et in Arcadia ego

This evening I decided to start going through my books here at home to catalogue on LibraryThing, and I came across quite a few fun things on my shelves I had forgotten about. One of these was Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. I saw it performed several years ago and liked it, so I bought it. Well, upon finding it, I read the brief play tonight, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember that when I first saw the play that there were several references, literary, Latin, and the like, that I picked up on but didn't understand-- it was pleasant this time around, years later, to get some of these witticisms.
One theme of the play I can particularly appreciate as I toil in the academic world is the picture of the scholars who pick through the historical record-- notes in books, pictures, scraps, etc.-- to try to piece together scenes from the past. That they get it so wrong because they find only what they're looking for is practically a universal truth.
The way Stoppard alternates (and doesn't) between past and present is quite astonishing, as well. The fact that I enjoyed it again and yet still didn't get the full mathematical/philosophical complexities means I'll just have to pick it up again in a few years.

Dante Comic

Okay, here's a post appropriate for the holidays-- a Dante comic. It's just dorky enough for my taste. I found it by following a search link (searching blogs for "dante") that led someone to my blog-- the search also listed this post. Many thanks to rubinesque, from whom I snatched this photo-- I only reproduce it (and not only link to it) because I didn't think everyone would follow the link, and they'd miss out on the image. I love that it follows the traditional iconography for Dante and Vergil, too. 

'Losers' win...at love!

Who knew my mother could give me such a hot tip? She just informed me that 'Biggest Loser' Matt and runner-up Suzy are now dating. The Biggest Loser was one of the few shows I watched this fall, primarily because of its timeslot before House, the best drama on tv. I guess I should have guessed when Matt let Suzy give him a dramatic haircut towards the end of the season-- only a few episodes before the gang had gone for makeovers at a fancy salon and he'd refused a major cut. Well, best of luck to them both.

Photo test-- Temple

So here I am trying out Picasa's blogging feature. This is a photo I took when in Rome in the summer of 2002. It's the temple to the Divine Faustina and Antoninus Pius. Here's a link to an image of the front. I always liked the dramatic look of this shot, it seemed majestic to me. 

the complexity of Dante's "Vergil"

Here's another quotation that won't make it into the paper, but I wanted to share:

“But Dante’s Vergil, particularly in the Inferno, is far more than a prophetic author and exemplary guide. He is also a tragic figure whose intellectual, emotional and psychological complexity accounts for much of the dramatic energy in Dante’s poem. After all, most of the action of the journey through Hell involves Vergil in some way, usually through his relationship to the pilgrim, himself a creation of the poet. Although Vergil appears most often as a wise guide and a source of knowledge for the pilgrim, there are crucial moments when Dante the poet seems to undermine Vergil’s authority and credibility in order to enrich the aesthetic and moral structure of his poetic universe.”

Guy P. Raffa, “Dante’s Beloved Yet Damned Virgil” in Dante Aligheri, Inferno: The Indiana Critical Edition. ed. and trans., Mark Musa. (Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana UP, 1995), 266-285. 266.

Dante, "thinker and poet"

As I work on my Dante & Vergil paper for my Reception course, I find I won't be able to work in this great quotation, so I'm going to share it here. Domenico Comparetti (VMA pg. 199) presents Dante as a poet of the Middle Ages, yet distinguishes what sets him apart from his contemporaries:

"[Dante] has a high opinion of the human intellect, and though he considers its powers as limited, yet he feels a great respect for those of its representatives who were independent of and anterior to the mission of Christ; hence he is not merely acquainted with the ancients through the medium of the schools of grammar, nor does he confine his study of them to what is barely necessary, but he devotes himself directly to them, not as a grammarian or a philologist, still less as a humanist, but as a thinker and a poet."

fun with Greek

My 'baby Greek' textbook, From Alpha to Omega, began every chapter with a fun little phrase in Ancient Greek. These are two I liked:

This one is from Lession 18 (pg. 109)
"νίψον ἀνόμημα μὴ μόναν ὄψιν
(Wash off your sin, not only your face)
--palindrome on a font in the cathedral of the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul"

Palindrome is a Greek word, too-- πάλιν is an adverb meaning "back, again, once more" and δραμεῖν (aor. of τρέχειν) is the verb "to run" so a παλίνδρομος is a "running back again" (Liddell & Scott).

This one is from Lesson 49 (pg. 347)
"τὰ δ' ἄλλα σιγῶ· βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ μέγας / βέβηκε
(about the rest, I'm silent-- a great ox has stepped on my tongue)
--the palace guard is afraid to say more in Aeschylus' Agamemnon 36-37"

Apparently Aeschylus is known for his wacky images like this. Sure wish I had the time/opportunity to read the great tragedians in the original-- οἴμοι (that was my favorite word in Greek as an undergrad. It means "woe to me!" or "alas!" and is primarily found in Tragedy).

Hamlet in German

At a book sale several weeks ago, Dennis picked up for me Werke in zwei Bänden-- The complete works of Shakespeare in German! I love to flip to passages I am familiar with in the English, and compare them to the German-- it's much easier to read the German than you'd imagine-- especially because Shakespeare's English was even closer to German than ours is today. I've reproduced here both the English and German of one of my favorite passages of Shakespeare, from Hamlet II.ii, in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trying to figure out what's up with the "mad" prince, but Hamlet realizes they've been sent for by the king for this very task. Here is his response to them:

Text from the recent Cambridge edition of Shakespeare's Hamlet, ed. Philip Edwards (Cambridge: 2003). II.ii.280-291:

...I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,-- why, it appeareth no other thing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals-- and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me..."

And in German (note: for each "eszet" in the text of the book, I have typed double "s" here, and each umlaut has become the vowel followed by "e"):

Ich habe seit kurzem-- ich weiss nicht, wodurch,-- alle meine Munterkeit eingebuesst, meine gewohnten Uebungen aufgegeben, und es steht in der Tat so uebel um meine Gemuetslage, dass die Erde, dieser treffliche Bau, mir nur ein kahles Vorgebirge scheint, seht irh, dieser herrliche Baldachin, die Luft, dies praechtige umwoelbende Firmament, dies majestaetische Dach mit goldnem Feuer ausgelegt: kommt es mir doch nicht anders vor als ein fauler, verpesteter Haufe von Duensten. Welch ein Meisterwerk ist der Mensch! Wie edel durch Vernunft! Wie unbegrenzt an Faehigkeiten! In Gestalt und Bewegung wie ausdrucksvoll und wunderwuerdig! Im Handeln wie aehnlich aenem Engel! Im Begreifen wie aenlich einem Gott! Die Zierde der Welt! Das Vorbild der Lebendigen! Und doch, was ist mir diese Quintessenz von Staube? Ich habe keine lust am Manne...

I especially like the parts: "this majestical roof fretted with golden fire" = "dies majestaetische Dach mit goldnem Feuer ausgelegt" and all of the exclamations at the end starting with: "What a piece of work is a man!" = "Welch ein Meisterwerk ist der Mensch!" and don't forget: "and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" = "Und doch, was ist mir diese Quintessenz von Staube?"

If there are any requests of favorite parts in Shakespeare that you'd be curious to see in German, let me know. I think it's a fun distraction-- and probably helps with my German!