cycle of children rebelling?

He ate Métis (wisdom), the mother

What are the 4 Viconian levels

Heroes

“men”

chaos

Who was the brother who stood up for his family and Benjamin and had a moral transformation?

Judah

Another comment on Frye

2005-10-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Frye, pg. 28-29:
It looks as though criticism is both the controlling and the directing force within each verbal mode and the power than enables us to travel between the modes in both directions, until we reach the limit of what words can do for us. But what looks like a limit from a distance often turns out to be an open gate to something else when we reach it.

I really like this statement because it is very optimistic and I am just that kind of a person. As dorky as this is, I don’t even like to watch scary movies because they give me nightmares and they are not optimistic or looking to the future. They always seem to end with death and destruction. Anyways, back to the quote, this seemed so true for me because I don’t think that there are limits to anything, especially words. Words can be put together in millions and billions of different ways and new words are created every day. I don’t think that the power or abilities of words will ever stop. Doors will continue to be opened every day. About the second part of this quote (although it is really the first), I think that criticism is both the controlling and the directing force in everything in life. Without criticism nothing would be changed for the better. Everyone would be content with their own mediocre ideas. I also think that criticism is the driving force behind each of us telling us to strive for that next level, the reason that most of us are in college in the first place; to make ourselves better than some critic in our lives told us we could never be. And maybe that critic is ourselves and we know that we can be better than a burger-flipper at a fast food restaurant (no offense to any of you who are). This statement just struck me as very poignant and true to my own life and I think to many others my age.

Class Notes 10/7/05

2005-10-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

Women in the Bible Continued

Genesis 31: Jacob, Rachel, and Laban

Difficult for us to understand laughter in the bible

Tradition of exclusivisim = we are right, you are wrong

Generally no covenants with women

Teraphim = household gods, deeds for property

Why do Rachel and Jacob need the teraphim in a monotheistic society?

Decalogue = ten commandments

2 parts, worship laws and social laws

Decalogue says “you” meaning men – never women

History of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrews – patriarchal stories (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph) – wanderers between Babylon and Egypt

Israel – settlement period after Moses, time of Judges and Deborah, Kingship period (United Kingdom) – Northern Israel (Elohim) and Southern Judah (Yahweh)

Jews – Exile and then move back to Israel and Judah and become one community

Between these three periods there is over 1000 years of story and writing

Hard to have continuity when the point of view changes so much over so much time

Question of J writer being a woman, there is a more complex view of women/gender than we would expect to see in a patriarchy

Bloom says that the will of Yahweh is done by the wiles/treachery of women

Class Notes 10/5/05

2005-10-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Women in the Bible (Guest speaker, Mrs. Sexson)

female is a biological term that does not apply in the bible, instead Women

Judges 19: The Levite’s Concubine

Father-daughter relationship

Movement from patrilocal marriage (husband visits wife at father’s home) to virilocal marriage (daughter leaves father’s home)

Commonality of attempted rape of strange men who must be protected by hospitality and the daughters/wives sacrificed

Importance of hospitality can be more important than a father’s obligation to his daughter

Judges 5: Song of Deborah

We see many different roles of pre-monarchal Israelite women

Femimine is a prime metaphor for understanding society

Despite the fact that the bible is a patriarchal story, it can’t be told without feminine metaphors

Class Notes 10/3/05

2005-10-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Jacob’s father had wives, the standards of this during that time
* Temple prostitute or sacred prostitute
* Repetitive Parallelism
* Go to Kelly’s page with a link to info about Frye

Patriarchs

Abraham

Isaac

Jacob

Joseph

Sparagmos = the ripping or tearing of live flesh

Frye Lightbulb

2005-09-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

“An imaginative response is one in which the distinction between the emotional and the intellectual has disappeared, and psychic elements, the fantastic and the dreamlike having conventionally an equal status. The criterion of the imaginative is the conceivable, not the real, and it expresses the hypothetical or assumed, not the actual.” - Frye pg. 22

I think that this is so true and may be one of the reasons that people, like me, are drawn to imaginative works. Although text books are of great use every now and then, works of the imagination are fun. They let you escape into a world outside of your own; a world where anything can happen. As Frye says, the imaginative expresses the hypothetical, conceivable, or assumed. Anything can happen in these worlds and that is what makes them so memorable, so exciting, so fun.

Class Notes 9/28/05

2005-09-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*syllabus for the rest of semester handed out and paper topic given

Frye – all literature is myth displaced

myths are updated versions of classical/biblical stories, an inflection on previous stories

Biblical/Classical Stories

tension between Biblical and Classical traditions

Homer and The Bible Handout

Lacunae = disconnected, a gap or hole in the story

Homer

Nothing should be left in the background, everything should be brought into the light, nothing to interpret or is left to the imagination

Biblical

Everything needs to be interpreted and the imagination needs to construct everything but the basic details

Class Notes 9/30/05

2005-09-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Frye – Pg. 42 - Message of the Bible is to live life more abundantly

“Education is something that makes you explore something you didn’t already know” – Sexson

Frye Pg. 87 “Jesus is the teacher of doctrine

Discussion of reading something for the story, not just for the point of the story

Bible

First ten books (Know for test)

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Kings

Samuel anoints Saul, then David, then Solomon

Curse on the House of Atreus

2005-09-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

*The following web site gives a brief overview of the events before, during, and after the curse on the House of Atreus. Informational but short:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/houseofatreus/a/houseofatreus.htm

*I will let the introduction to the next link speak for itself:
The following paragraphs provide a brief summary of the major events in the long history of the House of Atreus, one of the most fecund and long-lasting of all the Greek legends. Like so many other stories, the legend of the House of Atreus varies a good deal from one author to the next and there is no single authoritative version. The account given below tries to include as many of the major details as possible. At the end there is a short section reviewing Aeschylus' treatment of the story in the Oresteia.
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/aeschylus/houseofatreus.htm

*The following link provides information on the main characters in the five generations of the story about the curse of the House of Atreus:
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics/syllabi/IH/house_of_atreus.shtm

Class Notes 9/26/05

2005-09-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Tantalus/Pelops story and the Curse of the House of Atreus (pg. 176 in Calasso)

Continuation of Greek Story in Calasso
Calasso Pg. 52-53: 3 Stages of Relationships with the gods

conviviality

rape

indifference

Frye Lightbulb

2005-09-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

On pg. 20 Frye says, “But the fact that no ideal goal can ever be reached in human life does not diminish the importance of turning in the direction of that goal.” Wow, I just thought that this seems really pessimistic. But at the same time, his use of the word ideal makes sense. By nature, humans tend to make goals, even if they are subconscious, and try to achieve them. Every once in a while, these goals are achieved and we move on to the next. But Frye seems to be saying that goals can be reached, just not ideal goals. I don’t think that we often set ideal goals in our life or in our writing because somewhere inside we know that the absolute ideal cannot be achieved. For example, for every piece of writing, there is a critic and that critic can find something wrong with the piece for them. Because of this, to strive for perfection seems to be a waste of time. We must be content doing our best. I don’t know if this is exactly what Frye was talking about, but it struck a chord somewhere inside me and got me thinking about goals and perfection. These are just some of my thoughts on the subject.

Class Notes 9/23/05

2005-09-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-Journal:
* Engage Frye and Calasso with lightbulbs
* Start a Conversation with someone

Pg. 108 in Calasso:
Heirogamy = sacred marriage
~Greek metaphor of light as the most sacred or important thing
~Continuation of the Greek story

Class Notes 9/21/05

2005-09-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-Journal:
*Goya’s painting of Saturn eating his children

~Hesiod told a story called a theogony = birth of the gods
~T-word is TRUTH
~F word is FALL
~Beginning of Greek Story explained

The Grapes of Wrath

2005-09-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

The Grapes of Wrath

I found the following two pieces of information when I searched for “symbolism in the title of ‘The Grapes of Wrath’” on google.com. They are both simple and informational. I have included the links to each complete page these excerpts are from above them.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/grapesofwrath/themes.html
“Steinbeck makes a clear connection in his novel between dignity and rage. As long as people maintain a sense of injustice—a sense of anger against those who seek to undercut their pride in themselves—they will never lose their dignity. This notion receives particular reinforcement in Steinbeck’s images of the festering grapes of wrath (Chapter Twenty-Five), and in the last of the short, expository chapters (Chapter Twenty-Nine), in which the worker women, watching their husbands and brothers and sons, know that these men will remain strong “as long as fear [can] turn to wrath.” The women’s certainty is based on their understanding that the men’s wrath bespeaks their healthy sense of self-respect.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapes_of_Wrath

“The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, by Julia Ward Howe:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,He has trampled out the vintage where the Grapes of Wrath are stored,He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift sword,His Truth is marching on!"
Grapes of Wrath also refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation: "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God" (14:19).”

Class Notes 9/19/05

2005-09-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Browse someone else’s e-journal and start a conversation or give a response to them.

~archetype = From dictionary.com – An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype: “‘Frankenstein’... ‘Dracula’... ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’... the archetypes that have influenced all subsequent horror stories” (New York Times).
~etiology = how something came to be (ex: how rainbows got to be in the sky) – the bible is full of etiological stories to explain phenomena
~names are powerful because in the bible, name changes signify importance and transformation
name change Jacob to Israel
~both biblical and classical traditions are patriarchal
pater = father; pat = head; head of family is the father
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph – main Bible patriarchs
~”The story is more important than the moral.”

Dr. Sexson AND Frye?

2005-09-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

Frye, pg. 17:
“This points to the fact that in oratory there must be a strong emphasis on figurative or purely verbal language, metaphor, allegory, simile, antithesis, and above all, repetition.”

Hmmmm. Just wondering if this sounded like the first two days of class to anyone else? What was rule number 1? Oh yes, repetition is good! It looks like Dr. Sexson has been reading his Frye!

Class Notes 9/16/05

2005-09-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Google and/or E-journal:
*Go to Valory’s blog and look at her entry about the history of the Bible and the different writers

Writers of the bible:
J – Yahwest
E – Elohist
D – Deutronomist
P – Priestly
R – Redactor
~the Redactor was not suspected to be an actual writer, but an editor – the person who compiled all of the works together into one book

J Writer
~ “A parable isn’t something that conforms to your view of the world, but turns it upside down.” Dr. Sexson
~didactic = teaches a lesson
~In the beginning, humans and gods communicated and interacted with each other, and then something happened, THE FALL
~Friedman uses the word and often in his translation of J writing
Paratactic = using the word “and” often to make everything equal or on the same level, eliminates subordination
~J doesn’t want to teach us, but to draw on human experiences

Dr. Sexson lightbulb:
Frye ~ pg. 23 – level of ideology and myth are always at war with each other
“There is an infinite number of individual myths, but only a finite number – in fact a very small number – of species of myths.”

Geneologies

2005-09-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

The link below is a really interesting site about genealogies in the Bible. Yes, it’s interesting. Whenever I tried to read the whole bible, I came across long sections of genealogies that were boring and seemed to go on and on. Although I was certain that they were in there for a reason, they served no purpose for me and I wondered if they were really necessary. When Dr. Sexson asked us to explore how we appreciate or learn to appreciate genealogies in the bible I thought, ya, right. Then I googled “genealogies in the Bible” and I found this really interesting site. It talks about the importance of the genealogies because they show the relationships between tribes and the descendents of important people in the Bible. The essay says, “…one of the most important functions of the genealogies of the Bible is to provide a connected thread from Adam to Christ with a sufficiently precise chronology to satisfy our time sense and assure us by giving lifespans, up to a significant point which we shall consider subsequently, that allow us to discover for ourselves that these names are the names of real people, not merely of tribes or families or nations. God always deals with the individual as an individual, not merely impersonally as one of a group.” Although I don’t know if I agree that God always deals with the individual as an individual because many people are metaphors or representations of groups of people (i.e. the Canaanites descended from Cain or the Moabites descended from Moab), I do agree that following the line from Adam, the man that god personally created from clay, to Jesus, his own son, is an important one. And this genealogy can serve to connect the stories throughout the Bible. Instead of being a collection of random stories about God and his works, the Bible then becomes one story, one history of the people who lived during this time.

http://custance.org/old/geneal.html

Class Notes 9/14/05

2005-09-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

Google and/or add to E-journal:
*Google “biblical literalism” – Conrad Hyers (sp?)
*Connection between Isaiah 63 and pg. 2327 in the Study Bible, Revelation 14:19-20
*Google “synonymous parallelism” or “anthetical parallelism” (the balancing of terms with one another)
*Find 3 examples of Synonymous parallelism (repetition) in the Bible and record them.
*Must know the 5 books of the Torah for the Quiz #1
*Answer the question, how to we appreciate or learn to appreciate the genealogies in the bible?

Misprision = not hearing something correctly and believing it to be true

Example: singing the wrong words to songs

“Errors can sometimes be fun and instructive, they are not all bad and need to be fixed” – Dr. Sexson

Genesis 49

Jacob is dying and saying something to each of his sons, blessing or cursing them

Jacob’s words have lots of power – what he says must be true and he cannot take them back once he has said them.

Not only do the right words need to be spoken, but in the right way – words have power.

Contains lots of repetition. Example: verse 26 – the “head of Joseph” needs to be repeated for emphasis as “the brow of him”

Metaphor and Simile in the Bible

The Bible is mostly all long-winded with very extended sentences and metaphors.

Prolix = abundant, gives more than you need

Metaphor means to transfer from one to another

Metaphor vs. Simile in the Bible

~Question of is it? Or is it like?
Differences between P and J writers in the Bible:

P writer

Most of Chapter 1

Name of God is “Eloheim”

Day of human creation is the seventh day

Very systematic

God is very transcendent = above, far away

J writer

Name of God is YHWH “Yahweh” or Lord God

Day of human creation is the sixth day

God is very personal and creates the world with his own hands

Biblical Literalism

2005-09-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Dr. Sexson pointed us toward the essay by Conrad Hyers called, Biblical Literalism: Constricting the Cosmic Dance” I found this essay at the link below and strongly encourage everyone to read it. It sheds a lot of light on those who take the bible literally and what it therefore means to them. I think it is really interesting how he views taking the bible literally as taking most of the intricacies of the bible away. I think this is very true. Although it is probably the most adaptable book out there, it was written thousands of years ago. And because of this, it’s literal meaning is forever changing. It’s literal meaning rarely applies directly to our lives in 2005, especially the Old Testament. Even the addition of the New Testament is proof of this because the bible and its teachings needed revision from Jesus Christ. When he came down to earth, he revised and updated the laws in the Old Testament. He revised the literal meaning. Therefore, this proves that the bible is never completely relevant in our day and age and to take it as such is wrong. The following quote from Conrad Hyers’ essay explains it well:
Literalism diverts attention from, as well as flattening out, the symbolic depth and multidimensionality of the biblical texts. The literalist, instead of opening up the treasurehouse of symbolic imagination, digresses into more and more ingenious and fantastic attempts at defending literalism itself. Again and again the real issue turns out to be not belief in divine creativity but belief in a particular theory of Scripture, not faith but security.
The link to the site is: http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1332

Class Notes 9/12/05

2005-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

Google and/or add to E-journal:
*There has been a decline in literacy, or the choice to read something voluntarily. When reading, look for biblical or classical references in everyday literature like the newspaper, etc.
*Google arabesque
*Chapters in the second section of the Frye book were given out to each different group. Group #5 has the Garden chapter

Hebrew Bible

Talmud = commentary on the bible

Has reached a very high, almost canonical status in Jewish society

Scripture is canonical, or sanctioned as official – the approved set of texts

Metempsychosis = the transmigration of souls

“psyche” means soul

Classical Literature or Sources of the Greek Story

Homer – Iliad and the Odyssey (the Idiot and the Oddity)

Hesiod – Theogony (birth of the gods)

Homeric Hymns

Greek Playwrights

Virgil – Aneid

Ovid – Metamorphosis

~ The Greek Classical tradition surrounds an event about 1000 BCE (Before the Common Era, not Before Christ) – The Trojan War is the core of all classical literature.
~ The Biblical tradition surrounds the Exodus.
Table of Contents of the Hebrew Story in the Bible:
***This list needs to be memorized, in order, for the Quiz #1

Creation

Revolution (Exodus)

Law (Torah) ~Hebrew Bible

Wisdom

Prophesy

_________________________

Gospel ~Christian New Testament

Apocalypse (The End)

Frye Lightbulb again...

2005-09-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

On page 12 of Words with Power, Frye says, “The impersonal and objective quality of dialectical writing is an ideal, and a very important one at that, but the impersonal leaves out the personal, and one wonders if the personal can be left out indefinitely.” I found this to be a very poignant statement and made me wonder about the question he proposes. Can the personal ever be completely left out of a work? After thinking about the question in my own experience, I think that it can’t. The way that words are put together and sentences structured automatically brings in the personal aspect of writing. I don’t think that any two people would structure a sentence in exactly the same way all of the time. So by the simple structure of words and sentences the personal is entered into any piece of expression. As an English major, almost all of my classes urge me to develop a voice in my own writing and to pick out the voice in the writing of others. Even an objective text book has a group of writers and a certain way that the material is presented. This automatically puts the personal into the work. So I don’t think that the ideal quality of dialectical writing, the impersonal and objective, that Frye proposes is possible. I don’t think that the personal can ever be left out of a work indefinitely. I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts on this because although I have picked a stance, it still somewhat baffles me.

Repetitive Parallelism

2005-09-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is the best source of information that I could find about repetitive parallelism. It is interesting because it also talks about different grammatical elements in Hebrew poetry and the Old Testament. It is an online encyclopedia entry but is surprisingly interesting. Check it out:
http://www.answers.com/ and then search for hebrew poetry

Also, Dr. Sexson asked us to find 3 examples of repetitive parallelism in the Old Testament. This was not a very difficult assignment. I simply opened my bible to three different pages in the Old Testament and found my three examples. Here they are:

Judges 7:19-20, “…They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

Leviticus 8:10-12, “10 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. 11 He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. 12 He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him.”

Genesis 9:7, “ 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

Class Notes 9/9/05

2005-09-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

Assignments for before September 23:
*Chapters 1 & 2 in Frye
*Chapters 1 & 2 in Calasso
*E-journal Image Collecting
*Frye Light bulbs
*Google “repetitive parallelism”
*Read Chap 1 & 2 in Genesis asking, What is the core story?
*Introduction to Friedman
*Homer and Bible Handout
*Calasso pgs. 107&109, 115-118, 341-342
*Find underlined or light bulb passages in Calasso

Paronomasia = word play, pun

Shakespeare and God in the Bible both liked to pun

Documentary Hypothesis:

Pentateuch- 1st five books of the Hebrew Bible (also called torah = law)

Hypothesis that the torah was not written by one person, but by many people

Different writers are believed to be J, E, D, P, and R

The mythic tradition says that Moses wrote the five books, but he would have then had to record his own death.

P & J writers are the main writers of the creation stories in Genesis.

Documentary Hypothesis

2005-09-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

This site has some awesome information that’s easy to read concerning the documentary hypothesis. Check it out.
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/2/Judaism/jepd.html

Wikipedia also gives a good definition of the Documentary Hypothesis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis

Frye Lightbulb

2005-09-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

When talking about conceptual writing, Frye said the following, “In conceptual writing the element earlier called truth has to be looked for inside, so to speak; in what the words contain rather than in what they reflect from the environment.” I thought that this was interesting because I think that Frye is hinting at the idea of original thought. I have read a lot of Frye already and know that he suggests the fact that there is no completely original thought later on in the book. I think that this is interesting because if the truth is inside the words, or in what the words contain, than each new sentence or structure of words would have to be a new truth. And a new truth, to me anyway, would be an original thought. I don’t know what my final stance on this subject is, I just thought it was an interesting point to bring up.

Class Notes 9/7/05

2005-09-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Google and/or add to e-journal:
*Documentary Hypothesis
*Address a particularly vivid passage that you underlined or highlighted in Frye and engage them. These are your motives of illumination or light bulb experiences. They should have told you something that you didn’t know before or found interesting. You need to have at least 12 of these light bulbs by the end of the semester.
*Frye, pg. 113 “If we watch a student underlining sentences…”

~There are many metaphors and repetitive parallels in the Bible.
4 Levels of Discourse from Frye
***This will be on the quiz #1

Romantic, Speculative, Mythological, Kerygmatic, Metaphorical, Imagination

Ideological, Rhetoric

Conceptual

Descriptive

Italian Philosopher, Vico

He understood that the origins of human culture in literature is always metaphor - believed that everything is made up.

Poesis = Greek for “to make”

Things are not sacred, they are made sacred

In the beginning were the gods and the language spoken was hieroglyphic (meaning sacred images)

Next, was the language of the heroes, aristocratic or poetic language

Third was the language of “men” which was the language of economics

Last is the language of chaos, the language of the vulgate or common. Also referred to as gibberish.

Class Notes 9/2/05

2005-09-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Class Notes 9/2/05

Go to http://www.howtosexonblog.blogspot.com/ to learn how to make and use a blog. Very helpful!
*Add any hurricane relief sources you are aware of to your e-journal.
*Google “Grapes of Wrath” and add any information to your blog.

Perfunctory = doing only what is required
Theodicy = actions of God that don’t make sense to humans – questioning of God’s justice
Example: Book of Job, why do people suffer?
Theocentric = God-centered
Anthropomorphic = (From Google.com) having human form or attributes

Grapes of Wrath in Isaiah 63 (wine is blood, God is angry)

Frye Lightbulbs

2005-09-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

In Frye’s first chapter, Sequence and Mode, on pages 4 and 5 I think he makes some important statements about the descriptive mode that I think I understand. I will try to explain my thoughts on them now. He says, “This is the descriptive mode, as we may call it, the one in which we are reading to get information about something in the world outside the book.” I think that this is especially true in a college situation. Most college text books, with the exception maybe of English books, are those of instruction. The sciences especially have text books that show and teach the student about the world outside of college. That’s supposed to be the point of going to college, right? The point is to learn how to do something in the “real world” for the rest of your life; to learn a trade or profession. How the information is presented or the voice in the words is not as important as getting information across so that the student can learn from it and use it later in their lives. I think that this is interesting; maybe this is why I like English classes so much better than chemistry or biology.
The second thing that Frye mentioned about descriptive writing was, “I recall these exceedingly obvious points to emphasize the primary role of narrative or sequence in holding together every mode of verbal expression from the Bible to the telephone directory.” This statement seems very true in most cases, but I have to wonder if it is true for every mode of verbal expression? This is an odd example, but it is the first thing to come to my mind, what about those little books of random advice that everyone seems to think you need at graduation time? You know, the ones that have random, parable like, pieces of advice for life. To me, those books seem to have no order, narrative, or sequence. They are the type of books that you can open to any page and read and understand what is said there. So although I agree with Frye that descriptive writing and narrative flow through most written and verbal expression, but not all. I am not sure what you call those random books of advice or even the book of parables, but I don’t think that they have any sequence or narrative.
The third interesting point that Frye makes about the descriptive mode is this, “We call such verbal structure true, and the details of its content facts, if it seems to be a satisfactory verbal replica of what it describes.” Once again, I think that this statement is very true. If a book or piece of written expression conveys it’s meaning without error to those reading it, it would seem true. Not truth in the sense that it is always true in every situation, but true to the writer, to the piece, and to the object it is describing. I don’t understand, though, why Frye considers this mode of expression to be at the bottom of the totem pole. To me, the descriptive mode has as many uses as the ideological. I am making an assumption here, but I think that this is true for many of the students in this class as well. How many times have we heard that everyone hates reading Frye? And he himself claims to try to write in a mode higher than that of the descriptive world. I find these “higher” modes of expression confusing and difficult. I like to read for the escape from the real world, for the relaxation and enjoyment of it. I, and many others if I am correct, do not like to sort through complex words and structures to get to the meaning of every sentence. So although I agree with Frye in his comments about the descriptive mode, I don’t know if I buy the fact that the descriptive mode is the lowest mode of writing.

Class Notes 8/31/05

2005-09-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

Northrop Frye
Difference between:

Centripetal = energy is directed inward to the text

Centrifugal = uses associations from outside the text, texts influence other texts

Class Notes 8/29/05

2005-08-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Class Notes 8/29/05

I am posting my class notes as I took them in class. Hopefully, they will be of some help to those of you who need them. Good luck!

1) Repetition is GOOD!
2) Power of Origination
3) Myth comes from the Greek word mythos = story
4) Mamalujo = Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
5) It is not called the Old Testament, it is the Hebrew Bible
6) All blessings are myths – beware of getting what you want

Hello all~

2005-08-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

This is my first one of Dr. Sexson's classes and my first attempt at making a successful blog. Although most of the time I am electronically challenged, blogging doesn't seem too difficult. I am excited about this class and all that I think it has to offer. I am trying to read and understand Words with Power and am finding it difficult. Once I start to comprehend some of his ideas and once I get my class notes in order, I will be sure to post them. I hope that everyone is having a great week and I'll see you all in class!