As The Innamorati is set in the mid-1500’s of Renaissance Italy, I knew that there would be historical changes in the images and meanings of the Siren from antiquity to the Renaissance. I was counting on it, actually, knowing that in Italy at least, there has been a continuous tradition of the Siren and that […]
Sirens IV: Reinventions Read More »
In this "climatic" scene, Lorenzo begins by fiercely resisting to recall the poet in himself while Erminia fights to liberate Lorenzo from his denial and at the same time, satisfy Orpheus' demand that she must first make Lorenzo a poet again before he returns the Sirens' voices to them. Her plan — something along the
Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia’s Embrace Read More »
One of the more interesting developements in the legacy of the Sirens comes after Homer has installed them in his epic poem as “malleable” figures. Having appeared as characters with an ambiguous history, others soon arrived to fill in the gaps of knowledge with inventions of their own. It is in this process of rounding
Sirens III: The Names They Were Called Read More »
I am trying to remember that moment in writing The Innamorati — constructed mainly around the characters of the Commedia dell'Arte– when I decided I needed the Siren Herminia to join the cast. I cannot now conceive of the novel without her — but neither can I recall conceiving the necessity of her in the
Homeric Sirens II: Enchanters of All Mankind Read More »
This excerpt is taken from Chapter Eight in The Innamorati when Erminia finds herself in the piazza, watching a performance of the Commedia troupe, the Libertini. She is stunned by the magic of Anna Forseti's masks. And their power incite in her the longing to be fully the fantastic creature that she is, threatening to
Excerpt from The Innamorati: Erminia’s Song Read More »
Homer offers one of the earliest descriptions of the Sirens in The Odyssey. It comes as Odysseus is leaving Hades, having gotten advice from just about all of the shades in his past. Circe makes it clear that there are still significant obstacles to his journey home and offers suggestions as to how to hear
The Sirens of Homer’s Odyssey I Read More »
More notes from Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy because he says so many exciting things, and I can only choose some to share with the audience at Mythcon. My brain is pretty tired, but reading and writing text allows me to continue to stuff more and more information in without worrying about actually remembering
Fine Tuning: A Second Glance at Ong: Orally Based Thought and Speech Read More »
As part of preparing for my talk at Mythcon — which will be focusing on the re-interpretation of myths in modern literature, especially as this is the anniversary of C. S. Lewis’ brilliant novel Till We Have Faces, based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche — I have been reading widely in the histories and
Orality and Literacy: The Sound of Language. Read More »
Another earlier post from this spring brought forward to join up with my thinking about this interesting group of women. But maybe also about the rites of passage of marriage, especially as an site of enormous social tension in society. Not entirely sure where this is all going to fit into the novel and into
Banished Brides Return With Longbows Read More »
This is a reposting of an earlier post on the folk tales and others from Laura Gonzenbach‘s collections and seemed a good one to follow on the heels of earlier notes. I also want to reference another post on the banished bride I wrote about earlier this year — a variant of the women below.
The Rejected Brides of Folk Tales. Read More »
