All three Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, have written plays related to Oresteia, a tragic tale of the seemingly relentless misfortunes of the House of Atreus, descendants of Tantalus. What distinguishes Aeschylus’ trilogy from the others, imo, is the use of the mystic character Cassandra and the depiction of the Eumenides, both are essential to the main theme of the trilogy, namely justice, from executing vengeance to trial by […]
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“Electra” by Sophocles
Quotes: “Deceit was the plotter, Lust the slayer, two dread parents of a dreadful phantom, whether it was god or mortal that did this deed.” And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus sitting on my father’s throne; when I look on him wearing the very robes which my father wore and pouring libations at the hearth where he killed him; and when I see […]
Read more“Poetics” by Aristotle
Poetry Is Imitation First, the instinct of imitation is implanted in man from childhood, …he is the most imitative of living creatures, and through imitation learns his earliest lessons; and no less universal is the pleasure felt in things imitated. …Thus the reason why men enjoy seeing a likeness is, that in contemplating it they find themselves learning or inferring, and saying perhaps, ‘Ah, that is he.’ … Next, there […]
Read more“The Man Who Laughs” by Victor Hugo
[Also published under the title: By Order of the King] “I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.” Synopsis This book reminded me of the movie “On the Waterfront“, especially the famous […]
Read more“Notre-Dame de Paris” by Victor Hugo
Historian, Philosopher and Poet If I can quote one passage from Hugo’s books that best reflects the author, the focus of his passions, the style and architecture of his novels, it would be the following: “There he was, serious, motionless, absorbed — all eye, all ear, all thought. All Paris was at his feet, with the thousand spires of its buildings, and its circular horizon of gentle hills, with its […]
Read more“Candide” by Voltaire
How to Produce a Good Tragedy “To be new without being odd, often sublime and always natural, to know the human heart and to make it speak; to be a great poet without allowing any person in the piece to appear to be a poet; to know language perfectly–to speak it with purity, with continuous harmony and without rhythm ever taking anything from sense.”
Read more“The Last Day of a Condemned Man” by Victor Hugo
This book is not an enjoyable read, not in the usual sense of the word. In fact, it caused me mental and physical discomfort, if not downright pain. The only other book that had a similar effect is Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”. These two books capture the last agonies of two men condemned to death, one by a terminal disease, the other by the death penalty, a social disease. […]
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