[lit-ideas] Re: Auerbach on Mimesis
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 12:46:26 +0900
On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 11:38 AM, Andy <min.erva@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Can the philosophical proposition lie in the spirit of something? Isn't
> that point of philosophy, or is philosophy just isms unrelated to reality?
> It seems to me that From Here to Eternity captured some of what John wrote
> below. But then maybe that's why I'm not a philosopher.
>
>
Thanks, Andy. I'd be interested to hear you say more about From Here to
Eternity. If you'd like a quick introduction to Auerbach, the Wiki entry at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Auerbach
seems pretty good. The following is an extract,
>By far the most frequently reprinted chapter is chapter one,
Odysseus' scar<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus%27_scar_%28Auerbach%29>
in
which Auerbach compares the scene in book 19 of
Homer<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer>
's *Odyssey <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey>,* when
Odysseus<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus> finally
returns home from his two decades of warring and journeying, to
*Genesis<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis>
22:1,* the story of The Binding of
Isaac<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding_of_Isaac>.
Highlighting the psychological transparency and consistency of the
characters in the *Odyssey* as against what he regards as the psychological
depth of the figures in the *Old
Testament<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Testament>
*, Auerbach suggests that the *Old Testament* gives a more historical
impression than the *Odyssey*, which he classifies as closer to legend in
which all details are leisurely fleshed out and all actions occur in a
simple present – indeed even flashbacks are narrated in the present tense.
It is in the context of this comparison that Auerbach draws his famous
conclusion that the Bible's claim to truth is "tyrannical," since its many
omissions establish the insistence that "it is the only real world."
>Auerbach summarizes his comparison of the texts as follows:
The two styles, in their opposition, represent basic types: on the one hand
[*The Odyssey* 's] fully externalized description, uniform illustration,
uninterrupted connection, free expression, all events in the foreground,
displaying unmistakable meanings, few elements of historical development and
of psychological perspective; [in the Old Testament] on the other hand,
certain parts brought into high relief, others left obscure, abruptness,
suggestive influence of the unexpressed, "background" quality, multiplicity
of meanings and the need for interpretation, universal-historical claims,
development of the concept of the historically becoming, and preoccupation
with the problematic.
>Auerbach concludes by arguing that the "full development" of these two
styles exercised a "determining influence upon the representation of reality
in European literature."
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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