[lit-ideas] God as a Character
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 14:42:02 EDT
---- E. Yost writes of God as a 'literary character' in the book, "The
Bible".
Don't know. I try to read the Bible while omitting most of the references
to God. Which I find otiose. In terms of dramatic impact he _is_.
Consider Salome by Strauss, or Judith/Oloferne or Samson e Dalila. All
excellent operas. What does God bring to the proceedings? Nothing!
In the old days, (Camerata Fiorentina), God did play a role in opera (deus
ex machina). But soon, after Monteverdi, it was found otiose. What
audiences wanted was _human_ drama.
Ditto for Euripides. It's true, they say, the good ones like Aeschylus --
and say it all goes to the dogs with Sofocle and Euripide. But God is not
really operative in Aeschylus even. It's Oreste who kills her mother.
ATHENA: You are a matricide. You killed your mother.
ORESTE: (silenced)
JURY: That's not true. Or it's only part of the story.
He recovered the honour of his father. And for that he is
to be saved and pardoned.
And a good thing it was too. Note that in Sartre, the flies follow Oreste
like shit. That's wrong, no?
Cheers,
JL
**************New Deals on Dell Netbooks – Now starting at $299 (A
HREF=http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1219939010x1201342897/aol?redir=http:%2F
%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B213771626%3B35379597%3Bw)
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
