"Ay que bonito es bailar
a las dos de la mañana"
— Adapted from a song lyric
See also . . .
Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, Helen A. Regenstein
Distinguished Service Professor of Classics
at the University of Chicago,
"currently the lead editor of the journal
KNOW: A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge."
(Continued from February 10.)
A passage suggested by the T.S. Eliot epigraphs in
Parallelisms of Compete Designs , by a weblog post
of Peter J. Cameron yesterday, and by this journal's
"Within You Without You" posts—
— Joseph Campbell, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space:
Metaphor as Myth and as Religion , New World Library,
Second Edition, St. Bridget's Day 2002, page 106
For T.S. Eliot's Birthday
Last night's post "Transformation" was suggested in part
by the title of a Sunday New York Times article on
George Harrison, "Within Him, Without Him," and by
the song title "Within You Without You" in the post
Death and the Apple Tree.
Related material— "Hamlet's Transformation"—
Something have you heard
Of Hamlet’s transformation; so call it,
Sith nor the exterior nor the inward man
Resembles that it was….”
A transformation:
Click on picture for details.
See also, from this year's Feast of the Transfiguration,
Correspondences and Happy Web Day.
For those who prefer the paganism of Yeats to
the Christianity of Eliot, there is the sequel to
"Death and the Apple Tree," "Dancers and the Dance."
The previous entry was inspired (see the "In the Details" link) by the philosophical musings of Julie Taymor… specifically, her recollection of Balinese dancers–
"… they were performing for God. Now God can mean whatever you want it to mean. But for me, I understood it so totally. The detail….
They did it from the inside to the outside. And from the outside to the in. And that profoundly moved me then. It was… it was the most important thing that I ever experienced."— Julie Taymor,
"Skewed Mirrors" interview
Here is some further commentary on the words of that entry–
On the phrase "Within You Without You"– the title of a song by George Harrison:
"Bernard’s understanding of reality connects to this idea of 'flow': he sees reality as a product of consciousness. He rejects the idea of an 'outer' world of unchanging objects and an 'inner' world of the mind and ideas. Rather, our minds are part of the world, and vice versa."
— Adrien Ardoin, SparkNote on
Virginia Woolf's The Waves
On "Death and the Apple Tree"– the title of the previous entry— in The Waves:
"The apple tree Neville is looking at as he overhears the servants at the school discussing a local murder becomes inextricably linked to his knowledge of death. Neville finds himself unable to pass the tree, seeing it as glimmering and lovely, yet sinister and 'implacable.' When he learns that Percival is dead, he feels he is face to face once again with 'the tree which I cannot pass.' Eventually, Neville turns away from the natural world to art, which exists outside of time and can therefore transcend death. The fruit of the tree appears only in Neville’s room on his embroidered curtain, a symbol itself of nature turned into artifice. The apple tree image also echoes the apple tree from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, the fruit of which led Adam and Eve to knowledge and, therefore, expulsion from Eden."
— Adrien Ardoin, op. cit.
Death and
the Apple Tree
Today's New York Times on the late "fifth Beatle" Neil Aspinall, who died Easter night in Manhattan:
"… he played tambura (an Indian drone instrument) on 'Within You Without You'."
Related material:
"Hanging from the highest limb
of the apple tree are
the three God's Eyes…"
|
"But what's beautiful can't be bad. You're not bad, North Wind?"
"No; I'm not bad. But sometimes beautiful things grow bad by doing bad, and it takes some time for their badness to spoil their beauty. So little boys may be mistaken if they go after things because they are beautiful." "Well, I will go with you because you are beautiful and good, too." "Ah, but there's another thing, Diamond:– What if I should look ugly without being bad– look ugly myself because I am making ugly things beautiful?– What then?" "I don't quite understand you, North Wind. You tell me what then." "Well, I will tell you. If you see me with my face all black, don't be frightened. If you see me flapping wings like a bat's, as big as the whole sky, don't be frightened. If you hear me raging ten times worse than Mrs. Bill, the blacksmith's wife– even if you see me looking in at people's windows like Mrs. Eve Dropper, the gardener's wife– you must believe that I am doing my work. Nay, Diamond, if I change into a serpent or a tiger, you must not let go your hold of me, for my hand will never change in yours if you keep a good hold. If you keep a hold, you will know who I am all the time, even when you look at me and can't see me the least like the North Wind. I may look something very awful. Do you understand?" "Quite well," said little Diamond. "Come along, then," said North Wind, and disappeared behind the mountain of hay. Diamond crept out of bed and followed her. — George MacDonald, |
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