Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild: Mark Sardella

(1) A Canadian rock band popular in the 1960s to early 1970s, credited with being the very first heavy metal band because the single, “Born to be Wild,” included in its lyrics the phrase “heavy metal thunder.”

Other hits include “Magic Carpet Ride,” which describes a sort of psychedelic mysticism, and a slow moving song called “The Pusher” that seems to condone marijuana use but condemns heavier addictive drugs, such as heroine. In this song addicts are said to be “walkin round with tombstones in their eyes.”

The band still tours and has sold some 25 million records worldwide. Steppenwolf’s music has been used in approximately 50 motion pictures.

Steppenwolf: @BB

(2) Steppenwolf is also an introspective novel by Hermann Hesse that explores the Jungian idea of the shadow, and to which the rock band most likely owes its name.

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Tagore, Rabindranath

Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore, Rabindranath (1861-1941)

Indian renaissance man born in Calcutta, W. Bengal.

Tagore is known throughout India and the world for his paintings, folk songs, verse, short stories, plays and novels.

In 1901 Tagore founded a unique open-air school at Santiniketan, West Bengal.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘asram’ at Santiniketan, Tagore’s school integrates Eastern and Western approaches to education and has flowered into Visva-Bharati university, offering a diverse curriculum in the arts, sciences and humanities while hosting international students from around the world.

The school is fully recognized by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission which funds exceptional foreign students, particularly for graduate studies at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels.

In 1913 Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

In his Presentation Speech Harald Hjärne, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, said

Amra Kunja by Paul Ancheta (Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, W. Bengal, India)

Tagore’s Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), a collection of religious poems, was the one of his works that especially arrested the attention of the selecting critics.

Source » http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1913/press.html

Tagore’s worldly acclaim and societal impact didn’t stop there, however. Knighted in 1915, he shocked India and the British Empire by resigning his knighthood in 1919 in protest over the British colonial presence in India.

On the Web:

“This was a school project in which we had to do a biography of a major poet. I chose to make an interview video with my poet, Rabindranath Tagore. Both are acted by me. Btw, I got an A+. Inspired …”

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Shylock

Hath not a Jew eyes?.... by Pandiyan V

Shylock

A Jewish money-lender in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Shylock ruthlessly insists on receiving a previously agreed on “pound of flesh” when Antonio’s expected fortunes vanish, forcing him to default on a loan.

Some critics suggest that Shakespeare paints a dangerous, anti-Semitic picture. Others defend Shakespeare, citing Shylock’s cutting speech as evidence that he presents not a one-dimensional but, rather, a complex human character:

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?..If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?

Later, Shylock is outwitted by Portia disguised as a lawyer. After unsuccessfully appealing to Shylock’s humanity, Portia insists that he be allowed to remove Antonio’s flesh on the condition that not one drop of blood is carved from his body. “This bond doth give thee here not a jot of blood” (Act 4 Scene 1).

Realizing he has been legally outdone, Shylock lightens up and the potentially grisly tale ends happily.

The fact that Portia is a woman points to Shakespeare’s progressiveness in the area of refuting sex-role stereotypes.

» Merchant of Venice, Reincarnation

On the Web:

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Shakespeare, William

Photo credit: jimmiehomeschoolmom

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

English playwright and poet born in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Shakespeare worked as an actor in London, where he began to compose sonnets.

With the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of players to become known as the King’s Men, Shakespeare leased the first Globe Theatre, erected in 1598. It burnt down in 1613 but Shakespeare and his troupe had already been performing at a new Globe.

The genius of his work, written mostly for the Globe, was recognized by Queen Elizabeth and her court.

Shakespeare enjoyed much success and considerable wealth in his lifetime. Today, many forget that his plays were written to be seen, not read.

If theatre going isn’t a practical alternative, the next best thing might be the BBC television series (VHS and DVD) of Shakespeare’s plays. This production boasts authentic costumes, on-location castles and ancestrally inherited accents to help bring the mystical bard’s works to life.

It has been suggested that Shakespeare is the greatest writer ever, not only in the English language, but in any language. Some feminists contend this claim, suggesting that writers like Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson are equal if not superior to Shakespeare’s wit and wisdom. And others say that if Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had not written in German, he might have rivaled Shakespeare’s literary throne.

This author remembers an Anglican minister once saying that the Biblical Book of Job was “like Shakespeare,” as if to imply that Shakespeare was better literature than the Bible. Many might disagree, and popularity is not necessarily an indicator of absolute value, but from 1986 to 1993 Shakespeare ranked third in the Top 10 Authorities cited in academic journals of the Arts and Humanities, with the Bible at 5^th place.†

† Source: Institute for Scientific Information as cited in The Globe and Mail, Toronto: Southam, February 11, 1993.

On the Web:

» Arjuna, Atlantis, Berkeley (George), Glamour, Hamlet, Homer, Iago, Keats (John), Macbeth, Madness, Merchant of Venice, Milton (John), Othello, Pericles, Psychosis, Radha, Reincarnation, Romeo and Juliet, Shylock, Unconscious

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Science Fiction (sci-fi)

Science fiction 1 by Glamhag

Science Fiction (sci-fi)

A genre of literature, TV and film sometimes trivialized by the arts and literary establishment.

Critics say science fiction characters are wooden, two-dimensional ‘cardboard cutouts’ rarely developed in the manner of, say, a Holden Caufield (J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye) or a Hagar Shipley (Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel).

Some sci-fi writers accept this criticism, saying the medium began as an exploration into the human imagination rather than as a commentary on the human condition.

By way of contrast, H. G. Wells, George Orwell and more recent authors like Frank Herbert (Dune), Ursula Le Guin (The Dispossessed), Kurt Vonnegut (Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five) and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s intense rendering of Arthur C. Clark’s 2001: A Space Odyssey have helped to change the face of sci-fi.

Indeed, William Shatner, who plays Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, says that a good science fiction story must be grounded in distinct human experiences.

Gonzo Bonzo adds:

If you’re looking for some good science fiction focused on characters, you’d better read some of the novels from Robert Silverberg. Dying Inside, which is about a telepath in an early 70’s NYC, who’s losing his power, or Man in a Maze talks about the first astronaut ever to meet alien lifeforms, who comes back being unable to hide his feeling and emotions to his fellow humans, and who chose to exile on giant maze. Book of Skulls is also a good example of human centered SciFi, with very complex and multi-dimensional characters.

In more recent efforts authors like Jeff Vandermeer, Vernor Vinge (with his wonderful Rainbows End), Paul J.McAuley, Iain M.Banks, China Miéville or Ian R.McLeod are good examples of what SciFi is these days. » Source

Regardless of condescension from those literati who think they know best, sci-fi finds itself in a unique position to explore unconventional ideas that the worldly wise regard as ludicrous and unworthy of attention.

An historical example of a truly great sci-fi visionary is Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519). Leonardo worked as a military engineer and inventor in Italy. He was venerated in France as a genius and some of his more imaginative sketches depicted flying machines, robots, a tank and submarines. But Da Vinci kept many of these innovative sketches secret, most likely to avoid ridicule.

While sci-fi may still encounter a similar kind of prejudice, the runaway success of J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek film indicates that the snobs out there may just be incredibly jealous. After all, who can distinguish other than for themselves what’s treasure and what’s trash?

» 2001: A Space Odyssey, Abyss, Alien Possession Theory (APT), Borg, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Asimov (Isaac), Cylons, Hal 9000, Lewis (C. S.), Lexx, Matrix (The), Occam’s Razor, Parallel Universes, Roberts (Jane), Star Trek, Star Wars, Tek War, Temporal Paradox, Virtual Reality

At Earthpages.org:

• Sci-fi, Myth and Many Possible Worlds

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Sappho

Safo o Afrodita, Museu Arqueològic d'Istambul by Sebastià Giralt

Sappho (610-580 BCE)

Greek lyric poetess, born in Lesbos who wrote within the context of the cult of Aphrodite and the veneration of the Muses.

Only 8th and 9th century copies and fragments – along with more fragments obtained from papyrus discoveries since 1898 – of her work and one complete address to Aphrodite remain.

Sappho was married and wrote verse for weddings. She also arranged poetic gatherings where she and other women composed and read poetry, as was the custom of women of good standing in Lesbos. From this she developed several close relationships.

Her extant work reveals no clear evidence of physical intimacy with these women but other ancient figures caricaturized her and the entire island of Lesbos as a center for lesbianism. As such, she went into exile in Sicily, later returning to Mytilene.

She is often cited today as an inspiration for lesbian love. Speaking about herself and her associates, she once wrote,

I think that someone will remember us in another time.

» Goddess vs. goddess

On the Web:

• “Sappho (Σαπφώ) was born in the seventh century BC, in the island of Lesbos. Her love of women reflects a deeper love for civilization.”

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Iago

Shakespeare's Globe by Kieran Lynam

Iago

William Shakespeare’s devilishly clever ‘sour grapes’ character in the play Othello.

Passed over for an official position, Iago becomes jealous of anyone with anything and plots and schemes his chilling revenge through lies and treachery.

He is a good example of intelligent evil at its worst.

After manipulatively tricking Othello into murdering his wife, Desdemona, Iago is finally discovered and, in the outstanding BBC Video production of the play, goes to his grisly fate cackling with maniacal glee.

Indeed, Iago is content with the knowledge that his revenge has been secured, despite his captor Lodovico’s decree, The time, the place, the torture,–O, enforce it!

The Bard adds:

It is interesting that, while we learn about Iago’s “fate,” we do not actually see him punished (on stage, that is) which Shakespeare could have easily arranged (given the number of fights and deaths in the play). So, in one sense, evil incarnate goes unpunished before our eyes. The question, of course, remains–why?? » See in context

Ari Moore adds:

I disagree that Iago was “evil” – there are numerous allusions in the play to his being impotent, ferociously intimidated by what he believed was Othello’s superior sexual prowess. I don’t know if that makes him “evil” so much as misguided and unable to deal with life in a healthy way. » See in context

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Utopia

Utopia by Vanessa Hall

Utopia [Gk: not a place]

A word coined by St. Thomas More in 1516, within a work by the same title, to depict an ideal society found on a fictional island in the Atlantic ocean.

The Oxford English Dictionary adds:

1551 (title), A fruteful and pleasaunt Worke of the beste state of a publyque weale, and of the newe yle called Utopia; written in Latine by Syr Thomas More knyght [publ. 1516], and translated into Englyshe by Raphe Robynson.

The word was later used by the French writer François Rabelais (c. 1494-1553) as the name for an ideal island. And many others followed suit. » Atlantis

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Narcissus and Goldmund

Hesse And His Typewriter by Qtea

Narcissus and Goldmund

A novel by Hermann Hesse set in Medieval Germany about a Christian monk, Goldmund, who strays from monastic life and his close friend and teacher Narcissus to find truth through lived experience.

Narcissus represents a stereotypical – or in the Jungian sense ‘archetypal’ – clergyman bound by rules and regulations whereas Goldmund is a free-thinking wanderer and seeker.

At the end of the novel the two characters, although estranged throughout most of the narrative, meet up favorably and are reconciled.

To this GradstudentCCC adds:

Hajo Smit’s summary contains an error about the ending. He says:

“Goldmund was so deeply disappointed that he gave up his trip and returned to the monastery, pretending that he had an accident.”

This isn’t the case at all. In the end of the book Goldmund *did* have an accident, in which he broke his ribs. He didn’t return to the monastery until much later (even after staying in a hospital for a while). He was very ill from the accident and returned to the monastery in time to die.

On the World Wide Web:

• “Summary of Hermann Hesse’s book Narcissus and Goldmund” by Hajo Smit

» Archetype, C. G. Jung

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Voltaire

Voltaire at Madame Tussauds in London

Originally uploaded by mharrsch

Voltaire (1694-1778)

Psuedonym of French satirist François-Marie Arouet, regarded as the harbinger of the Enlightenment.

His work Candide sharply criticizes the philosopher Leibniz’s view that God created the best of all possible worlds.

In that work the character Dr. Pangloss is a mouthpiece for the Leibnizian view; Pangloss clings to this positive philosophical outlook despite horrendous personal sufferings.

Voltaire himself was a deist, believing in God but only in terms of natural, observable laws. He once said “heaven is where I am.”

He deplored fanaticism, especially that of the masses. In fact, he writes at length about the merits of polite society in contrast to the laboring classes.

There is always, within a nation, a people that has no contact with polite society, which does not belong to the age, which is inaccessible to the progress of reason and over whom fanaticism maintains its atrocious hold…It is not the laborer one should educate, but the good bourgeois, the tradesman.¹

A bumper sticker thought by Voltaire

Originally uploaded by Manny Hernandez

Although Voltaire distrusted the notion of democracy, favoring rule of the enlightened monarch, his satirical political letters earned him a beating and imprisonment for eleven months in the Bastille.

Finding favor, however, with Mme de Pompadour he became historiographer to Louis XV and continued to write voluminously to several notables, rising to become one of the most prominent figures in Europe.

—

¹ Cited in Norman Hampson, The Enlightenment (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976, p. 160).

» Candide, Deism, Juvenal, Gottfried, Wilhelm, Parallel Universes

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