✨lit thoughts✨

Nothing just me having lots of thoughts about reading and writing

[almasef]

Gandalf: listen, I’m gonna send you to pick up my hobbit friends, play nice okay, they’re not used to life outside the shire bubble

Aragorn: *doesnt bathe for a week* *puts on dark cloak* *pulls up hood* *hides in dark corner* *smokes his pipe for fog effect* *slips bartender a twenty to spread vague rumors about him*

[almasef]

I’m not the world’s biggest Austen fan (don’t love her, don’t hate her, she’s very talented but the novel of manners just really isn’t my cup of tea, the 2005 Pride and Prejudice is an aesthetic masterpiece but that’s as far as my obsession goes)

And so I’m reading Mansfield Park for the first time and what am I supposed to do with Fanny and Edmund?? Do I ship them?? Do I not??? Because like on the one hand they’re lowkey kinda cute together and overall Edmund is so sweet to Fanny and I feel like it’s implied that there is something between them. But on the other hand they’re COUSINS??? Like homegirl jane, WHY do they have to be cousins. Even in Austen’s time that was half taboo. Every time Fanny and Edmund interact and I think “oh, that’s cute” I feel like I have to go confess or something

[almasef]

[when-the-pawnn]

Something I’m noticing with how people view Odysseus and Achilles is that by rejecting the mischaracterization that the two of them are solely tragic loverboys and simply good-hearted, they choose to go the other direction by making them 100% evil with no redeeming qualities.

Which, that’s also a mischaracterization. There has to be balance here, you know?

[almasef]

A really good point, and if I can add on, I think it’s important to consider that to their original Greek audience, Odysseus and Achilles were intentionally flawed heroes. Heroes for sure, but not meant to be perfect people.

Achilles?? His rage and refusal to forgive killed Patroclus, his best friend (or lover?) not to mention countless other Greeks. But he was also a leader of men, a loyal prince and soldier, a favorite of the gods, and despite having no obligation to participate in the war he stayed and fought for ten years. And at least in the beginning, we’re meant to sympathize with him, because after all, Agamemnon wronged him deeply.

Odysseus?? Homer himself acknowledges that Odysseus is not an honest man, and in the Iliad Achilles berates him for being manipulative instead of straightforward. But his cunning and dishonesty are generally because he’s so desperate to get home to his wife and son that he’ll do anything to make that happen—showing a profound devotion to love and family.

Essentially, I think part of the mastery of Homer is that he doesn’t want us to place these characters on a pedestal OR hate them completely. He just shows us/reminds us that human beings are very complex, and that one person is capable of both right and wrong, which is very important, because there will always be people in our lives we have to learn to love in spite of their mistakes.

[almasef]

Greek army: *getting absolutely destroyed, their heroes and friends are dead, the gods have turned against them, the Trojans have forced them to retreat for the first time in the entire war and are getting ready to burn their ships*

Achilles back in his tent:

[almasef]

If you don’t think the Iliad is funny:

Agamemnon gets a message from Zeus that the gods are on their side so they need to go into battle.

And Agamemnon is like, sweet. Except, just for kicks, I’m gonna tell the entire Greek army that the gods told us we can go home, and then they’ll all be furious because they wanna keep fighting for another ten years!! And win glory in battle!! and then I’ll be like, surprise!! And they’ll adore me!!

Except when Agamemnon tells them they can go home, instead of being upset, the entire army screams in celebration and abandons camp and books it to their ships to load up their plunder and set sail.

And then a panicking Agamemnon has to figure out how to tell the entire (heavily armed) Greek army that, haha actually he was just kidding

[glossc1]

the odyssey 𓂃 𓈒𓏸

[almasef]

Can we appreciate this goooorgeous art

[almasef]

Rereading the Odyssey and once again find myself confused about how I’m supposed to feel about Odysseus. Will report back shortly

[almasef]

Update: I can’t decide if it was my classics professor’s influence or just that I’ve been listening to Epic the Musical but I’ve decided I’m currently vibing with Odysseus

The one thing I still really can’t get over is that he spends like seven frickin years sleeping with Calypso and although it was sorta kinda against his will, he goes back to Ithaca and murders all the suitors and is like, wow, thank goodness that Penelope has stayed faithful to me this whole time bc otherwise I’d have to kill her to. Like ??? Odysseus??? Even if she hadn’t stayed faithful it would’ve been sorta kinda against her will?? (which Emily Wilson brings up in the intro to her translation of Odyssey and even if you are against the Emily Wilson translation it’s a valid critique)

However in Book XVII when Odysseus’ old dying dog Argos wags his tail as Odysseus walks past because he recognizes his master’s voice even after 20 years, and Odysseus cries. Ugh. My traitorous little heart

[almasef]

Can we just acknowledge the fact that the publishing industry has become so greedy, materialistic, and political that it’s practically impossible to publish anything of real quality and storytelling is losing all its meaning.

Writers and artists used to spend years on a single piece of work that truly expressed something about themselves and about the world, that invited people to feel and think and interact in a new way.

The upper class used to value art and literature so deeply that they would sponsor their favorite writers and artists, so that they could dedicate themselves to their work over extended periods of time.

These days, you can’t even get your work seen by an agent without building a social media following. And even if, by some miracle, your work gets seen by a publisher, odds are they won’t publish it because it’s too controversial or it doesn’t line up with the latest trending social agenda. And even if, by some miracle, it gets published, they won’t risk any more of their money than they have to. They don’t do any marketing for you, any publicity. And if you sell well they’ll demand another book as fast as possible.

Literature may be published to the collective, but it is written for the individual. It shouldn’t just feed our current perspectives and beliefs. It should challenge us to look backward, forward, inward, and outward at something new.

For most of history, storytelling has been a means of connection, culture, and expression, not financial gain. Whether orally through recitation or song, physically through dance or ritual, or visually through art or written language, the underlying, deeper function of storytelling is to explore what makes all of us human and how we are all connected through the human experience. That should not be a lucrative experience, nor an expensive one.

A culture that monetizes its art and literature is placing restrictions on critical thinking and self expression. I’m not saying that artists and writers shouldn’t make money for their work. I’m saying that the current publishing industry is designed to benefit publishers. Not creators, who are subject to creative manipulation and restriction and who receive relatively little compensation, and not audiences, who suffer from overexposure to fast, instantly gratifying material meant to sell as opposed to thoughtful, genuinely creative material meant to provoke and inspire.

[almasef]

Being a teenager means you watch Phantom of the Opera and wonder why the heck Christine doesn’t choose the murderous but extremely devoted tall dark handsome man who stalks her and pretends to be the ghost of her dead father, then kidnaps her so that he can marry her

Being an adult means you watch Phantom of the Opera and get excited when Christine chooses the emotionally stable childhood friend who has both unimaginable wealth and cute puppy dog eyes

Being an adult who has been single for 5 years means you watch Phantom of the Opera and wonder why the heck Christine doesn’t choose the murderous but extremely devoted tall dark handsome man who stalks her and pretends to be the ghost of her dead father, then kidnaps her so that he can marry her

[almasef]

Iykyk

[almasef]

Rereading the Odyssey and once again find myself confused about how I’m supposed to feel about Odysseus. Will report back shortly

[almasef]

Growing up I was given the perception that Achilles was this manly godlike untouchable hero who single-handedly turned the tides of the Trojan War. So you can imagine my surprise when he spent 90% of the Iliad in his room playing sad music on the guitar

[erumelde]

[almasef]

To summarize the wild ride that is Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott:

Ivanhoe, the titular character, is in approximately 3 total scenes

There are like 10 chapters dedicated to a jousting tournament, at the end of which the author bemoans the fact that relatively few people were killed and only a handful were permanently disabled by the contest

Cut to a wildly existential section about knights fighting for glory only to be utterly forgotten by everyone in a few years

Is he a feminist?? Is he not?? It’s really hard to tell

Both of the love interests have names that start with R and the only way they are distinguishable is because they’re kidnapped and put in separate rooms

The knights who kidnapped said love interests both try seducing their respective chosen ladies. Rowena snaps the man’s ego in half and then begins to cry. Rebecca threatens to jump out the window. Neither of them is seduced

Cut to the hallway: both knights realize they know exactly 0 things about seducing women

The book then becomes a Robin Hood fanfiction

The army outside the castle sends a letter to the army inside the castle. They realize that none of them know how to read

There’s like 4 different people impersonating the clergy

The entire battle for the castle is told by Rebecca who narrates what’s happening to the wounded Ivanhoe by sticking her head out the window

Nobody wins the battle. A madwoman lights the castle on fire

The Saxons’ only candidate for king dies in said battle. They have a very sad funeral for him

The Saxons’ only candidate for king shows up at his funeral. He’s not dead. Whose body do they have??? Nobody knows

The last 80 pages is a speed run through English medieval politics, wherein Ivanhoe finally actually does something

Is he anti-Semitic?? Is he not?? It’s really hard to tell

Cut to a wildly existential section about the tragedy of colonialism and the self-inflicted destruction of Saxon culture by their gradual intermingling with the invading Normans

The end

[glassfrogforest]

[glassfrogforest]

[almasef]

*I say aggressively into the mirror*