The Frogs is my favorite of Aristophanes's comedies. It is the only Aristophanean comedy to feature a god at the beginning -Dionysus, the god of the theatre, and his slave Xanthias. As they walk, Xanthias is meta-textually concerned with telling jokes that will make the audience laugh, and laughter presupposes some kind of suffering, though the … Continue reading Dionysus’s Descent Into Hades In The Frogs
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Aristophanes’s The Birds: A New City in the Sky
Aristophanes The Birds ("Ornithets") is the only comedy written by Aristophanes whose entire action takes place far from the city of Athens. Consequently, the play makes little mention of the circumstances of the Peloponnesian War, or of contemporary Athenian politics. It won second prize at the Dionysia in 414 BC. It is a play about the … Continue reading Aristophanes’s The Birds: A New City in the Sky
Modernism in My Ántonia
A novel is just a glimpse, a framed and sometimes fragmented exploration into the depths of memory, psychology, time and place. Willa Cather's My Ántonia (pronounced "an-ton-ee-yuh") is one of the seminal works of the great American pastoral tradition, similar in style to O Pioneers! It is told as a reflection by Cather's friend from their … Continue reading Modernism in My Ántonia
Thoughts on the Book of Wisdom
The apocryphal Biblical text, sometimes called the "Book of Wisdom" is a collection of 19 chapters intended to encourage readers and listeners to pursue a life of wisdom. It is a non-canonical text that likely emerged from the educated city of Alexandria, Egypt. It is sometimes attributed to Solomon and was listed in the Vulgate … Continue reading Thoughts on the Book of Wisdom
The Story of French Impressionism, Part VI: Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) was one of the key female figures of French Impressionism. Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets (1872) By: Édouard Manet - she often posed for Manet, this time in mourning for the death of her father. Like the other artists of the time, she began her career vying for a spot at … Continue reading The Story of French Impressionism, Part VI: Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt
A Parody of Greek Mythology In The Peace
As with other comedies by Aristophanes, The Peace ("Eirene"), begins in an ordinary and everyday situation and extends out into the absurd, or the impossible. Like The Wasps, it also features a wealthy gentleman overcome by a unique and ridiculous appearance of a mental disease -he plans to fly up to the gods on a giant … Continue reading A Parody of Greek Mythology In The Peace
Susanna: An Apocryphal Fable
The Story of Susanna is a beautiful but brief tale of a virtuous woman, Susanna, who is wrongly accused of infidelity by two lustful men. She has been raised in a family that follows the laws of Moses. She is reportedly very beautiful, which is why two old men spy on her each day. One day, … Continue reading Susanna: An Apocryphal Fable
The Story of French Impressionism, Part IV: Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) was born into a wealthy English family in Paris. His father ran a successful silk trade, which afforded him an upper middle-class lifestyle, unlike his penniless contemporaries, Monet and Renoir. As a young man, Sisley went to study business in London, but he left after four years to return to Paris to study art. … Continue reading The Story of French Impressionism, Part IV: Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille
The Story of French Impressionism, Part II: Claude Monet
A part of the narrative of French Impressionism relies on the exclusiveness of the 18th century Parisian elite - the Académie des Beaux-Arts – the hub of French art culture. The Académie hosted an annual art show, the “Salon de Paris”, which typically showcased preferred political, historical, religious, and mythological works. Winners of these art … Continue reading The Story of French Impressionism, Part II: Claude Monet
The Story of French Impressionism, Part I: Édouard Manet
In contrast to the bold, triumphant, and defined political works of earlier European painters, like Eugene Delacroix for example, the Impressionists were a more muted, subtle group of less defined painters, at least conventional wisdom instructs us so. The Impressionists give us only a glimpse of something, a passing blurred picture of motion; like a … Continue reading The Story of French Impressionism, Part I: Édouard Manet
