Today was the concluding day for discussion of Apulies' The Golden Ass, with great attention still being payed to the long story within the story of Cupid and Pysche. The idea has been proposed that rather then looking upon Psyche as a bimbo--which is admittedly a conclusion easily reached, with her and a great many other heroines of fairy tale and myth--, look upon her and the story in which she moves in an allegorical sense. Her name, of course, means soul. So we are looking at the story of the evolution of the Soul, and its relation to Love. This adds a whole other fruitful dimension of contemplation.
And, similarly, the hoary fairy tale/mythological chestnut in which the protagonist is told expressly Not to do something, and then of course goes ahead and does it. Some have suggested that maybe it is necessary to disobey, because this is the only way anything of consequence ends up happening, or the protagonist ends up becoming something above and beyond. Otherwise you could fall prey to the anxiety of influence, and run the risk of feeling the need to surpass one that is above you, or something like that(and this assuming one is a writer or of some other artistic bent).

"The final belief is to believe in a fiction which you know to be a fiction, because there is nothing else." I do wish I knew what particular poem by Wallace Stevens this comes from, but it doesn't matter to much, really. It's still great for what it is on its own.

I had actually made it a goal to have TS Eliot's Four Quartets read during the summer. Who duh thunk?

Today was day one of two days to be spent discussing Apuleius' The Golden Ass, a novel which is about seeing and hearing(or not being seen or heard). Which was very amusing, due a great deal to(yes I will admit) silly sexual humor. But that's fine. I also found it quite interesting how Mr. Sexson said that the only "moral" of the story is the story. I'll have to point that out to a great many people from now on, who are always asking me "what's the point of ___ or ____?"
It was a clever construction having the protagonist changed into an ass, because it fits in well with the paradox that that which is the bottom is also the top--or becomes that way--or vice-versa.
Now I thought the injection of fairy tales into the discussion was very intriguing, particularily with the definitoin given them by Mr. Sexson, degenerated myth. Because if 'the only moral of the story is the story", then what are we to make of the moralistic fiber that seems to run throgh so many fairy tales? Or are they not designed to teach us lessons really and this is just the function they've been pegged with for some reason? I do not know.
Though it is intriguing that the story of Cupid and Psyche is so obviously the progenitor of a great many fairy tales.
And I can now add to may list of reasons not to get married(which to my dear mother's dismay perpetually expands)that Jung argued through the Cupid and Psyche story that all marriage is rape in some way or another. While that may be a bit to blunt a proclaimation, even for me, at a certain level I think it is accurate, certainly in a historical context, which doesn't mean we can't necessarily change or alter what our own history will be, but that is enough out or moi for now

Today was a day for preparing questions which will be on the next exam. But before the giving of questions occured, Mr. Sexson brought up a concern, voiced by Elizabeth in her blog where it was stated(and please, Elizabeth, pardon my butchering of your phrase): how can rape, and murder, and sparagmos be justified by a few pretty words? To which Mr. Sexson replied, they simply cannot be. Evil things that happen in this world, such as rape and pain inflicted upon children, cannot be justified; only countered by the one weapon that can effectively be yielded by us: beauty(to which I read "art"). I am yet again reminded of the fact that I need to read The Brothers Karamazov and I also feel that I ought to check out Tarkosky's Andre Rublev now as well. The specter of how little I truly know rears its head yet again.

We were also instructed to pay special attention to page 147 in The Golden Ass, in the last few moments of class. I have not reached said page yet, but will before too long a time goes by. Probably.

One thing I learned today is that it was Homer who first employed the phrase "bit the dust". Wattaya know?

There was also a long, semi-quotation from James Joyce that came primarily to this effect: There are no really immoral or moral books, only well written books, and badly written books. And something succeeds at being true art(which is to say, static) when it meets three criterion: wholeness, harmony, and radiance.

We were also asked to keep in mind that everything has its dark side; such is the paradoxical, give-and-take nature of this world in which we live in.