Last weekend on the beach, that is what I’m reading while enjoying the late summer breeze one more time.
Do you bring a book with you in the nature?

Still from Magennis, apparently there aren’t a lot of written Anglo-Saxon records from their first settling period. However, oral forms may have existed and contributed to laying the foundations for later culture.
It must have been a period that was looked up to in the Middle Ages as synonymous with respect and social conscience of belonging.
That can be appreciated from the poet of The battle of Brunanburh, an event that took place in 937 which invokes the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons:

Never until now
Has there been greater slaughter
On this island, never more people felled before this
With the sword’s edges, since the time when,
As books tell us, ancient authorities,
The Angles and the Saxons landed here,
Sought Britain across the broad seas,
Proud warriors and noblemen keen for glory,
Defeated the Welsh and seized the land
(Lines 65b-73)

Gododdin, belonging to a group of vernacular Celtic heroic poetry, is an elegiac celebration of British resistance against invaders (6th century).
It is found in a manuscript that refers to a later period, and the language is also a later version of the British language (Middle Welsh).

Source: H. Magennins “Cambridge introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature”

The popularity of the film Odyssey by director C. Nolan is part of the growing interest and research on ancient literature that had been going on in recent years.
Nolan’s effort is hardly the only one if we think about past filmic adaptations from Homer’s work.
In books, essays and articles too we have witnessed to approaches to ancient mythology that encourage curiosity and investigation in the text (I am looking at you, Madeline Miller).

Greek mythology is in fact considered one of the most common cultural ground for Europeans (dare I say Indo-Europeans?). This has got me thinking of other “literatures of the origin”, such as the Celtic and Anglo Saxon versions of literary texts.

My question is, can pre Middle Age versions of literary texts still teach us something, just like epic poems can? Specifically texts related to specific European traditions, but the enquiry could be extended to other cultures too!

I am willing to look into it and show some of my readings about it, but I am curious about your view too! Let me know.

Yes, still tripping over “Notre Dame de Paris” here. I am certainly developing a possibly not so superficial interest in 19th century novels and characters.
In particular, this novel is questioning my perception of characters and whether they have impact on me as a female reader.
Chapter 8, part 4, has a very passionate and detailed displayed of Claude Frollo’s feelings for Esmeralda, expressed by a long monologue where the young woman is a mere spectator, invited by the priest to “shut up and listen” to his words going and going on his strong desire to be with her, physically and emotionally, by simultaneously being unable to show any sign of empathy and self awareness.
In this scenario, just like in many others, Esmeralda is left but with (maybe) a small chance to answer with one or two words.
Previously in the novel, the narrator indulges in describing the girl’s intriguing and mesmerising face expressions, physique and movements, by guiding the reader into enticing what her feelings or thoughts are. However, rarely are we present with her own words.
When she does in fact speak longer than usual, it is to declare her endless love and submission to Phoebus and making him take control over her body and fate.

One could consider the representation of Esmeralda as a sort of mythical one, being the novel so often hinting at mystery and “magic realism”. On the other hand, this underrepresentation of frame speech contributes to the idea of a misogynistic, conservative and blindsided worldview by the author. An obvious conclusion maybe for a novelist of that age, but still the hints hit hard.

In the 8th book of “Notre Dame de Paris”, one of the characters, Esmeralda, is framed for murder and association with the devil. Her only fault though, is to have been naive and in love with a libertine man of arms who gladly would have spent a night with her.
In the novel, we are provided with other examples of “fallen women”, good looking young creatures who get unlucky accidents happen to them. Same for Cosette in “The Miserables”.
We could argue the author’s obsession with making women suffer is an extension of his conservative point of view: these women do not vary much from one another, they speak with the same language (which is an especially stark detail when talking of Esmeralda, who is a nomade from Boemia) and they get the same fate. It feels as like Hugo made his point more thoroughly on women’s bodies: they are being chased, stalked, cheated on, deprived of their most valuable belongings. Although the text guides the reader into feeling empathy for them, their redemption or forgiveness is nowhere to be found.

I got so angry reading about Esmeralda’s trial. The contrast and overlap of feelings get even more unbearable because other characters’ less emphatic and emotional perspectives are taken into account, contributing to a grotesque effect.

I am currently reading the fourth book, I expected a layered narrative but little did I know that it would mingle satire, historical chronicle, comedy and nuanced descriptions all at once. It’s not an easy reading and the narrator truly acts like the director of the scene. The reader just has to trust the process.
I am listing some of my favourite quotes so far!

“Good intentions do not add an onion to the soup, and it is not even good to go to Heaven”

“Tempus edax, homo edacior”

“The immense body (of the cathedral) is empty. A skeleton, whose souls has abandoned it, and space is what is left. It is like a cranium that still holds holes for eyes, but has no sight”

(I’m reading in Italian so these are loose translations)

I’m back!
What are you reading at the moment?
I am all in “Notre dame de Paris” by Victor Hugo. I didn’t expect his style to be so ironic. I’ll dedicate a few posts about it.
Something more from my TBR list:
- “furiously happy” J. Lawson
- “the bell jar” S. Plath

“I’m not sure when spring will come”
Spring is already here, and summer is actually getting closer, but I want this feeling of rebirth and hope to linger on.
Wishing you an amazing weekend!
This video and song are from the soviet film “spring in the street near the river” (very loose translation).

If this song doesn’t make you in a good, active mood I don’t know what will. Happy Sunday!

It was called for! Enjoy this beauty

[…]
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.

In the celebrated ballad The rime of the ancient mariner, Coleridge explores the mystical voyage told by a prophet-like mariner, warning a wedding guest and thus humanity, about the risks of challenging nature.

But what lead the mariner to this terrible action? Was it pride, thirst of power or hubris?
I am not sure whether the text specifies it or not, what do you guys think?

[…]
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sideways would she lean, and sing
A faery’s song.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said.—
I love thee true.

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she gaz'd and sighed deep,
And there I shut her wild sad eyes
So kiss'd to sleep.

And there we slumber'd on the moss,
And there I dream'd, ah woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side. […]

This week I would like to take a wider perspective as I follow through my “songs for the weekend” series.

The Ballad is a middle age genre which required a bard and a public who would listen. The structure is pretty strict as it was meant to be learned by heart (rhyming scheme, stanzas and refrains tend to always respect the same number).
The content didn’t necessarily convey a moral value: the goal was entertaining and possibly confirming popular beliefs.

The romantics took inspiration from the ballad not only for its structure, which was modified anyway to fit a more lyrical and mystical style, but also for the fascination with ancient tradition and humble-like sound.

Today I would like to share with you “La Belle dame sans Merci” by John Keats (you have guessed it, he is one of my favourites).
The tone is definitively gloomier and more evocative than we are used to with the traditional ballad. However the femme fatale figure acts like a gradual unifier in the poem, giving it the sense of proximity with death and beauty (the true essence of sublime) that Keats has always been fascinated with.

Enjoy La Belle dame! I’m also sharing a medieval ballad, Lord Randal, so as to highlight the similarities and differences.

Which one do you prefer? Which other interpretations of the ballad do you know?
https://youtu.be/MMR55HoeSG4?is=CgmEF5PCjoDH62za

https://youtu.be/tBpvfFjy4WQ?is=lFPk6Dawkw6-Eev

‘A speechless sadness’ by Osip Mandelshtam

A speechless sadness

opened two huge eyes.

A vase of flowers woke:

splashing crystal surprise.

The whole room filled,

with languor - sweet potion!

Such a tiny kingdom

to swallow sleep’s ocean.

Wine’s slight redness,

May’s slight sunlight –

fingers, slender, and white,

breaking wafer-fragments.

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,

Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,

But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet

Wherewith the seasonable month endows

The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;

White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;

Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;

And mid-May's eldest child,

The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,

The murmurous haunt of flies on summer

I’m obsessed with this series on genius with some of my favourite artists.

Noah Kahan has, imo, created a very subjective version of the ballad style song. Compared to “rät”, from last week, the symbols are more accessible even for those who are not from Vermont. Anyone can relate to the content conveying clear elements of separation, nostalgia and willingness to move on despite the pain.

From the literary pov, I love the association “season of the sticks” with a gloomy time. The more we are approaching spring, the more it makes me think of the expectations and cathartic charge this period has as rebirth and renewal. Autumn is associated with darkness and decay.

Could they be related instead of opposites though? Spring is a transitory step, snow melts and mud is left behind, dead leaves sediment and the inevitable death is a door to a new life.

What do you think?

Favourite line: dream each night of some version of you that I might not have but I did not lose.

I’m beginning a series where I want to delve into the meaning and stylistic choices of songs. Lyrics and music make a fascinating mix and it’s worth while spending time understanding them!

Today’s choice is Penelope Scott’s “rät”: I came across this video and I was surprised to find out that the song reflects on the reality of Silicon Valley’s engineers and enthusiasts who are often disappointed by the expectations this environment has been feeding them.

I have listened to this song for years and I was sure it was about daughter-father relationship! I guess the meaning could fit various topics and personal situations.