{Greek Literature [continued (4)] [– Tragedy]}[8th February 1991]

[Redbook8:240-241][19910208:1520d]{Greek Literature [continued (4)] [– Tragedy]}[8th February 1991]

:1520

[continued]

‘Tragedy. Tragedy may have developed from the dithyramb, the choral cult song of the god Dionysus. Arion* of Lesbos, who is said to have worked at Corinth in about 600,** is credited with being the first to write serious poetry in this medium. Thespis (6^th century BC[E]),** possibly combining with dithyrambs something of the Attic ritual of Dionysus of Eleutherae, is credited with having invented tragedy by introducing an actor who conversed with the leader of the chorus. These performances became a regular feature of the great festival of Dionysus at Athens about 534BC[E].** Aschylus introduced a second actor, though his drama was still centred in the chorus, to whom, rather than to each other, his actors directed themselves.

***

*{(Arion – not Anon!)}

**2048G~536BCE

***[ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20:] 401-402]

[continued]

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{Greek Literature [continued (3)] [– Lyric Poetry [continued]]}[8th February 1991]

[Redbook8:240][19910208:1520c]{Greek Literature [continued (3)] [– Lyric Poetry [continued]]}[8th February 1991]

:1520

[continued]

‘The supreme poet of choral* lyric was Pindar from Thebes in Boetia (born 518 or possibly 522[BCE] – died after 446BC[E]),** who is known mainly by his odes in honour of the victors at the great games held at Olympia, Delphi, the Isthmus of Corinth, and Nemea. The last of the lyric poets was Bacchylides (flourished 5^th century BC[E]),*** whose work, though often exquisite, is empty, reflecting the declining significance of myth.’

– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20: 401]

*(for which see ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20: 401])

[Word underlined by broken line, in ms only]

**c[irca]2048G~

***2048G~ff

[continued]

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{Greek Literature [continued] [– Lyric Poetry]}[8th February 1991]

[Redbook8:239-240][19910208:1520b]{Greek Literature [continued] [– Lyric Poetry]}[8th February 1991]

:1520

[continued]

‘Lyric Poetry. Hesiod, unlike Homer, told something of himself, and the same is true of the lyric poets.... There had always been lyric poetry in Greece. All the great events of life as well as many occupations had their proper songs, and here too the way was open to advance from the anonymous to the individual poet.

‘The word lyric covers many sorts of poem. On the one hand, poems sung by individuals or by chorus to the lyre, or sometimes to the flute, were called melic; elegiacs, in which the epic hexameter, or verse line of six metrical feet, alternated with a shorter line, were traditionally associated with lamentation and a flute* accompaniment; but they were also used for personal poetry, spoken as well as sung. Iambics (verse of iambs, or metrical units, basically of four alternatively short and long syllables) were the verse form of the lampoon. Usually of an abusive or satirical – burlesque and parodying – character, they were not normally sung.’

**

*cf [[Redbook8:211][19910205:1030d]{Dionysus and Apollo}[5th February 1991](&ff?),] 211

[The aulos is apparently often referred to a s a type of flute, although it appears to have been a reed-blown instrument]

**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20:] 401

[continued]

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{Greek Literature [– Epic Narrative]}[8th February 1991]

[Redbook8:239][19910208:1520]{Greek Literature [– Epic Narrative]}[8th February 1991]

:1520

‘Epic Narrative’ …. ‘The Iliad and the Odyssey are primary examples of epic narrative, which in antiquity was a long narrative poem, in an elevated style, celebrating heroic achievement.’*

‘By the end of the 6^th century the epic tradition was a spent force until its revival in the Hellenistic period, and the few composers of epic narrative left little but their names.’**

ie from 2048G~512BCE to c[irca]2048R~256.

*– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 20: 400

**– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20: 400]

[continued]

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{Beneath an Etruscan Sky [continued]}[8th February 1991]

[Redbook8:238][19910208:1019b]{Beneath an Etruscan Sky [continued]}[8th February 1991]

19910208.1019

[continued]

‘In the latest period (4th-2nd century BC[E]), depictions connected with the world beyond the grave appeared.* This signifies that new eschatological ideas had become diffused in the Etruscan world; the pessimistic tone of the later tomb pictures contrasts with the doctrine of the transformation of the dead into divinities, a doctrine reported in the literary tradition.’

– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20: 306]

*(in Etruscan funerary pictures)

2048R~256BCE

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{Beneath an Etruscan Sky}[8th February 1991]

[Redbook8:238][19910208:1019]{Beneath an Etruscan Sky}[8th February 1991]

19910208.1019

‘The * celestial dome was divided in 16 major compartments inhabited by the various divinities:

major gods to the east,**

astral and terrestrial divine beings to the south,***

infernal and inauspicious beings to the west,****

and the most powerful and mysterious gods of destiny to the north.’#

#*

*Etruscan

**M~

***A~?

|[-- dotted line connecting A~ & G~ in ms]

****G~?

#C

#*– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 20: 306

[continued]

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{Evolution on Archaic Greek Vases [continued]}[7th February 1991]

[Redbook8:236-237][19910207:1506d]{Evolution on Archaic Greek Vases [continued]}[7th February 1991]

19910207.1506

[continued]

*

Geometric period (c900-700BCE)[:]

‘Until the end of the 8^th century, stylistic development consisted of the evolution of more complex geometric patterns on vases and bronzes. The meander, swastika and checkerboard patterns are prominent examples of the new Geometric decoration. The only curvilinear elements were the compass-drawn circles deriving from the Proto-Geometric age.* The sense of pattern and proportion was strong – of rhythm, too, as the geometric forms became broken into panels of varying widths. More significant, however, was the application of this abstract formalism to the creation of a figure style representing men and animals.**

‘On the earlier Geometric vases, the simpler Proto-Geometric forms were soon diversified, with the addition of motifs that may owe much to the patterns of basketry. The tendency was for more and more of the vases to be covered with this decoration, so that something of the simple effectiveness of earlier wares was lost. Eventually, the encircling friezes were broken into symmetrical panels and registers; and in the 8^th century [BCE], some friezes were composed of repeated figures of animals, crouching or grazing, drawn in a simple silhouette style, with their limbs reduced to basic geometric forms in harmony with the overall geometric composition. Once human figures began to be represented, however, the purpose soon became to depict a scene of cult or action.... This is a conceptual art, owing nothing to observation[,] *** and expressing emotion or action by the most basic movement of body or limbs. Pattern determines the composition of of the figure scenes, and the few blank areas are filled with small, varied geometric designs.’****

#

*[See last previous entry]

**– ibid [– Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:325]

***{cf [[Redbook8:166-167*][19901231:1301d]{Geometric Pottery}[31st December 1990][&ant],] 166;

IX. [] 137}

****cf Mediaeval Manuscript illumination?

#– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:] 325-6

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{Evolution on Archaic Greek Vases}[7th February 1991]

[Redbook8:236-237][19910207:1506c]{Evolution on Archaic Greek Vases}[7th February 1991]

19910207.1506

[continued]

There is an interesting development from the collapse of Mycenaean civilisation and its art:

{Greek} Dark Ages (c1200-900BCE)[:]

‘In the pottery of the 11^th century BC[E] it can be seen that the old Bronze Age shapes persisted but that the simple floral patterns of the earlier period had been stylised out of recognition and poorly executed.

Proto-Geometric:

‘Before the end of the 11^th century [BCE], however, when Greece began to recover from the invasions, life and culture began to develop rapidly, and the vase painter took a new interest in his craft. Shapes were tauter and better proportioned, and the old patterns were executed with a new finesse, aided by improved equipment – a multiple brush and compasses. With these, the painter decorated selected areas of his vase with distinctive concentric circles and semi-circles; he admitted but few other patterns – simple zigzags and wavy lines.’

– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 25: 325

[continued]

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{The Decade of Men}[7th February 1991]

[Redbook8:235][19910207:1506b]{The Decade of Men}[7th February 1991]

19910207.1506

[continued]

[A cutting in the ms of an article in [The] G[uardian] 19910207:[p]24headed “America’s call to arms for the wild, weeping, roaring, confused men of yesteryear” by Simon Tisdall in Washington, covering “the uncertain call to arms of the American Men’s Movement, which is attracting a growing number of adherents”, includes the following annotated extracts:]

‘The premise is that the American male has had a raw deal, and that the time of liberation is nigh.* Weeping, roaring and bonding are some of the proffered solutions. “I really think the 90s will be the decade of men, just as the 60s and 70s were the decades of women.” said Chris Harding, the editor of Wingspan: Journal of Male Spirit, a quarterly whose circulation has risien from 15,000 to 125,000 in the space of a year.’

**

*{cf IX: [[Redbook9:20][19910331:1706c]{The Decade(s) of Men}[31st March 1991],] 20}

**

64A~1952

64J~1960 \

64G~1968 >60’s & 70’s

64R~1976 /

64C1984

64M~1992 >90’s

64U~2000

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{Cycles of liberation and restraint}[7th February 1991]

[Redbook8:235][19910207:1506]{Cycles of liberation and restraint}[7th February 1991]

19910207.1506

[A cutting in the ms of an article in [The] G[uardian] 19910205:[p]8 headed “Academic talk that makes the toes curl” by Derek Brown in New Delhi, covering the proceedings of the “Orgasm Conference”, includes the following annotated extracts:]

‘It is Dr Reinisch’s contention that “sex-positive” attitudes in much of the world have given way to “sex-negative” ones. She offered, over tea, the example of India, whose people created the sinuously explicit temple carvings of of Khajuraho and elsewhere, but now live in one of the most myth-ridden societies.*

‘A similar retreat from frankness has happened in Japan, where every coital possibility was graphically illustrated in the erotic prints used by Dr. Reinisch to illustrate her talk.** (If the lady has curled toes, she’s having an orgasm, it seems.)

‘The West, no less than the East, has its cyclical bouts of liberation and restraint.’

***

*Built c[irca]950-1050CE

2008A~

**Presumably dating within the last two centuries or so?

***Yes, I know that press-cuttings are no substitute for Evidence....

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