Spring 2005 CLAS-E116/W Exchanges
Back to main Exchanges page
This section shares e-mailed questions, conversations —
exchanges — bewteen students and Professor Nagy
and Kevin McGrath on topics related to class Dialogues.
On 2/28/05 Janie Rangel wrote:
Professor Nagy, You asked me to e-mail you my question/interpretation
from the most elaborate of the hydria shown in last week's class:
I wondered if the positioning of Iris and Hektor's parents as
a framing device around Achilles was designed to show him both
the divine and parental agony over the death and mutilation
of Hektor. By cutting off his vision/view of Patroklos' psukhe,
they force Achilles to focus his attention on Hektor and thereby
force him to re-humanize himself and set aside the role of uber-avenger:
neither the gods nor the mourners want to deny Achilles his
grief --- instead they want him to acknowledge theirs as well.
My question is a bit off track: is the visual convention of
the psukhe as a smaller version of the dead person a direct
descendant of the early Mediterranean convention whereby the
Dormition of Mary usually includes Christ holding a much smaller
version of his dead/sleeping mother in a state of readiness
for transport into heaven?The two seem almost too close for
coincidence.
Thank you. Janie Rangel
Professor Nagy answered:
Dear Janie (if I may, and please call me Greg), I am deeply
moved by your text. It makes a lot of sense to me. I’m
sharing with my colleagues Kevin and Jenny, who will be particularly
interested in your comments. Jenny is working on a project that
is directly related to the Dormition theme.
Warm regards, Greg
On 2/28/05 Colin Petz wrote:
How are you Professor, You asked me to remind you of the reference
I made as you were discussing the "Framing" of the
Heroic action depicted on the Hydria shown in class last week.
It reminded me of the opening scene from John Ford's 1956
film, "The Searchers". You recall that the Sister-in-Law
of Ethan (John Wayne) peers out through the open door of her
darkened cabin into the stunning Western landscape, which is
"framed" by the cabin's portal.
Perhaps the Director wanted to contrast the domestic simplicity
of the woman's life, and perhaps our lives as well, w. the dramatic
potential of the Heroic outer world. He wanted to characterize
the woman as an Observer (hence the framing effect), of the
dramatic action yet to unfold.
This mise-en-scene immediately develops w. Ethan on the horizon
giving human perspective to the vastness of the frontier and
portending the Heroic events that are soon to transpire.
However, Ethan rides into the scene not as the Hero, but more
aptly the Antihero. Was he denied his Kleos while a soldier
in the Civil War?
See you in class, Colin
Professor Nagy answered:
Dear Colin (and please call me Greg), this is a beautiful insight
(or, better, outsight) that we at CHS will be proud to “publish”
on our website for “Night Heroes,” as our team affectionately
calls our course.
Gratefully, Greg
On 2-12 Stephen Kiel wrote:
Dear Professor Nagy, I wanted to express my enthusiasm for
Sappho's Fragment 31, covered inyesterday's class. I had enjoyed
this poem a few years ago as a student atUniversity of Vermont,
before I transfered to the Extension School. It wasn't until
I read the poem again for John Hamilton's "Furor Poeticus"
course that the real brilliance of the words leaped from the
page and into my very psukhe. Professor Hamilton detailed the
space created in the poem by the opening ambiguous triangulation,
the sudden appearance of "emmi" at the end followed
with "tethnakan", and (most stunningly, in my opinion,)
the effect of the words in line 9, "glossa eage",
incorrectly "corrected" (with the insertion of "mu")
in the philological tradition of philhellenism. I felt honored
to hear this directly from the discoverer, and inspired anew
to investigate again what has become perhaps my favorite short
poem.
In this way, it is perhaps more a "need" to express
my enthusiam, than a "want". Thank you for your time...
Sincerely, Stephen Kiel
Professor Nagy answered:
Dear Stephen,I treasure your kind words and am sharing them
with Kevin.
Warm regards, Greg
|
