integer on 18 Jan 2001 03:35:14 -0000 |
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<nettime> [ot] [!nt] \n2+0\ gr!!!!!k kultr [.eu akzent zvp] |
[orig To: <lev@shoko.calarts.edu>] 01 z!kl!ng74 th!!!!!!f t!pd >>One party engages in serial harassment of the other for three years. >>The other party finally decides it's never going to stop. >> >>This resembles a Greek tragedy? pnyboer@slambassador.com (Peter Nyboer) zkr!b!z >Well, for a while there, it was Promethian. The current situation is more >Balkan. >However, some general statements about greek tragedy >(http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~hblake/tragedy1.html) that, with parallel >reflection of the nn saga, is sure to provide some insight, if not a laugh: > >In Greek tragedy the tragic situation, in which the characters find >themselves, is always a situation in which man seems to be deprived of all >outward help and is forced to rely entirely on himself. It is a situation >of extraordinary tension, of utmost conflict. Studying the plots of a >number of Greek tragedies, one can find variations of two basic tragic >situations: > >1. First there is the case of man's miscalculation of reality which >brings about the fatal situation. >2. The second kind of tragic situation is that of man between two >conflicting principles. The protagonist is suddenly put at the crossing >point of two duties, both of which claim fulfilment. This is the most >compelling tragic situation and is at the game time the one that has most >often been chosen by the Greek dramatists. > >The earliest presentations probably consisted of a chorus of men dancing in >a ring, reciting or chanting some Greek myth while individual performers >would stand on a rough wooden platform or cart. Spectators squatted on a >hillside to view these early "plays". > >As time passed the sung and danced myths developed a more serious form. >Instead of gaiety and burlesque the "plays" now dealt with the relationship >of man and the "Gods", and tried to illustrate some particular lesson of >life. > >The chorus dressed in goat skins because the goat was sacred to Dionysius >and goats were "prizes" which were awarded for the best plays. Therefore, >the word tragedy is believed to be derived from the Greek word "tragoidia" >which means "goat-song". > >Aeschylus, the poet who best evokes Athenian power and grandeur, is deeply >concerned with the moral issues that power and grandeur raise. He examines >the dangers of overweening arrogance, the ancient rule of blood for blood, >the inevitability of the misuse of power. His conclusions are his own, >often breaking with traditional concepts. > >Where Aeschylus argues for and justifies the ways of the gods, Sophocles is >content to accept them as they are, and treats them with awe and reverence. >He examines the accepted view of some problem and from it draws its central >truth. To Sophocles, any violation of the cosmic order creates suffering, >but suffering can redeem and exalt. His power lies in his compassion, in >his sympathy for his characters, however deluded or broken they may be. > >Euripides, the last of the three great tragedians, belongs to a somewhat >later generation of Greek thought, and is a far more troubled, questioning >and unsatisfied spirit. Euripides is the most direct of the three in his >questioning of established beliefs. Where Aeschylus and Sophocles merely >suggest that the old ways may be wrong, Euripides criticizes them boldly. > >The reason for this sudden interest in man and his position in the order of >the universe has been widely discussed among scholars. We have become used >to speaking of the fifth century B.C. as of the 'Greek Age of >Enlightenment". Civilization had developed, there were numerous changes in >the fields of Greek social and political life. Along with political >independence went a flowering independence of thought, a new way of >thinking and of looking at the world. Philosophy was flourishing. In all >fields new ideas were born, one of the most important. perhaps, being the >idea of harmony as ruling principle of the cosmos. >This idea of harmony was also transferred to the spiritual life of man. He >would live happiest who had attained a harmonious balance in his life. >However. in this yeasting age of growing individualism it seemed to become >harder than ever before to maintain a balance. Too much that was new was >weighing the scales. Traditional values were regarded as open to question >and the authority of mere antiquity was not enough. A growing independence >from the traditional gods was developing. It was from this "climate" that >Greek tragedy emerged. > >Pete. takk. takk. it is no longer dze prezensz ov g od abr dze absensz ov u!ch = reasurez nn !znt l!fe juzt l!fl! +? tralelala + c!ao.nn \\ z!kl!ng74 = beg!n!ng 2 bget 01 feel!ng 4 gr!!!!k kultr + balkan kultr auss! - [ue = total! lvl! + unkoop.e ra t!v] b!lab!al kl!kz+++++ n n n n n n v3kt0r.r2!n - ztra!ng !n 2 dze z!ngular!t! - Netochka Nezvanova f3.MASCHIN3NKUNST @www.eusocial.com 17.hzV.tRL.478 e | | +---------- | | < \\----------------+ | n2t | > e # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net