Pawns in a Game

Today, we continued with the presentations. Several topics were brought up today including bad parenting in mythology and beginnings, middles, and ends in The Magus. One major theme of the presentations was the free will versus life is determined by fate debate. In Fowles' novel, Nick is like a pawn in Conchis's chess game. He thinks he's making his own decisions when in reality Conchis is always leading him in a certain direction.

On another note, I did my own presentation on the archetypes in The Magus. I thought it went rather well, and I feel confident in regards to my thesis. Hopefully, my ultimate fate on this assignment is a positive one.

Mourning for Adonis

"In the thick of stones, marble, and metal at Delphi, the visitors would think of other ghosts, of the first temples to Apollo, now no more" (Calasso, pg. 146).

Today, we began presentations about our individual essays on the subject of myth and The Magus (or some such topic Professor Sexon has approved of). There were a number of both, with some essays describing females in the book or Nick's hero path, and others discussing corrolations between Disney and Myth or Star Trek and myth, all of which were quite interesting.

My own presentation isn't until next Thursday, but i'm already working on preparing the speech. As it is, my paper's argument is that the primary characters in The Magus all represent some mythological archetype. I feel confident about it... hopefully, Dr. Sexon shares that opinion.

Lord of the Dead

"Then he explained: the girl he wanted must be the girl: Kore. He wanted her to sit on the throne of the dead, forever" (pg. 198).

In today's class, we continued with the final presentations. The first was a film revolving around the story of Hades's abduction of Persephone (also known as Kore). I thought it was rather well done, and brought together several lessons we've gone over throughout the class such as Sporagmos.

The second presentation was also an acted out performance, this time the live funeral of "Kyle Miller". I thought it was interesting that this presentation didn't just focus on Greek myth like the others did, but spanned several cultures: Egyptian, Pirate, Viking, Irish, Chinese, and Cowboy. Altogether, fantastic performances.

Myth and History

"And all at once she understood what myth is, understood that myth is the precedent behind every action, its invisible, ever- present lining" (Calasso pg. 383).

Today, my group and I gave our presentation. Its main theme is how the archtypes associated with the gods still apply to our historical figures, whether it be the Elizabeth Taylor, known for her constant affairs (Aphrodite), or the Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps (Poseidon).

We only see these figures in that one- dimensional light, but there's more to them than that as was the case with the gods. Even Adolph Hitler, evil as he was, had an artistic side. It's time to "lift the veil" and see that everyone is more than just an archetype; more than just a myth.

The Female Traitor

"She was about ten yards away, in an exquisitely pretty First World War summer dress. It was striped mussel- blue, white and pink, and she carried a fringed sunshade of the same cloth. She wore the sea- wind like a jewel. It caught her dress, moulded it against her body" (Fowles, 193).

Having finished The Magus, this passage reminds me of something it did not the first time around: the ancient Greeks perception of the dangers of female sexuality. As far as they were concerned it could not be trusted. A prime example of this was the Bachae. Female sexuality could harm you as a man, in the ancient Greeks' view. This is exactly what happened to Nick in this book. He became so enamored by the sexuality of Lily especially, but also that of Rose and Alison. It was this that led him further along into Conchis's Labrynth, and a great deal of suffering to go along with the journey.

Dead Man

Today we continued our discussion of the Ends by first touching upon the great Johnny Depp movie: Dead Man. The movie is centered on William Blake, a man who does not know he is dead, but through the help of the native American Nobody, realizes his death and accepts his own end.

There were a few key words introduced in the lecture. Eschatology (things of the ends), Logos (relative ordering of the world), and metempsychosis (transmigration of the soul). The atoms of the living form just moves on and are reconfigured. Nothing ever dies, so in a strange way, nothing ever ends.



The Great Pan is Dead

"Then Zeus, who had been just another of the Titans' children, became, alone, the beginning, the middle, and the end" (Calasso pg. 199). This is the sequence all stories must go. So far in class, we've covered beginnings and middles. Now comes the ends. This is best personified through the god Pan's death, which marked the end of the mythological world and the beginning of the religious one. However, hints of old myth carry over into the new ones. For example, it always begins with a bird and a woman. Leda and Zeus in the form of a swan, and the same story with Mary and God. Because of this corrolation, the Spiritismundi (Spirit of the World) has always will exist no matter what religious changes come to pass.