pogo's place: Mermaid- The Waterline

Mermaid - The Waterline p1

24 October The Waterline p1
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104111

Sur la Lune- The Little Mermaid
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlemermaid/index.html

Illustrations at Sur la Lune
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/littlemermaid/index.html

Andersen's story of the mermaid was not completely original in it's content. The story of teh water-sprite who falls in love with a passsing prince is far older than Andersen's Mermaid. The best-known variant is found in Dvorak's Rusalka, written as an opera. And although Rusalka never has a fishtale, she is a sprite and in the end she dies. There is no redemption for her. The prince's rejection kills her.

Another version is found in Jan de Hartog's, Lost Sea relating the tales of the Zuider Zee of a mermaid who fell in love with a passing sailor. Not all mermaids and water-sprites fall into the catagories of sirens luring sailors to their deaths or water-sprites who drown men in ponds. There are also the tales of the Willies and Syphlids who become water-nymphs because their betrothed jilted them on the eve of their wedding and left them languishing into an endless death that suspended them between heaven and earth.

Although historically, there are volumes of literature regarding this, the western society became scientific in the 19^th century with the rise of industrialism, capitalism and Darwinism. With the Rise of Darwin, came the Fall of Man. Man became only another "thing" exploited mercilessly by industry and governments as he no longer had any soul or divine spiritual nature. If there is no God, then it's ipossible to say that man was created in God's image, easily nullifying 5000years of thinking. Science combined with commerce justifies exploitation of resources. Man is just another factor for economic thinking, formulas and projections. He loses his identity and value on the tables and statistical charts. He's no longer a bit lower than the angels, but rather counted along with the cattle, the hogsheads and lambchops. The Judeo-Christian Economist can refute any argument and justify greed by citing, "the poor shall always be amongst you.." or "he who does no work, should not eat;" thereby ignoring all the injunctions and provisions for the widow, the poor, the orphan, the shirtless, the ill, the imprisoned, etc. They do no work, so let them suffer: "their misery is not my responsibility". And if confronted, then the polemics change to "their work is of no value, so they have no food," as if the rich did not benefit from the exploitation of those who bear their throne.

The government is worse, propagating the propaganda inscribed on the Statue of Liberty and writing within the Bill of Rights while creating mass round-up, ignoring the hardships of the impoverished and making Congress –approved packages to dump billions on foreign governments while th poor in America have no guaranteed food, shelter of healthcare.

Surprisingly after a century of scientific thought and Freudian psychology and all manner of psychological models to compartmentalize and analyze people according to pet theories, modern neurological science has finally validated the pain people suffer from rejection. Until then, a person could be described as dysfunctional, hysterical, neurotic and numerous other psycho-jabber terms to shove him in a box as an interesting object. Now if someone ridicules you for the pain you suffer because your husband walked out on Christmas morning, or he abandoned you with a thousand dollar telephone bill created by a connection to his other woman, your suffering is now scientifically proven. It's not just in your head, it's really in your brain. Hopefully women will be able to use such exams in the future to lay claims on those who have so cruelly abandoned them as proof of undue mental and phyusical suffering and cruelty.

Werther, be thou vindicated, it aint just the bullet in your head or heart, but the pain in both places. I bet Goethe is jumping in his grave with jubilation over these findings.

rejection causes pain

Jan de Hartog, The Lost Sea
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0848809823/002-9958825-9044810?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

Wikipedia- Jan de Hartog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_de_Hartog

Jan de Hartog Biography
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:MruvbdidOTwJ:www.ibiblio.org/maritime/Scheepvaartnieuws/Pdf/scheepvaartnieuws/2002/specialeedities/hartog.PDF+%22jan+de+Hartog%22&hl=en

Movie listing at NYT
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=241858

Antonin Dvorak, Rusalka
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/2003/Aug03/DvorRusa.htm
Vaclav Neumann, Czech Philharmonic with Benackova, Soukupova, Ochman, Drobkov

Antonin Dvorak, Rusalka
http://www.artsworld.com/music-dance/works/a-c/rusalka-antonin-dvorak.html
synopsis by Opera News

Massenet, Werther Libretto
http://www.karadar.com/Librettos/massenet_werther.html

Werther at Vienna State Opera
http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/Content.Node2/en/10898.php
historical notes of the premiere

Goethe, Werther Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/goethe/werther/1wert001.htm
Guenberg Deutsch

Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
http://www.bartleby.com/315/1/

Kirjastro- Goethe
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/goethe/werther/1wert001.htm

Goethe's Werther and the Critics
http://www.boydell.co.uk/71132848.HTM

Werther links
http://www.geocities.com/wertherfilm/Links.html

Ballet : Les Syphlides
http://www.australiadancing.org/subjects/4461.html
history of the ballet

Royal Ballet and Nureyev
http://www.ballet.co.uk/nureyev/rn_rb_roles.htm

Royal Ballet on DVD
http://films.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/cpc_149201_vtl_actor_c15498964.html

Swan Lake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake

1 December 2004 Nix of Mill Pond
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fairytales_myths_fables_&legends/112524

3 November Silence of Longing part 2
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104342

part 2: Rusalka, Berg and literary social criticism
http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/11/silence-of-longing-p2-1-november.html

1 November The Silence of Longing p2
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104349

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104342

reposted on 3d November was deleted
http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/11/silence-of-longing-p2-1-november.html

2 November Silence of Longing Part 1
http://www.suite101.com/articles.cfm/16568
intro

1 November The Silence of Longing p1
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104352
http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/11/silence-of-longing-p1.html

24 October The Waterline p1
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104111
http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/10/mermaid-waterline.html

24 October The Waterline Going Deeper p2
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104110
http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/10/mermaid-going-deeper.html

24 October 2003 The Waterline: Drowning p3
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/104109
http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/10/mermaid-drowning.html

pogo's place

Friday, October 24, 2003

Mermaid- The Waterline

0 Comments:

About Me

Previous Posts