I just started reading Ann Carson's, Eros, The Bittersweet - a series of
short essays where with both classical literature and philosophy (as well
as Flaubert & Stendahl) she explores all sides - it seems - of this
love/hate binary dance. It's fascinating and has lots of quotes from
unfamiliar and familiar Roman and Greek writers:
Eros loves strife and delights in paradoxical outcomes.
(oops, lost the page and source!).
I think I can recommend the book - particularly if you want to re-fuel the
language of the dynamic we apparently inherit! In the mean time, go at it
everybody!
Stephen V
http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
Currently home of the "Tenderly" series,
A serial work in progress.
> All the years you were gone, I cursed your name.
> While I endured the mockery of fools
> you sought in whorish cities an easier love
> to lock me in your jealous purity.
> There were no mountains for me, no deserts,
> only a blackening kitchen, the path to church,
> the gossip of old women. Where could I
> find any comfort in this village of thorns?
> I dressed in black like a widow and made my house
> with hard and bitter labour. I was the one
> of whom they whispered, the one whose lover left her.
> And now you say that I should wear this rose!
>
>
> On 10/5/06 1:52 PM, "Jon Corelis" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> All the years I was gone
>>
>> by Nikephoros Vrettakos
>>
>>
>> All the years I was gone, I travelled for you.
>> I was searching to find the rose that no one else
>> would ever be able to give you. Over what mountains,
>> what deserts and what seas I passed, what rains
>> furrowed my brow, what oceans made me their toy,
>> no one will ever know. I wrung my heart
>> into a holy chalice, and from it there bloomed
>> that beautiful rose, the one that is as pure
>> as an Easter dawn. Wear it in your belt,
>> on your breast or in your hair. It will suit you well,
>> like the sun of every morning suits the world.
>>
>>
>> -- translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis
>
>
>
> Alison Croggon
>
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
> Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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