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螣喂 纬维渭慰喂 蟿慰蠀 螝维未渭慰蠀 魏伪喂 蟿畏蟼 螒蟻渭慰谓委伪蟼
危蟿慰蠀蟼 纬维渭慰蠀蟼 蟿慰蠀 螝维未渭慰蠀 魏伪喂 蟿畏蟼 螒蟻渭慰谓委伪蟼 萎蟿伪谓 畏 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪 蠁慰蟻维 蠈蟺慰蠀, 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 蔚蠀魏伪喂蟻委伪 蔚魏蔚委谓畏蟼 蟿畏蟼 纬喂慰蟻蟿萎蟼, 慰喂 胃蔚慰委 蟿慰蠀 螣位蠉渭蟺慰蠀 魏维胃喂蟽伪谓 蟽蟿慰 委未喂慰 蟿蟻伪蟺苇味喂 渭蔚 蟿慰蠀蟼 胃谓畏蟿慰蠉蟼. 螌蟽伪 蟽蠀谓苇尾畏蟽伪谓 蟺蟻喂谓, 蟽蟿畏 未喂维蟻魏蔚喂伪 蟺慰位位蠋谓 伪喂蠋谓蠅谓, 魏伪喂 渭蔚蟿维, 蟽蟿畏 未喂维蟻魏蔚喂伪 位委纬蠅谓 纬蔚谓蔚蠋谓, 未喂伪渭慰蟻蠁蠋谓慰蠀谓 蟿慰 蟿蔚蟻维蟽蟿喂慰 魏伪喂 蟺慰位蠉蠁蠀位位慰 未苇谓蟿蟻慰 蟿畏蟼 蔚位位畏谓喂魏萎蟼 渭蠀胃慰位慰纬委伪蟼, 渭蔚 蔚魏蔚委谓蔚蟼 蟿喂蟼 蔚魏蟺位畏魏蟿喂魏苇蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委蔚蟼 芦蟺慰蠀 未蔚谓 蟽蠀谓苇尾畏蟽伪谓 蟺慰蟿苇, 伪位位维 伪谓苇魏伪胃蔚谓 蠀蟺萎蟻蠂伪谓禄. 螝喂 蔚蟺蔚喂未萎 慰 魏伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻慰蟼 蟿蟻蠈蟺慰蟼 纬喂伪 谓伪 伪谓伪位慰纬喂蟽蟿蔚委 魏伪谓蔚委蟼 蟿慰蠀蟼 渭蠉胃慰蠀蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 谓伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 未喂畏纬畏胃蔚委, 慰 巍慰渭蟺苇蟻蟿慰 螝伪位维蟽慰, 蟽' 伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰 蟿慰蠀 蟺慰蠀 苇蠂蔚喂 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蟻伪蟽蟿蔚委 蟽蔚 蠈位慰 蟿慰谓 魏蠈蟽渭慰, 伪蠁畏纬蔚委蟿伪喂 蟿喂蟼 伪蟻蠂伪喂慰蔚位位畏谓喂魏苇蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委蔚蟼 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 伪蟻蠂萎, 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 未喂魏蠈 蟿慰蠀 蟿蟻蠈蟺慰. 螝伪喂 尾维味蔚喂 蟿伪 蔚蟻蠅蟿萎渭伪蟿维 蟿慰蠀: 螕喂伪蟿委 慰喂 胃蔚慰委 蟿慰蠀 螣位蠉渭蟺慰蠀 蟺萎蟻伪谓 伪谓胃蟻蠋蟺喂谓畏 渭慰蟻蠁萎 魏伪喂 纬喂伪蟿委 蟿畏 蟽蠀纬魏蔚魏蟻喂渭苇谓畏 渭慰蟻蠁萎; 螕喂伪蟿委 慰喂 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委蔚蟼 蟿慰蠀蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟽魏伪谓未伪位蠋未蔚喂蟼 魏伪喂 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟽伪纬畏谓蔚蠀蟿喂魏苇蟼; 螕喂伪蟿委 畏 蔚蟺慰蠂萎 蟿蠅谓 畏蟻蠋蠅谓 萎蟿伪谓 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟽蠉谓蟿慰渭畏, 蟿伪蟻伪蠂蠋未畏蟼 魏伪喂 伪谓蔚蟺伪谓维位畏蟺蟿畏; 螝伪喂 纬喂伪蟿委 渭伪蟼 渭伪纬蔚蠉慰蠀谓 伪魏蠈渭畏;
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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9,281 people want to read
About the author
Roberto Calasso
59听books630听followersRoberto Calasso (1941-2021) was an Italian publisher and writer. He was born into a family of the local upper class, well connected with some of the great Italian intellectuals of their time. His maternal grandfather Giovanni Codignola was a professor of philosophy at Florence University. Codignola created a new publishing house called La Nuova Italia, in Florence, just like his friend Benedetto Croce had done in Bari with Laterza. His uncle Tristano Codignola, partigiano during the Resistenza, after the war joined the political life of the new republic, and was for a while Minister of Education. His mother Melisenda 鈥� who gave up a promising academic career to raise her three children 鈥� was a scholar of German literature, and had worked on H枚lderlin鈥檚 translations of the Greek poet Pindar. His father Francesco was a law professor, first at Florence University and then in Rome, where he eventually became dean of his faculty. He has been working for Adelphi Edizioni since its founding in 1962 and became its Chairman in 1999. His books have from 1990 been translated into most European languages. After a successful career in publishing he has become a leading intellectual.[citation needed]
He is the author of a work in progress, that started with The Ruin of Kasch in 1983, a book welcome by Italo Calvino, dedicated to the French statesman Talleyrand and to a reflection on the culture of modernity. This was followed in 1988 by The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, a book where the tale of Cadmus and his wife Harmonia becomes a pretext for re-writing the great tales of Greek mythology and reflect on the reception of Greek culture for a contemporary readership. The trend for portraying whole civilizations continues with Ka (where the subject of the re-writing is Hindu mythology). K. instead restricts the focus to one single author(Franz Kafka); this trend continues with Il rosa Tiepolo, inspired by an adjective used by Proust to describe a shade of pink used by Tiepolo in his paintings. With his latest book, La folie Baudelaire, Calasso goes back to the fresco of whole civilisations, this time re-writing the lives and works of the artists that revolutionised our artistic taste, the symbolist poets and impressionist painters.
His essaystic production is collected in a few books: I quarantanove gradini (The Forty-nine Steps, a collection of essays about major authors and thinkers in European modernity addressed to Pierre Klossowski and his wife). His Oxford lessons are collected in Literature and the Gods. In 2005 Calasso published La follia che viene dalle ninfe, a collection of essays on the influence of the nymph in literature, which is discussed through authors ranging from Plato to Nabokov.
He is the author of a work in progress, that started with The Ruin of Kasch in 1983, a book welcome by Italo Calvino, dedicated to the French statesman Talleyrand and to a reflection on the culture of modernity. This was followed in 1988 by The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, a book where the tale of Cadmus and his wife Harmonia becomes a pretext for re-writing the great tales of Greek mythology and reflect on the reception of Greek culture for a contemporary readership. The trend for portraying whole civilizations continues with Ka (where the subject of the re-writing is Hindu mythology). K. instead restricts the focus to one single author(Franz Kafka); this trend continues with Il rosa Tiepolo, inspired by an adjective used by Proust to describe a shade of pink used by Tiepolo in his paintings. With his latest book, La folie Baudelaire, Calasso goes back to the fresco of whole civilisations, this time re-writing the lives and works of the artists that revolutionised our artistic taste, the symbolist poets and impressionist painters.
His essaystic production is collected in a few books: I quarantanove gradini (The Forty-nine Steps, a collection of essays about major authors and thinkers in European modernity addressed to Pierre Klossowski and his wife). His Oxford lessons are collected in Literature and the Gods. In 2005 Calasso published La follia che viene dalle ninfe, a collection of essays on the influence of the nymph in literature, which is discussed through authors ranging from Plato to Nabokov.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 346 reviews
April 1, 2010
The most profound books that I have ever read have left me speechless, even stammering. Such is the case with Roberto Calasso's The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, which I have put down no more than fifteen minutes ago. Here is a book about why myths exist, and why Ancient Greece continues to have such a hold on the Western mind.
One of my strange little reading habits is, for each year, to choose a theme that will guide much of my reading for the year. For 2010, I am delving into Ancient Greece, reading works of archeology, history, philosophy, and anything else pertaining to the world which Homer invented and which the Romans captured, embalmed, and imitated for the next thousand or so years.
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, which I started as an afterthought, suddenly appears as the centerpiece of my reading so far. Calasso sees this strange world, bathed in Olympian light, in which the gods and men had frequent intercourse (on every level), as something unique, even privileged:
Most of the book is a retelling of the Greek myths through the canny, penetrating eyes of the author, who demonstrates its power while himself awing us, the readers. This is a great book which I hope to read again. I only wish the publishers had seen fit to provide a detailed index鈥攂ecause this book is a keeper!
One of my strange little reading habits is, for each year, to choose a theme that will guide much of my reading for the year. For 2010, I am delving into Ancient Greece, reading works of archeology, history, philosophy, and anything else pertaining to the world which Homer invented and which the Romans captured, embalmed, and imitated for the next thousand or so years.
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, which I started as an afterthought, suddenly appears as the centerpiece of my reading so far. Calasso sees this strange world, bathed in Olympian light, in which the gods and men had frequent intercourse (on every level), as something unique, even privileged:
It was precisely because the Greeks had reduced the difference between gods and men to a minimum that they measured the distance still separating them with such cruel precision: an infinite, unbridgeable distance. And never has that distance been so sharply defined as by the Greeks themselves. No mist hovered about the approaches to death. It was an abyss with razor edges, never crossed. Hence the Greeks were well aware of the powerlessness of their sacrifices. Every ceremony in which a living being was killed was a way of recalling the mortality of all the participants. And the smoke they dedicated to the gods was certainly no use to the divinities as food. The only things the gods ever ate were nectar and ambrosia. No, that smell of blood and smoke was a message from earth, a pointless gift, reminding the Olympians of the consciously precarious existence of all those distant inhabitants of earth, who in every other way were equal to the gods. And what the gods loved about men was precisely this difference, this precariousness, which they themselves could relish only through men. It was a flavor they could never get from ambrosia or nectar. That was why they would sometimes abandon themselves to inhaling the smoke of sacrifice, breath of that other life which enjoyed the precious privilege of stirring the air of Olympus.
Most of the book is a retelling of the Greek myths through the canny, penetrating eyes of the author, who demonstrates its power while himself awing us, the readers. This is a great book which I hope to read again. I only wish the publishers had seen fit to provide a detailed index鈥攂ecause this book is a keeper!
June 24, 2017
Zeus is never ridiculous. Because his dignity is of no concern to him.
"Non bene convemunt nee in una sede morantur / Maiestas et amor," says Ovid
Any sane reader would find this book ridiculous at least in parts, but that doesn鈥檛 concern Calasso, for his subject is Zeus and Zeus is never ridiculous.
The mythographer lives in a permanent state of chronolog颅ical vertigo, which he pretends to want to resolve. But while on the one table he puts generations and dynasties in order, like some old butler who knows the family history better than his masters, you can be sure that on another table the muddle is getting worse and the threads ever more entan颅gled. No mythographer has ever managed to put his mate颅rial together in a consistent sequence, yet all set out to impose order. In this, they have been faithful to the myth.
The mythical gesture is a wave which, as it breaks, as颅sumes a shape, the way dice form a number when we toss them. But, as the wave withdraws, the unvanquished com颅plications swell in the undertow, and likewise the muddle and the disorder from which the next mythical gesture will be formed. So myth allows of no system.
The whole book by this modern Ovid is a testament to this. It is fun, but it is labyrinthine and the amount of erudition assumed by the author of the reader is thoroughly intimidating. Through its pages we see a glorious world dawning and then falling away, and our mythographer working furiously to extract meaning from it all, in his exertions confusing both us and himself, and reveling in the confusion.
But if we persist, by the end of it we would have witnessed Cadmus the Phoenician sow the beginning of stories across Greece. And the stories, carefully harvested by Calasso, teach us the same thing that his life taught him: Inviting the gods into our lives ruins our relationship with them but sets history in motion. A life in which the gods are not invited isn't worth living. It will be quieter, but there won't be any stories.
"Non bene convemunt nee in una sede morantur / Maiestas et amor," says Ovid
Any sane reader would find this book ridiculous at least in parts, but that doesn鈥檛 concern Calasso, for his subject is Zeus and Zeus is never ridiculous.
The mythographer lives in a permanent state of chronolog颅ical vertigo, which he pretends to want to resolve. But while on the one table he puts generations and dynasties in order, like some old butler who knows the family history better than his masters, you can be sure that on another table the muddle is getting worse and the threads ever more entan颅gled. No mythographer has ever managed to put his mate颅rial together in a consistent sequence, yet all set out to impose order. In this, they have been faithful to the myth.
The mythical gesture is a wave which, as it breaks, as颅sumes a shape, the way dice form a number when we toss them. But, as the wave withdraws, the unvanquished com颅plications swell in the undertow, and likewise the muddle and the disorder from which the next mythical gesture will be formed. So myth allows of no system.
The whole book by this modern Ovid is a testament to this. It is fun, but it is labyrinthine and the amount of erudition assumed by the author of the reader is thoroughly intimidating. Through its pages we see a glorious world dawning and then falling away, and our mythographer working furiously to extract meaning from it all, in his exertions confusing both us and himself, and reveling in the confusion.
But if we persist, by the end of it we would have witnessed Cadmus the Phoenician sow the beginning of stories across Greece. And the stories, carefully harvested by Calasso, teach us the same thing that his life taught him: Inviting the gods into our lives ruins our relationship with them but sets history in motion. A life in which the gods are not invited isn't worth living. It will be quieter, but there won't be any stories.
July 8, 2024
I've read this book cover to cover 3 times since I bought it in 1993. It's the best book I've ever read on Greek mythology.
Actually, it's more of an extended (and unfailingly brilliant) meditation on Greek mythology, rather than a summary or "explanation." Calasso is some kind of genius: he's not only read everything, he's thought about it, flipped it backwards and forwards and tilted it sideways in his mind, then filtered whatever he's talking about through a sophisticated prism. The result is pure delight for his readers.
Here's a sample, plucked almost at random:
"In the long history of divinities, the inhabitants of Olympus were the first who wished to be perfect rather than powerful. Like an obsidian blade, the aesthetic for the first time cut away all ties, connections, devotions. What remained was a group of figures, isolated in the air, complete, initiated, perfect..." (p. 90)
Several other excellent books by Calasso have been translated from Italian. If you haven't read him before, I'd also recommend either Literature & the Gods or his recent book on Kafka, K.
Actually, it's more of an extended (and unfailingly brilliant) meditation on Greek mythology, rather than a summary or "explanation." Calasso is some kind of genius: he's not only read everything, he's thought about it, flipped it backwards and forwards and tilted it sideways in his mind, then filtered whatever he's talking about through a sophisticated prism. The result is pure delight for his readers.
Here's a sample, plucked almost at random:
"In the long history of divinities, the inhabitants of Olympus were the first who wished to be perfect rather than powerful. Like an obsidian blade, the aesthetic for the first time cut away all ties, connections, devotions. What remained was a group of figures, isolated in the air, complete, initiated, perfect..." (p. 90)
Several other excellent books by Calasso have been translated from Italian. If you haven't read him before, I'd also recommend either Literature & the Gods or his recent book on Kafka, K.
July 31, 2021
鈥� Ma com'era cominciato tutto?
Se si vuole storia, 猫 storia della discordia.
E la discordia nasce dal ratto di una fanciulla, o dal sacrificio di una fanciulla.
E l'uno trapassa continuamente nell'altro. 鈥�
Si comincia da un ratto, un rapimento:
Europa rapita da un toro emerso dal mare.
Un destino tutto al femminile che la disegna passiva ed arrendevole di fronte al prossimo stupro perch茅 questo 猫 il volere divino.
Calasso ci ri-racconta il mito con riflessioni semantiche che collegano e inanellano le storie tramandate.
Un鈥檕pera non di facile lettura per chi non ha gi脿 navigato un po鈥� in profondit脿 nelle acque mitologiche.
Il rischio di affogare 猫 continuo e non solo per la miriade infinita di nomi e luoghi ma anche per la struttura stessa del libro che sarebbe stato pi霉 accogliente ed agevole se organizzata in capitoli titolati (ad esempio) o se ci fosse stata una prefazione a fare da guida.
Almeno cos矛 猫 stato per me.
Interessanti le considerazioni sui rapporti tra il divino e l鈥檜mano ma vanno estrapolate dal flusso che narra il mito come un fiume in piena.
鈥� Tornando alle et脿 anteriori: c'猫 un tempo in cui gli d猫i siedono accanto ai mortali, in un banchetto come quello per le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia a Tebe. D猫i e uomini si riconoscono subito, talvolta hanno vissuto insieme certe avventure, come appunto Zeus e Cadmo, e in quel caso 猫 stato l'uomo a dare un aiuto prezioso al dio. Non si disputano le parti del cosmo, che sono gi脿 assegnate, si riuniscono soltanto per una festa comune, e tornano infine ai loro affari.鈥�
Molto bella l鈥檌dea circolare:
si comincia con il ratto di Europa e si conclude raccontando come Cadmo, suo fratello, cercandola, disperato, trover脿, invece, Armonia e fonder脿 Tebe.
鈥淎ppena lo si afferra, il mito si espande in un ventaglio dai molti spicchi.
Qui la variante 猫 l'origine.
Ogni atto avvenne in questo modo, oppure in quest'altro, oppure in quest'altro.
E in ciascuna di tali storie divergenti si riflettono le altre, tutte ci sfiorano come lembi della stessa stoffa. Se, per un capriccio della tradizione, di un fatto mitico ci rimane una versione sola, 猫 un corpo senz'ombra e dobbiamo esercitarci a disegnare mentalmente la sua ombra invisibile. 鈥�
Se si vuole storia, 猫 storia della discordia.
E la discordia nasce dal ratto di una fanciulla, o dal sacrificio di una fanciulla.
E l'uno trapassa continuamente nell'altro. 鈥�
Si comincia da un ratto, un rapimento:
Europa rapita da un toro emerso dal mare.
Un destino tutto al femminile che la disegna passiva ed arrendevole di fronte al prossimo stupro perch茅 questo 猫 il volere divino.
Calasso ci ri-racconta il mito con riflessioni semantiche che collegano e inanellano le storie tramandate.
Un鈥檕pera non di facile lettura per chi non ha gi脿 navigato un po鈥� in profondit脿 nelle acque mitologiche.
Il rischio di affogare 猫 continuo e non solo per la miriade infinita di nomi e luoghi ma anche per la struttura stessa del libro che sarebbe stato pi霉 accogliente ed agevole se organizzata in capitoli titolati (ad esempio) o se ci fosse stata una prefazione a fare da guida.
Almeno cos矛 猫 stato per me.
Interessanti le considerazioni sui rapporti tra il divino e l鈥檜mano ma vanno estrapolate dal flusso che narra il mito come un fiume in piena.
鈥� Tornando alle et脿 anteriori: c'猫 un tempo in cui gli d猫i siedono accanto ai mortali, in un banchetto come quello per le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia a Tebe. D猫i e uomini si riconoscono subito, talvolta hanno vissuto insieme certe avventure, come appunto Zeus e Cadmo, e in quel caso 猫 stato l'uomo a dare un aiuto prezioso al dio. Non si disputano le parti del cosmo, che sono gi脿 assegnate, si riuniscono soltanto per una festa comune, e tornano infine ai loro affari.鈥�
Molto bella l鈥檌dea circolare:
si comincia con il ratto di Europa e si conclude raccontando come Cadmo, suo fratello, cercandola, disperato, trover脿, invece, Armonia e fonder脿 Tebe.
鈥淎ppena lo si afferra, il mito si espande in un ventaglio dai molti spicchi.
Qui la variante 猫 l'origine.
Ogni atto avvenne in questo modo, oppure in quest'altro, oppure in quest'altro.
E in ciascuna di tali storie divergenti si riflettono le altre, tutte ci sfiorano come lembi della stessa stoffa. Se, per un capriccio della tradizione, di un fatto mitico ci rimane una versione sola, 猫 un corpo senz'ombra e dobbiamo esercitarci a disegnare mentalmente la sua ombra invisibile. 鈥�
February 13, 2018
Indispens谩vel para quem se interessa por mitologia grega e tem interesse em saber as origens e os percursos dos deuses do Olimpo, narra de forma meticulosa e comparativa as m煤ltiplas vers玫es trazidas at茅 n贸s ao longo dos s茅culos.
Conflituosos nas rela莽玫es entre uns e outros, os deuses gostavam de usar os mortais de maneira caprichosa e alteravam-lhes o curso de vida de forma leviana e definitiva.
S煤bitas paix玫es, raptos, viola莽玫es e enganos, amores proibidos, vingan莽as e castigos, onde a morte podia n茫o ser a pior das penas.
Destes devaneios divinos nasceriam aqueles que viriam a ser os grandes protagonistas das epopeias; semideuses destinados a brilhar nas disputas, mas tamb茅m a morrer no final.
Fonte de inspira莽茫o para poetas e pensadores, a mitologia foi fundamental para os alicerces da cultura grega. Num manifesto trabalho de pesquisa, o autor incluiu in煤meras refer锚ncias e an谩lises a obras e fil贸sofos, que continuamos a ler e ter como padr茫o nas correntes de pensamento atuais.
Obra complementar para os leitores da Il铆ada e da Odisseia, 茅 uma valiosa fonte de informa莽茫o e ajuda para a o seu entendimento.
February 14, 2023
4.5
I only had one random ass thought that made me make sense of this meandering, chaotic, brilliant book: language was given to us when the gods finally withdrew from the world; when the full presence withdrew, literature ushered in. We could make music from Zeus' sinews, which Cadmus could only pretend to do; still caught up as he was in the gods' earth-shattering immediate forms. The speaking silence was etched into a model to wean us off of the golden womb of a god's immediacy. Truly, only matricide could've been the origin of thought. I think Calasso was trying to pierce through the veil of this speaking silence and plunge himself, alongwith us, into the clashing swells of primal forces at war. To see, to understand, to extract the kernel, to get a taste, just a little bit of blood: which of our sinews are connected to the radical inhumanity of our primordial past still? How does it still breathe in us? Who the fuck are we?
Truly as complex and borderline unreadable as everyone warned me he was going to be. Loved every bit of this book, even the boring ones. This is the first Calasso I read and it goes without saying that I will now be reading every single book he ever wrote.
Also, I just discovered that he was Fleur Jaeggy's husband, WHAATT!!??
I only had one random ass thought that made me make sense of this meandering, chaotic, brilliant book: language was given to us when the gods finally withdrew from the world; when the full presence withdrew, literature ushered in. We could make music from Zeus' sinews, which Cadmus could only pretend to do; still caught up as he was in the gods' earth-shattering immediate forms. The speaking silence was etched into a model to wean us off of the golden womb of a god's immediacy. Truly, only matricide could've been the origin of thought. I think Calasso was trying to pierce through the veil of this speaking silence and plunge himself, alongwith us, into the clashing swells of primal forces at war. To see, to understand, to extract the kernel, to get a taste, just a little bit of blood: which of our sinews are connected to the radical inhumanity of our primordial past still? How does it still breathe in us? Who the fuck are we?
Truly as complex and borderline unreadable as everyone warned me he was going to be. Loved every bit of this book, even the boring ones. This is the first Calasso I read and it goes without saying that I will now be reading every single book he ever wrote.
Also, I just discovered that he was Fleur Jaeggy's husband, WHAATT!!??
December 15, 2018
Scholarly, wide-ranging, profound and philosophical, I'd say that at least two-thirds of this swept right past me without leaving much trace. This would be my Desert Island book, because much like the task of painting the Forth Rail Bridge, as soon as the end is reached the beginning is showing signs of rust. (I think there's a Sisyphus in there somewhere.) Anyway, it would be possible to read this over and over and still not get all of it.
Here's a couple of bits that found a cranny to set up house in:
In Greece, myth escapes from ritual like a genie from a bottle. Ritual is tied to gesture, and gestures are limited: what else can you do once you've burned your offerings, poured your libations, bowed, greased yourself, competed in races, eaten, copulated? But if the stories start to become independent, to develop names and relationships, then one day you realize they have taken on a life of their own. The Greeks were unique among the peoples of the Mediterranean in not passing their stories on via a priestly authority. They were rambling stories, which is partly why they got so easily mixed up. And the Greeks became so used to hearing the same stories told with different plots that it got to be a perfectly normal thing for them. Nor was there any final authority to turn to for a correct version.
And although I think I understood most of that, it still throws up as many questions again: how is it the same story when it has a different plot? How did Calasso leap from ritual to gesture to stories becoming independent?
This:
The monster is the most precious of enemies: therefore it is the enemy one goes and looks for. Other enemies might simply attack us: the Giants for example, or the Titans, representatives of an order in the process of being replaced, or looking for revenge for having already been replaced. The monster is quite different. The monster waits near the well-spring. The monster is the spring. He doesn't need the hero. It is the hero who needs him for his very existence, because his power will be protected by and indeed must be snatched from the monster. When the hero confronts the monster he has as yet neither power nor knowledge. The monster is his secret father, who will invest him with a power and knowledge that can belong to one man only, and that only the monster can give him.
Here's a couple of bits that found a cranny to set up house in:
In Greece, myth escapes from ritual like a genie from a bottle. Ritual is tied to gesture, and gestures are limited: what else can you do once you've burned your offerings, poured your libations, bowed, greased yourself, competed in races, eaten, copulated? But if the stories start to become independent, to develop names and relationships, then one day you realize they have taken on a life of their own. The Greeks were unique among the peoples of the Mediterranean in not passing their stories on via a priestly authority. They were rambling stories, which is partly why they got so easily mixed up. And the Greeks became so used to hearing the same stories told with different plots that it got to be a perfectly normal thing for them. Nor was there any final authority to turn to for a correct version.
And although I think I understood most of that, it still throws up as many questions again: how is it the same story when it has a different plot? How did Calasso leap from ritual to gesture to stories becoming independent?
This:
The monster is the most precious of enemies: therefore it is the enemy one goes and looks for. Other enemies might simply attack us: the Giants for example, or the Titans, representatives of an order in the process of being replaced, or looking for revenge for having already been replaced. The monster is quite different. The monster waits near the well-spring. The monster is the spring. He doesn't need the hero. It is the hero who needs him for his very existence, because his power will be protected by and indeed must be snatched from the monster. When the hero confronts the monster he has as yet neither power nor knowledge. The monster is his secret father, who will invest him with a power and knowledge that can belong to one man only, and that only the monster can give him.
July 12, 2015
No, Socrates himself cleared up the point shortly before his death: we enter the mythical when we enter the realm of risk, and myth is the enchantment we generate in ourselves at such moments.
Endorsements on the back matter can be daunting. How do we explain our struggles or indifference with work which is lauded so many which we admire? Half way through this, I was south of neutral and growing impatient. Abandonment was an option. The work then slid out from under its treatment of Athenian mythography and constructed a comparison with the practices and beliefs of Persia, Sparta and Egypt. I did and do find that fascinating. The divine practices of rape and reproduction are sufficient cause for us to be recalled as a species back to the plant. I do not as rule become excited by myth or tale. Such informs my struggles. This is a ridiculously erudite book. I am sure it won't be my last Calasso as I have a stack to tackle in the future.
Endorsements on the back matter can be daunting. How do we explain our struggles or indifference with work which is lauded so many which we admire? Half way through this, I was south of neutral and growing impatient. Abandonment was an option. The work then slid out from under its treatment of Athenian mythography and constructed a comparison with the practices and beliefs of Persia, Sparta and Egypt. I did and do find that fascinating. The divine practices of rape and reproduction are sufficient cause for us to be recalled as a species back to the plant. I do not as rule become excited by myth or tale. Such informs my struggles. This is a ridiculously erudite book. I am sure it won't be my last Calasso as I have a stack to tackle in the future.
April 29, 2020
What can one write about a book which defies all definition? For Roberto Calasso's The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony is such a book. It could be called a treatise on Greek mythology; a creative retelling of the Greek myths; and I think it has also been pigeonholed as a novel. It is all of these, and it is none of these. Whatever you call these approximately four hundred densely-packed pages of amazing prose, you can be sure of one thing: it is sometimes translucent and uplifting, sometimes opaque and frustrating: but always, always, it is irresistibly enchanting - like the Greek myths themselves.
Calasso has taken on the Herculean task of trying to capture the essence of the whole of the Greek civilisation, including its culture, its language, its philosophy and its history, in a rambling tour across time and space. In this, he has thrown his road maps to the winds. Calasso jumps from myth to myth with a suddenness resembling jump cuts in an avant-garde movie, while he talks about mythology, linguistics, local customs, and philosophy often in the same breath. It is as though Joseph Campbell is talking to you, using the techniques of William Faulkner.
To be truthful - this is not a book for the newbie. Unless you are up-to-date on your mythology, you are going to be confused (a person like me who is relatively well-read in the Greek myths, was lost many a time). However, if you are a myth junkie, this book will pull you in and hold you spellbound, though even then, it won't be smooth sailing all the way.
The unique thing about the Greek Pantheon is that the Gods are all very near to mankind. They are just superior beings, that is all. There is absolutely no morality - the stories are full of rape, incest, sodomy, ritual mutilation, dismemberment and even necrophilia. Zeus, the supreme god, himself is the chief abductor and rapist. Throughout the book, the author stresses these themes as they are repeated across the tales, time and again; breaking and melding, splitting and reforming, as one story becomes many and many become one.
Why is Cadmus important? Because, according to legend, it was he who brought the alphabet to Greece. And Harmony's name itself symbolises what she stands for. Therefore even when Cadmus moves out of his country with his wife, a defeated man, he can be gratified about a life well spent.
Calasso has taken on the Herculean task of trying to capture the essence of the whole of the Greek civilisation, including its culture, its language, its philosophy and its history, in a rambling tour across time and space. In this, he has thrown his road maps to the winds. Calasso jumps from myth to myth with a suddenness resembling jump cuts in an avant-garde movie, while he talks about mythology, linguistics, local customs, and philosophy often in the same breath. It is as though Joseph Campbell is talking to you, using the techniques of William Faulkner.
To be truthful - this is not a book for the newbie. Unless you are up-to-date on your mythology, you are going to be confused (a person like me who is relatively well-read in the Greek myths, was lost many a time). However, if you are a myth junkie, this book will pull you in and hold you spellbound, though even then, it won't be smooth sailing all the way.
The unique thing about the Greek Pantheon is that the Gods are all very near to mankind. They are just superior beings, that is all. There is absolutely no morality - the stories are full of rape, incest, sodomy, ritual mutilation, dismemberment and even necrophilia. Zeus, the supreme god, himself is the chief abductor and rapist. Throughout the book, the author stresses these themes as they are repeated across the tales, time and again; breaking and melding, splitting and reforming, as one story becomes many and many become one.
No sooner have you grabbed hold of it than myth opens out into a fan of thousand segments. Here the variant is the origin. Everything that happens this way, or that way, or this other way. And in each of these diverging stories all the others are reflected, all brush by us like folds of the same cloth. If, out of some perversity of tradition, only one version of some mythical event has come down to us, it is like a body without a shadow, and we must do our best to trace out that invisible shadow in our minds.All the favourite gods are here - the intellectual Apollo and the passionate Dionysus; Athena, the eternal virgin and Aphrodite, lust personified; Artemis, Demeter, Persephone, Hades... all ruled over by Zeus and Hera. So also are the heroes, who by slaying monsters, assimilate them; Heracles, Theseus, Perseus, Achilles and the wily Odysseus. They play out their eternal drama in the heavens, as well as on the earth in the form of rituals. Because in Greece, the gods are always nearby.
But when something undefined and powerful shakes mind and fiber and trembles the cage of our bones, when the person who only a moment before was dull and agnostic is suddenly rocked by laughter and homicidal frenzy, or by the pangs of love, or by the hallucination of form, or finds his face streaming with tears, then the Greek realizes that he is not alone. Somebody else stands beside him, and that somebody is a god. He no longer has the calm clarity of perception he had in his mediocre state of existence. Instead, that clarity has migrated into his divine companion. A sharp profile against the sky, the god is resplendent, while the person who evoked him is left confused and overwhelmed.The book begins with Europa being carried off by Zeus in the form of bull; in the last chapter, we find her brother Cadmus in search of her. Instead, he ends up saving Zeus from the monster Typhon - a leftover from the earth religions, before the gods of Mount Olympus took over - by the use of music to distract the monster. As a reward, Zeus promises him Harmony, the love child of Aphrodite and Ares, as wife. However, he is unable to recover Europa, and thus unable to return home as that was the condition he left his country. So Cadmus founds his own city on Thebes.
Why is Cadmus important? Because, according to legend, it was he who brought the alphabet to Greece. And Harmony's name itself symbolises what she stands for. Therefore even when Cadmus moves out of his country with his wife, a defeated man, he can be gratified about a life well spent.
Cadmus had brought Greece "gifts of the mind": vowels and consonants yoked together in tiny signs, "etched model of a silence that speaks" - the alphabet. With the alphabet, the Greeks would teach themselves to experience the gods in the silence of the mind, and no longer in the full and normal presence, as Cadmus himself had the day of his marriage. He thought of his routed kingdom: of daughters and grandchildren torn to pieces, tearing others to pieces, ulcerated in boiling water, run through with spits, drowned in the sea. And Thebes was a heap of rubble. But no one could erase those small letters, those fly's feet that Cadmus the Phoenician had scattered across Greece, where the winds had brought him in his quest for Europa carried off by a bull that rose from the sea.
May 25, 2019
It has rarely happened to me, even with those books I've read and have rated very high here at goodreads. But here it did: I feel resistance giving my copy of this book away. Very unusual for me considering my habit of disposing of books I'm done with, even those I liked a lot, impelled by the logic that good things need to be shared with others and the experience of them has to be spread to as wide an audience as possible.
I had wondered why. I surmised that it must be because of this deeply felt urge to re-read it. Sip some more from this cup of intoxicating prose. Relive the enchantment of the gods. Stare at the world again in a different light, thrown topsy-turvy in a beguiling kaleidoscope reflected from the past when myths were not yet myths, and men mingled with the divine.
In the long run, I have to admit that I cannot really explain why I rave over this book. So I will just borrow one explanation it gives whenever a human being laughs and cries at the same time, confused, overwhelmed and bewildered: a god was looking over my shoulder while I was reading this--
"If, driven by an old compulsion, we were to define what the gods were to the Greeks, we might say, using the principle of Occam's razor, everything that takes us away from the ordinary sensations of life. 'With a god, you are always crying and laughing,' we read in Sophocles' 'Ajax.' Life as mere vegetative protraction, glazed eyes looking out on the world, the certainty of being oneself, without knowing what one is: such a life has no need of a god. It is the realm of the spontaneous atheism of the 'homme naturel.'
"But when something undefined and powerful shakes mind and fiber and trembles the cage of our bones, when the person who only moment before was dull and agnostic is suddenly rocked by laughter and homicidal frenzy, or by the pangs of love, or by the hallucination of form, or finds his face streaming with tears, then the Greek realizes that he is not alone. Somebody else stands beside him, and that somebody is a god. He no longer has the calm clarity of perception he had in his mediocre state of existence. Instead, that clarity has migrated into his divine companion. A sharp profile against the sky, the god is resplendent, while the person who evoked him is left confused and overwhelmed."
A tip for those who would read this for the first time: you might, as I did, begin this with a feeling of listlessness that may drag you towards inattention and the temptation to drop this. Persevere! I say around page 50 your god will come and start messing up with the long dormant pleasure points of your brain.
I had wondered why. I surmised that it must be because of this deeply felt urge to re-read it. Sip some more from this cup of intoxicating prose. Relive the enchantment of the gods. Stare at the world again in a different light, thrown topsy-turvy in a beguiling kaleidoscope reflected from the past when myths were not yet myths, and men mingled with the divine.
In the long run, I have to admit that I cannot really explain why I rave over this book. So I will just borrow one explanation it gives whenever a human being laughs and cries at the same time, confused, overwhelmed and bewildered: a god was looking over my shoulder while I was reading this--
"If, driven by an old compulsion, we were to define what the gods were to the Greeks, we might say, using the principle of Occam's razor, everything that takes us away from the ordinary sensations of life. 'With a god, you are always crying and laughing,' we read in Sophocles' 'Ajax.' Life as mere vegetative protraction, glazed eyes looking out on the world, the certainty of being oneself, without knowing what one is: such a life has no need of a god. It is the realm of the spontaneous atheism of the 'homme naturel.'
"But when something undefined and powerful shakes mind and fiber and trembles the cage of our bones, when the person who only moment before was dull and agnostic is suddenly rocked by laughter and homicidal frenzy, or by the pangs of love, or by the hallucination of form, or finds his face streaming with tears, then the Greek realizes that he is not alone. Somebody else stands beside him, and that somebody is a god. He no longer has the calm clarity of perception he had in his mediocre state of existence. Instead, that clarity has migrated into his divine companion. A sharp profile against the sky, the god is resplendent, while the person who evoked him is left confused and overwhelmed."
A tip for those who would read this for the first time: you might, as I did, begin this with a feeling of listlessness that may drag you towards inattention and the temptation to drop this. Persevere! I say around page 50 your god will come and start messing up with the long dormant pleasure points of your brain.
November 5, 2014
Rather than present a distanced and readily understandable survey of Greek mythology, Calasso instead goes into and behind the myths to create a verbal environment that to my mind comes as close as possible to reenacting in the mind of the reader the intellectual feel of living in a living mythology, from both the perspective of the gods and the perspective of mortals, and from both the experience of living life itself and living through reading.
The book is an overlapping series of thematic patterns and images and ideas - an organization more like poetry than prose - that has a cumulative effect, like waves building upon each other in resonance, that eventually carries the reader on its swells and currents. This somewhat "passive" approach seems necessary on a first read, as the presentation is bewildering (as would be a direct encounter with a god), but the prose is so nuanced and lovely it is a pleasure to keep on reading/rowing/riding through bewilderment.
And to justify my rating before completing the book, I cite the following passage encountered like a bit, a gift, of flotsam while reading/rowing/riding this morning:
Myth, like language, gives all of itself in each of its fragments. When a myth brings into play repetition and variants, the skeleton of the system emerges for a while, the latent order, covered in seaweed.
The book is an overlapping series of thematic patterns and images and ideas - an organization more like poetry than prose - that has a cumulative effect, like waves building upon each other in resonance, that eventually carries the reader on its swells and currents. This somewhat "passive" approach seems necessary on a first read, as the presentation is bewildering (as would be a direct encounter with a god), but the prose is so nuanced and lovely it is a pleasure to keep on reading/rowing/riding through bewilderment.
And to justify my rating before completing the book, I cite the following passage encountered like a bit, a gift, of flotsam while reading/rowing/riding this morning:
Myth, like language, gives all of itself in each of its fragments. When a myth brings into play repetition and variants, the skeleton of the system emerges for a while, the latent order, covered in seaweed.
August 25, 2023
Uzun zamand谋r hi莽bir kitapla ilgili bu seviyede yan谋lmam谋艧t谋m san谋r谋m. Zira Roma 陌mparatorlu臒u鈥檔un tarihinde kaybolmadan 枚nce bir mitoloji molas谋 verme hayallerim mitlerin labirentlerinde kaybolmakla ve bundan b眉y眉k bir keyif almakla sonu莽land谋.
Bu kitab谋n arka kapa臒谋n谋 okudu臒unuzda bir retelling ya da ufak hikayelerin birle艧iminden olu艧turulmu艧 temel bir mitoloji anlat谋s谋yla kar艧谋la艧aca臒谋n谋z谋 d眉艧眉n眉yorsunuz ancak 枚n眉n眉zde 莽ok g眉莽l眉 bir 莽al谋艧man谋n kap谋lar谋 a莽谋l谋yor. Kitab谋n ad谋 her ne kadar Kadmos ile Harmonia鈥檔谋n D眉臒眉n眉 olsa da asl谋nda bu konu kitab谋n en sonunda ve 莽ok k谋sa bir 艧ekilde ge莽iyor. Lakin bu d眉臒眉nden k枚ken alan pek 莽ok hikayenin ana ba臒lant谋s谋n谋 da elinde tutmas谋 a莽谋s谋ndan 莽ok 枚nemli. Tabii bu pek 莽ok hikayeyi bir arada sunmas谋 yan谋ltmas谋n, kesinlikle mitoloji ile tan谋艧ma kitaplar谋ndan birisi de臒il. (Zira ben de b枚yle oldu臒unu d眉艧眉n眉p ufak bir mola kitab谋 olarak ba艧lam谋艧t谋m.) En az谋ndan 陌lyada, Odysseia ile birlikte Euripides ve Aeschylus鈥檜n tradegyalar谋n谋n bir k谋sm谋n谋 okumu艧 olman谋z gerekiyor. E臒er bunlar谋 okuduysan谋z, bunkitab谋n i muazzam bir tamamlay谋c谋 枚zelli臒i var. Zira bir mitin 莽ok farkl谋 versiyonlar谋n谋 bir arada okuyup aralar谋ndaki farklar谋 ve modern insanla d枚nemin de臒i艧imini ve farkl谋 yorumlar谋 okuyorsunuz. Bu durumun her noktada iyi sonu莽 vermedi臒ini de belirtmeliyim elbette. Kitab谋 okurken baz谋 anlat谋larda 莽ok fazla kayboldum ya da koptum. Bir hikayenin 莽ok farkl谋 versiyonlar谋na ve 莽ok fazla isme maruz kal谋yorsunuz. Bu durumda ba臒lant谋lar谋n hepsini yakalamak kolay olmuyor. Bir de al谋艧t谋臒谋m谋z mitoloji anlat谋s谋n谋n tam tersi olarak tam da m眉kemmellikten uzak, Olimpos tanr谋lar谋n谋n insanlara sadece aralar谋nda gezerken tercih ettikleri suretten 莽ok daha yak谋n oldu臒unu g枚sterme tercihinde. 脰zetle, Yunan mitolojisine 枚zel bir ilginiz varsa ve bir solukta okunacak bir kaynak aram谋yorsan谋z; okuman谋z谋 bol bol ba艧ka kaynaklara y枚nlenerek, hatta s枚zl眉kte bkzlar aras谋nda kaybolarak b枚lmeye haz谋rsan谋z tavsiye ederim. Bu arada kitap bir indekse sahip ama s枚zl眉k i莽ermiyor. Tabii mitlerin 莽ok farkl谋 versiyonlar谋na yer verildi臒i i莽in tam olarak yeterli olmuyor ama yine de Pierre Grimal鈥櫮眓 Mitoloji S枚zl眉臒眉 baz谋 noktalarda g眉zel bir destek sa臒layabilir.
Bu kitab谋n arka kapa臒谋n谋 okudu臒unuzda bir retelling ya da ufak hikayelerin birle艧iminden olu艧turulmu艧 temel bir mitoloji anlat谋s谋yla kar艧谋la艧aca臒谋n谋z谋 d眉艧眉n眉yorsunuz ancak 枚n眉n眉zde 莽ok g眉莽l眉 bir 莽al谋艧man谋n kap谋lar谋 a莽谋l谋yor. Kitab谋n ad谋 her ne kadar Kadmos ile Harmonia鈥檔谋n D眉臒眉n眉 olsa da asl谋nda bu konu kitab谋n en sonunda ve 莽ok k谋sa bir 艧ekilde ge莽iyor. Lakin bu d眉臒眉nden k枚ken alan pek 莽ok hikayenin ana ba臒lant谋s谋n谋 da elinde tutmas谋 a莽谋s谋ndan 莽ok 枚nemli. Tabii bu pek 莽ok hikayeyi bir arada sunmas谋 yan谋ltmas谋n, kesinlikle mitoloji ile tan谋艧ma kitaplar谋ndan birisi de臒il. (Zira ben de b枚yle oldu臒unu d眉艧眉n眉p ufak bir mola kitab谋 olarak ba艧lam谋艧t谋m.) En az谋ndan 陌lyada, Odysseia ile birlikte Euripides ve Aeschylus鈥檜n tradegyalar谋n谋n bir k谋sm谋n谋 okumu艧 olman谋z gerekiyor. E臒er bunlar谋 okuduysan谋z, bunkitab谋n i muazzam bir tamamlay谋c谋 枚zelli臒i var. Zira bir mitin 莽ok farkl谋 versiyonlar谋n谋 bir arada okuyup aralar谋ndaki farklar谋 ve modern insanla d枚nemin de臒i艧imini ve farkl谋 yorumlar谋 okuyorsunuz. Bu durumun her noktada iyi sonu莽 vermedi臒ini de belirtmeliyim elbette. Kitab谋 okurken baz谋 anlat谋larda 莽ok fazla kayboldum ya da koptum. Bir hikayenin 莽ok farkl谋 versiyonlar谋na ve 莽ok fazla isme maruz kal谋yorsunuz. Bu durumda ba臒lant谋lar谋n hepsini yakalamak kolay olmuyor. Bir de al谋艧t谋臒谋m谋z mitoloji anlat谋s谋n谋n tam tersi olarak tam da m眉kemmellikten uzak, Olimpos tanr谋lar谋n谋n insanlara sadece aralar谋nda gezerken tercih ettikleri suretten 莽ok daha yak谋n oldu臒unu g枚sterme tercihinde. 脰zetle, Yunan mitolojisine 枚zel bir ilginiz varsa ve bir solukta okunacak bir kaynak aram谋yorsan谋z; okuman谋z谋 bol bol ba艧ka kaynaklara y枚nlenerek, hatta s枚zl眉kte bkzlar aras谋nda kaybolarak b枚lmeye haz谋rsan谋z tavsiye ederim. Bu arada kitap bir indekse sahip ama s枚zl眉k i莽ermiyor. Tabii mitlerin 莽ok farkl谋 versiyonlar谋na yer verildi臒i i莽in tam olarak yeterli olmuyor ama yine de Pierre Grimal鈥櫮眓 Mitoloji S枚zl眉臒眉 baz谋 noktalarda g眉zel bir destek sa臒layabilir.
Shelved as 'on-hold'
October 26, 2017These things never happened, but are always
three reviews
By reviewers in alphabetical-order
Random review: review by Jean-Paul Werner Walshaw-Sauter
Next review: review by Jonfaith
Previous review: review by Riku Saraj
I recently considered removing this book from my library, to make room for others. Tonight I perused the three reviews above by GR friends of mine. Each reviewer lends a view of the book from a distinct perspective. All rate the book highly. All obviously got something from the book.
But individually and collectively, they have convinced me that the book is simply beyond me. I have neither the erudition, the dogged persistence, nor the interest to attempt it. (Any one of these would probably be sufficient to encourage me.)
So I will contribute my copy to Better World Books and hope it someday resides in a reader鈥檚 hands who will read it and treasure it.
the book
The book has no index, a grave failure for a book as dense as this is, and as interwoven. Neither do the chapters have titles or any other sort of heading, beyond a Roman numeral.
I determined that I should give some indication of what the book is like. Thus, I鈥檝e randomly selected five of the chapters, and for each give below the first few lines which Calasso writes.
III
X
XII
VIII
IV
鈥淲hy are these not in order?鈥�, you may ask. But they are in order, the order that the random selection gave them. And that may be as good an order as any to even read them in.
After all, Calasso couldn鈥檛 be bothered 鈥� or perhaps wasn鈥檛 able? - to give the chapters names, some words expressing their theme, or indicating their place in his overall narrative, a reason why they had been written at all.
Might it be that this extended essay on Greek mythology is so dense with interwoven stories, constantly intersecting threads of observations, that it becomes like the myths themselves 鈥� perhaps having a starting and ending place (the latter less likely than the former?) 鈥� but in between an unresolvable skein of pathways, tunnels, underground borings, flights of fancy, looping back and forth, interconnected in such a way that there is no preferred way to make the journey, or even tell if you鈥檝e reached a place at which to end it?
a final observation
I've seen several suggestions the book should be approached as fiction 鈥� or perhaps as very creative non-fiction. This might even be the key to enjoying the journey it takes a reader on, and avoiding disappointment. Do not confuse this book with , nor with .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: Between the World and Me a black writer鈥檚 letter to his son
Random review: East of Eden
Next review: The Match golf, that is
Previous library review: As God Commands
Next library review: Days of Abandonment
three reviews
By reviewers in alphabetical-order
Random review: review by Jean-Paul Werner Walshaw-Sauter
Next review: review by Jonfaith
Previous review: review by Riku Saraj
I recently considered removing this book from my library, to make room for others. Tonight I perused the three reviews above by GR friends of mine. Each reviewer lends a view of the book from a distinct perspective. All rate the book highly. All obviously got something from the book.
But individually and collectively, they have convinced me that the book is simply beyond me. I have neither the erudition, the dogged persistence, nor the interest to attempt it. (Any one of these would probably be sufficient to encourage me.)
So I will contribute my copy to Better World Books and hope it someday resides in a reader鈥檚 hands who will read it and treasure it.
the book
The book has no index, a grave failure for a book as dense as this is, and as interwoven. Neither do the chapters have titles or any other sort of heading, beyond a Roman numeral.
I determined that I should give some indication of what the book is like. Thus, I鈥檝e randomly selected five of the chapters, and for each give below the first few lines which Calasso writes.
III
Delos was a hump of deserted rock, drifting about the sea like a stalk of asphodel. It was here that Apollo was born, in a place not even wretched slave girls would come to hide their shame. Before Leda, the only creatures to give birth on that godforsaken rock had been the seals.
X
From time to time the heroes would get together for some common adventure: a hunting party, a conquest, a war. The prey might be a fabulous animal, or an image, s state: the Calydonian Boar, the Golden Fleece, the Trojan Palladium. They are a magnificent sight, the heroes, lining up in disciplined ranks on the benches of the Argo, muscles glistening like flames.
XII
Zeus is never ridiculous, because his dignity is of no concern to him. 鈥漀on bene convenient nec in una sede morantur / Maiestas et amor鈥�, say Ovid, master of matters erotic. To seduce a woman with a bundle of lightning bolts in one鈥檚 hand would be injudicious, and not even very exciting. But a white bull, an eagle, a swan, a false satyr, a stallion, a stream of gold, a blaze of fire: these are divine.
VIII
Zeus was sitting on a stool. He stared into the distance. A breeze twitched his beard, which was streaked with gray. Something was going on inside his head, bringing on a drunken weariness. When Zeus had swallowed his wife Metis, on the advice of Ge and Uranus, who told him she would one day give birth to a god even stronger than himself and capable of usurping his power, Metis was already pregnant with Athena.
IV
Of the Olympians, the first thing we can say is that they were newgods. They had names and shapes. But Herodotus assures is that 鈥渂efore yesterday鈥� no one knew 鈥渨here any of these gods had come from, nor whether they had existed eternally, nor what they looked like.鈥� When Herodotus says 鈥測esterday鈥�, he means Hesiod and Homer, whom he calculated as having lived four centuries before himself.
鈥淲hy are these not in order?鈥�, you may ask. But they are in order, the order that the random selection gave them. And that may be as good an order as any to even read them in.
After all, Calasso couldn鈥檛 be bothered 鈥� or perhaps wasn鈥檛 able? - to give the chapters names, some words expressing their theme, or indicating their place in his overall narrative, a reason why they had been written at all.
Might it be that this extended essay on Greek mythology is so dense with interwoven stories, constantly intersecting threads of observations, that it becomes like the myths themselves 鈥� perhaps having a starting and ending place (the latter less likely than the former?) 鈥� but in between an unresolvable skein of pathways, tunnels, underground borings, flights of fancy, looping back and forth, interconnected in such a way that there is no preferred way to make the journey, or even tell if you鈥檝e reached a place at which to end it?
a final observation
I've seen several suggestions the book should be approached as fiction 鈥� or perhaps as very creative non-fiction. This might even be the key to enjoying the journey it takes a reader on, and avoiding disappointment. Do not confuse this book with , nor with .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: Between the World and Me a black writer鈥檚 letter to his son
Random review: East of Eden
Next review: The Match golf, that is
Previous library review: As God Commands
Next library review: Days of Abandonment
December 27, 2021
Uma introdu莽茫o magistral 脿 Mitologia Grega.
Foi uma leitura bastante agrad谩vel, mas muito longa.
Lia um cap铆tulo, reflectia, a maior parte das vezes relia e acabava anotando informa莽玫es 煤teis para o futuro, e depois, finalmente, seguia em frente.
Exigiu in煤meras consultas ao dicion谩rio, a sites especializados em mitologia, e tamb茅m 脿 Wikip茅dia.
Esta obra n茫o 茅 apenas uma simples recontagem dos mitos gregos, embora eles sejam a pe莽a fulcral de todo o livro. Calasso coloca os mitos e a sua evolu莽茫o em perspectiva, encontra padr玫es e diferen莽as, explora a rela莽茫o inquieta do mundo grego com os seus deuses, e tenta assim explicar a sua rela莽茫o com o mundo.
Para quem gosta de Mitologia Grega 茅 uma leitura obrigat贸ria.
Foi uma leitura bastante agrad谩vel, mas muito longa.
Lia um cap铆tulo, reflectia, a maior parte das vezes relia e acabava anotando informa莽玫es 煤teis para o futuro, e depois, finalmente, seguia em frente.
Exigiu in煤meras consultas ao dicion谩rio, a sites especializados em mitologia, e tamb茅m 脿 Wikip茅dia.
Esta obra n茫o 茅 apenas uma simples recontagem dos mitos gregos, embora eles sejam a pe莽a fulcral de todo o livro. Calasso coloca os mitos e a sua evolu莽茫o em perspectiva, encontra padr玫es e diferen莽as, explora a rela莽茫o inquieta do mundo grego com os seus deuses, e tenta assim explicar a sua rela莽茫o com o mundo.
Para quem gosta de Mitologia Grega 茅 uma leitura obrigat贸ria.
February 4, 2017
Mi amiga Jaz me invit贸 a una lectura de poes铆a en el Varela Varelita. Fui, le铆 mis poemas, unos 5 tal vez, y cit茅 a Osvaldo Lamborghini, una peque帽a vi帽eta juguetona del Marqu茅s de Sebregondi.
Posteriormente fui a la mesa donde me esperaban mis amigos.
Me puse a hablar de los griegos que son lo 煤nico que me importa hace unos meses. Entonces mi amigo Nahuel sac贸 de su mochila este libro: Deni, esto ten茅s que leer. Y me lo entreg贸. Esa noche bebimos mucho whisky. Una gran noche.
Al d铆a siguiente quise agarrar este libro pero ten铆a mucha resaca y entend铆 que no era el d铆a para arrancar con una lectura de ese orden donde el relato comenzaba y despu茅s volv铆a a recomenzar. Admito que primero ese gesto del autor me mare贸.
Al siguiente entonces, y fresco, s铆, comenc茅.
Impresionante. Hubo un momento en que simplemente lo cerr茅 porque me hac铆a da帽o tanto Bien.
Las Bodas de Cadmo y Harmon铆a es un relato inigualable. No s茅 qu茅 es. El autor solo quiz谩 sepa decirlo. A m铆 no me interesa taxonomizar, en t茅rminos de literatura me gusta m谩s bien leer. El relato, la narraci贸n, comienza con el elegante rapto de Zeus en forma de toro blanco de la doncella Europa, pero una vez que Calasso, con una destreza l铆rica envidiable en dos p谩ginas nos muestra este ingenuo momento del mundo se pregunta: Pero, 驴c贸mo hab铆a comenzado todo? Y otra vez recomienza, agregando nuevos detalles. Este procedimiento se reitera unas cuantas veces, es lo que sirve de excusa a Calasso para comenzar un libro imposible. Ah铆 comienzan las urdimbres de Calasso en una trama que jam谩s es definitiva, donde siempre puede entrometerse para reflexionar y salta de tema en tema como hacen los hombres cuando tienen muchas cosas para decir a la vez. Mientras Calasso cuenta, y cuenta cosas maravillosas, inmiscuye un metadiscurso donde lo que dice va tomando nueva forma, nuevo volumen. Calasso es casi indiscreto, le interesa contar pero lo que m谩s le interesa es decir algo sobre lo que dice, le interesa pensar cada detalle de su relato. Esta es la clave central de Las Bodas de Cadmo y Harmon铆a, un libro donde se piensa la modernidad a partir de la antiguedad y donde el autor termina por dar cuenta de que no hay tal contradicci贸n y que ambas est谩n en un constante di谩logo sublime. Por eso Calasso puede escribir, o para eso escribe. El resto es una serie infinita de relatos en torno a la mitolog铆a, unas lecturas tan finas de Homero que dan ganas de darle un abrazo, la constante y adecuada, jam谩s ajena al texto, inclusive enredada en 茅l de citas de fuentes, de afamados mit贸grafos, de fragmentos, de poemas recopilados vaya uno a saber d贸nde, de escolios.
Hablar de la materia de este libro no me parece que sea pertinente para una review, se puede dar un curso sobre todas las tem谩ticas que son abordadas en esta sencilla obra de arte de 350 p谩ginas. Me parece que meterse de lleno en este libro es tarea del lector, un lector fascinado y cuanto m谩s conocedor del mundo de la mitolog铆a y la era de los H茅roes, mejor.
Posteriormente fui a la mesa donde me esperaban mis amigos.
Me puse a hablar de los griegos que son lo 煤nico que me importa hace unos meses. Entonces mi amigo Nahuel sac贸 de su mochila este libro: Deni, esto ten茅s que leer. Y me lo entreg贸. Esa noche bebimos mucho whisky. Una gran noche.
Al d铆a siguiente quise agarrar este libro pero ten铆a mucha resaca y entend铆 que no era el d铆a para arrancar con una lectura de ese orden donde el relato comenzaba y despu茅s volv铆a a recomenzar. Admito que primero ese gesto del autor me mare贸.
Al siguiente entonces, y fresco, s铆, comenc茅.
Impresionante. Hubo un momento en que simplemente lo cerr茅 porque me hac铆a da帽o tanto Bien.
Las Bodas de Cadmo y Harmon铆a es un relato inigualable. No s茅 qu茅 es. El autor solo quiz谩 sepa decirlo. A m铆 no me interesa taxonomizar, en t茅rminos de literatura me gusta m谩s bien leer. El relato, la narraci贸n, comienza con el elegante rapto de Zeus en forma de toro blanco de la doncella Europa, pero una vez que Calasso, con una destreza l铆rica envidiable en dos p谩ginas nos muestra este ingenuo momento del mundo se pregunta: Pero, 驴c贸mo hab铆a comenzado todo? Y otra vez recomienza, agregando nuevos detalles. Este procedimiento se reitera unas cuantas veces, es lo que sirve de excusa a Calasso para comenzar un libro imposible. Ah铆 comienzan las urdimbres de Calasso en una trama que jam谩s es definitiva, donde siempre puede entrometerse para reflexionar y salta de tema en tema como hacen los hombres cuando tienen muchas cosas para decir a la vez. Mientras Calasso cuenta, y cuenta cosas maravillosas, inmiscuye un metadiscurso donde lo que dice va tomando nueva forma, nuevo volumen. Calasso es casi indiscreto, le interesa contar pero lo que m谩s le interesa es decir algo sobre lo que dice, le interesa pensar cada detalle de su relato. Esta es la clave central de Las Bodas de Cadmo y Harmon铆a, un libro donde se piensa la modernidad a partir de la antiguedad y donde el autor termina por dar cuenta de que no hay tal contradicci贸n y que ambas est谩n en un constante di谩logo sublime. Por eso Calasso puede escribir, o para eso escribe. El resto es una serie infinita de relatos en torno a la mitolog铆a, unas lecturas tan finas de Homero que dan ganas de darle un abrazo, la constante y adecuada, jam谩s ajena al texto, inclusive enredada en 茅l de citas de fuentes, de afamados mit贸grafos, de fragmentos, de poemas recopilados vaya uno a saber d贸nde, de escolios.
Hablar de la materia de este libro no me parece que sea pertinente para una review, se puede dar un curso sobre todas las tem谩ticas que son abordadas en esta sencilla obra de arte de 350 p谩ginas. Me parece que meterse de lleno en este libro es tarea del lector, un lector fascinado y cuanto m谩s conocedor del mundo de la mitolog铆a y la era de los H茅roes, mejor.
February 27, 2015
Appena terminata la lettura di Le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia, posso definirlo il migliore libro sulla mitologia greca che abbia mai letto. Con grande grazia, Calasso 猫 riuscito ad unire un romanzo che raccontasse i miti greci e un saggio sul loro significato.
Infatti, la bellezza di questo romanzo (o saggio?) sulla mitologia greca sta nell'aver inglobato nel mito il suo significato, cos矛 come presumibilmente veniva percepito in origine. Ma non solo: Calasso ci mostra il filo conduttore che dal mito arriva fino ad oggi. Forse abbiamo dimenticato chi fossero Teseo, Achille o Edipo, ma ci貌 che questi miti volevano trasmettere 猫 ancora con noi, nella nostra forma mentis, nella nostra letteratura, nella nostra psicologia. Questa 猫 la forza di Le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia: far riflettere il lettore di oggi con miti tutt'altro che morti e sepolti.
Da appassionata di mitologia greca, non ho trovato difficile seguire la narrazione dei miti, anche se mi rendo conto che per un neofita potrebbe essere difficoltoso destreggiarsi tra nomi, genealogie e intrecci (il romanzo, tra l'altro, non presenta nessun glossario). In ogni caso, si tratta di un libro impegnativo, vuoi per lo stile alto in cui 猫 scritto, vuoi per la complessit脿 della materia trattata.
Infatti, la bellezza di questo romanzo (o saggio?) sulla mitologia greca sta nell'aver inglobato nel mito il suo significato, cos矛 come presumibilmente veniva percepito in origine. Ma non solo: Calasso ci mostra il filo conduttore che dal mito arriva fino ad oggi. Forse abbiamo dimenticato chi fossero Teseo, Achille o Edipo, ma ci貌 che questi miti volevano trasmettere 猫 ancora con noi, nella nostra forma mentis, nella nostra letteratura, nella nostra psicologia. Questa 猫 la forza di Le nozze di Cadmo e Armonia: far riflettere il lettore di oggi con miti tutt'altro che morti e sepolti.
Da appassionata di mitologia greca, non ho trovato difficile seguire la narrazione dei miti, anche se mi rendo conto che per un neofita potrebbe essere difficoltoso destreggiarsi tra nomi, genealogie e intrecci (il romanzo, tra l'altro, non presenta nessun glossario). In ogni caso, si tratta di un libro impegnativo, vuoi per lo stile alto in cui 猫 scritto, vuoi per la complessit脿 della materia trattata.
January 16, 2025
Uno de los mejores libros de mitolog铆a griega (en lengua castellana, al menos), para aquellos que deseen llegar un poco m谩s all谩 de las narraciones mitol贸gicas al uso y de las consabidas interpretaciones estoicas (como alegor铆as de fen贸menos naturales) o neoplat贸nicas (como alegor铆as morales).
Calasso repite la monumentalidad alcanzada con "El ardor" (茅ste, sobre la India v茅dica, me pareci贸 m谩s espectacular todav铆a), comprendiendo de un modo denso, oracular y velado, que la mitolog铆a tenia un valor est茅tico y 茅tico, on铆rico incluso. Deseante, sacrificial, sublimatorio... Cualquier intento de traducirlo a una formula l贸gica racional implica evitar su n煤cleo, su esp铆ritu humano y art铆stico.
Qui茅n quiera entender, que entienda, vendr铆a a decir Calasso. Lo que 茅l hace es lo 煤nico posible, obligatorio para un escritor: relatar, contar, trenzar y cortar. Darnos pistas.
No apto para quienes no controlen un m铆nimo la mitolog铆a grecoromana. Recomendable, adem谩s, leer previamente a Fernando Wulff ("El peligro infinito")
Calasso repite la monumentalidad alcanzada con "El ardor" (茅ste, sobre la India v茅dica, me pareci贸 m谩s espectacular todav铆a), comprendiendo de un modo denso, oracular y velado, que la mitolog铆a tenia un valor est茅tico y 茅tico, on铆rico incluso. Deseante, sacrificial, sublimatorio... Cualquier intento de traducirlo a una formula l贸gica racional implica evitar su n煤cleo, su esp铆ritu humano y art铆stico.
Qui茅n quiera entender, que entienda, vendr铆a a decir Calasso. Lo que 茅l hace es lo 煤nico posible, obligatorio para un escritor: relatar, contar, trenzar y cortar. Darnos pistas.
No apto para quienes no controlen un m铆nimo la mitolog铆a grecoromana. Recomendable, adem谩s, leer previamente a Fernando Wulff ("El peligro infinito")
December 22, 2021
Las bodas de Cadmo y Harmon铆a es un extenso compendio de mitos griegos, los que formaron nuestra cultura occidental.
Calasso nos entrega una obra mitad narrativa, mitad ensayo donde todo el corpus de mitos, dioses, semidioses y h茅roes son analizados en profundidad. Muchos pasajes examinan las distintas versiones de historiadores como Her贸doto y de autores tr谩gicos como Eur铆pides y Esquilo.
No faltan tampoco los eventos de la Il铆ada y la Odisea ni los an谩lisis de los fil贸sofos griegos. Obra completa sin dudas, erudita de m谩s para mi escaso conocimiento. Da por supuesto demasiados eventos que tuve que googlear.
El libro cierra con el mito del t铆tulo, donde los dioses asistieron a las bodas referidas y fue la 煤ltima noticia que tuvimos de los seres divinos. All铆, comenz贸 la historia. Nunca m谩s cenaremos con los dioses.
Como escribi贸 un antiguo, 芦estas cosas jam谩s ocurrieron, pero existen siempre禄.
Calasso nos entrega una obra mitad narrativa, mitad ensayo donde todo el corpus de mitos, dioses, semidioses y h茅roes son analizados en profundidad. Muchos pasajes examinan las distintas versiones de historiadores como Her贸doto y de autores tr谩gicos como Eur铆pides y Esquilo.
No faltan tampoco los eventos de la Il铆ada y la Odisea ni los an谩lisis de los fil贸sofos griegos. Obra completa sin dudas, erudita de m谩s para mi escaso conocimiento. Da por supuesto demasiados eventos que tuve que googlear.
El libro cierra con el mito del t铆tulo, donde los dioses asistieron a las bodas referidas y fue la 煤ltima noticia que tuvimos de los seres divinos. All铆, comenz贸 la historia. Nunca m谩s cenaremos con los dioses.
Como escribi贸 un antiguo, 芦estas cosas jam谩s ocurrieron, pero existen siempre禄.
Read
August 15, 2022Nije tako dobro kao propast grada Ka拧a. Jeste privla膷no, jeste na mahove uzbudljivo i inspirativno, ali Kalaso ipak nije Ni膷e, nije Jan Kot, pa 膷ak nije ni Robert Grejvs, pa da odabranim stranama gr膷ke mitologije nametne neku svoju jedinstvenu viziju. Preporuka bez ograni膷enja za one koji se tek upoznaju s anti膷kom knji啪evno拧膰u, ostali 膰e mo啪da biti malo razo膷arani.
Want to read
April 8, 2015I started this book when it was new, I got it for Christmas in 1988 (actually I received two of them), I started it but I couldn't finish it quickly (it's rather heavy, but not in a bad way... very 'pregnant' of different meanings, allusions, connections... or at least I thought so at the time). A few months afterward the author visited my high school, he was supposed to speak about this same book. Unfortunately, not many of us students were present at the event making him evidently very disappointed with the whole thing, therefore he reacted treating very poorly the people that *did* come to listen to him (a kind of behaviour I never understood). He acted and spoke with an air of superiority one does not easily forget.
I got my book signed and never opened it again.
I got my book signed and never opened it again.
November 23, 2020
Veo, ili ne拧to 拧to ste啪e, obavija, opasuje, vrpca, traka, povoj, to je poslednji predmet koji sre膰emo u Gr膷koj. S one strane vela nema ni膷eg drugog. Veo je ono drugo. On je objava da se postoje膰e, samo po sebi, ne bi odr啪alo, da ve膷no iziskuje da bude barem skriveno i otkriveno, da se pojavljuje i nestaje. Ono 拧to se ispunjava, inicijacija ili ven膷anje ili 啪rtvovanje, zahteva veo, upravo zato 拧to je ispunjava samo ono 拧to je savr锟斤拷eno, koje va啪i za sve, a sve uklju膷uje veo, taj vi拧ak koji daje stvarima miris. (275 str.)
May 20, 2014
This was originally published on .
Let us try to decipher this strange, dense book. Roberto Calasso takes on Greek mythology.
But what is Greek mythology? Capricious gods. Adulterous heroes. Many headed monsters. Irony. Hubris.
Calasso explains the difference between narrative and myth: A myth has several different versions, different retellings, but the thrust is often the same 鈥� there鈥檚 always a labyrinth and a monster and a hero and princess but how they got there, who they were, just how the plot played itself out must change. This is the essence of the myth. A narrative is a singular, crafted story. When a mythical tale is pared down to a single interpretation, specific plot-characters-theme, when its variants are lost, it is no longer a myth.
But what is Greek mythology? A panoply of sexual assault and women hanging from trees.
But what is Greek mythology? Duality. Phantoms. Twins.
鈥淭here are two strands to the story of the Pelopids: the tale of a king鈥檚 descendants, a succession of atrocities, each worse than the one before; and the tale of a series of talismans, each taking over from another in silence, each deciding the fate of men.鈥�
Meanwhile, the Helen who launched the Trojan War, may have only been a phantom twin, swapped out when she was initially journeying to Troy (a point Calasso delights in returning to the whole book long). Athena finds her childhood playmate looked exactly like her and this is why Zeus tricked Athena into killing her. There should only be one Athena.
The heroes of ancient Greece all have godly-antecedents. Theseus, the Minotaur(bull) slayer, becomes a bull in the end, his stories all mirroring earlier feats of Dionysus, often depicted as a bull. The tale of Ariadne can be drawn back to multiple different goddesses. The warrior women of the time fall back to Artemis or Athena. Echoes.
But they all fall short. Achilles鈥� life is so brief because of how close he is to the gods.
But what is this book? Occasionally a straight retelling of many Greek myths, both popular and obscure and seemingly with an emphasis on rape and abduction. Laced with thematic analysis, historical conjecture, and anecdote, Calasso rewrites the ancient tales of gods and heroes, often multiple times with different results. He sounds kind of smug about it.
But what is this book? Fascinating symbolism extraction mixed with metaphysical nonsense. An unintended duality, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony vacillates between wholly engaging and hopelessly monotonous. One chapter, we are following Calasso down an engrossing tangent, as he introduces a king from Ancient Greece whose entire history and character has been lost to time, save for one repeated trait: hospitality. A very hospitable king. That鈥檚 all we know. Hospitable. Calasso then extrapolates this to mean that actually, this king was the king of the dead, the most hospitable king of all, as he welcomes all. Calasso fills in all this backstory and conjecture to make this somehow make sense.
Follow this into another chapter about the birth of 鈥榥ecessity鈥� and the goddesses who commanded such and how they can never be cowed and lord over gods and men alike except that one time when one of them got tricked and impregnated by Zeus as a goose (it rhymes!) and what this means is that man鈥檚 relationship with necessity displays its overarching conflict with beauty and Zzzzz.
But what is this book? Eh, it鈥檚 okay I guess.
鈥淲hat conclusions can we draw? To invite the gods ruins our relationship with them but sets history in motion. A life in which the gods are not invited isn鈥檛 worth living. It will be quieter, but there won鈥檛 be any stories.鈥�
Let us try to decipher this strange, dense book. Roberto Calasso takes on Greek mythology.
But what is Greek mythology? Capricious gods. Adulterous heroes. Many headed monsters. Irony. Hubris.
Calasso explains the difference between narrative and myth: A myth has several different versions, different retellings, but the thrust is often the same 鈥� there鈥檚 always a labyrinth and a monster and a hero and princess but how they got there, who they were, just how the plot played itself out must change. This is the essence of the myth. A narrative is a singular, crafted story. When a mythical tale is pared down to a single interpretation, specific plot-characters-theme, when its variants are lost, it is no longer a myth.
But what is Greek mythology? A panoply of sexual assault and women hanging from trees.
But what is Greek mythology? Duality. Phantoms. Twins.
鈥淭here are two strands to the story of the Pelopids: the tale of a king鈥檚 descendants, a succession of atrocities, each worse than the one before; and the tale of a series of talismans, each taking over from another in silence, each deciding the fate of men.鈥�
Meanwhile, the Helen who launched the Trojan War, may have only been a phantom twin, swapped out when she was initially journeying to Troy (a point Calasso delights in returning to the whole book long). Athena finds her childhood playmate looked exactly like her and this is why Zeus tricked Athena into killing her. There should only be one Athena.
The heroes of ancient Greece all have godly-antecedents. Theseus, the Minotaur(bull) slayer, becomes a bull in the end, his stories all mirroring earlier feats of Dionysus, often depicted as a bull. The tale of Ariadne can be drawn back to multiple different goddesses. The warrior women of the time fall back to Artemis or Athena. Echoes.
But they all fall short. Achilles鈥� life is so brief because of how close he is to the gods.
But what is this book? Occasionally a straight retelling of many Greek myths, both popular and obscure and seemingly with an emphasis on rape and abduction. Laced with thematic analysis, historical conjecture, and anecdote, Calasso rewrites the ancient tales of gods and heroes, often multiple times with different results. He sounds kind of smug about it.
But what is this book? Fascinating symbolism extraction mixed with metaphysical nonsense. An unintended duality, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony vacillates between wholly engaging and hopelessly monotonous. One chapter, we are following Calasso down an engrossing tangent, as he introduces a king from Ancient Greece whose entire history and character has been lost to time, save for one repeated trait: hospitality. A very hospitable king. That鈥檚 all we know. Hospitable. Calasso then extrapolates this to mean that actually, this king was the king of the dead, the most hospitable king of all, as he welcomes all. Calasso fills in all this backstory and conjecture to make this somehow make sense.
Follow this into another chapter about the birth of 鈥榥ecessity鈥� and the goddesses who commanded such and how they can never be cowed and lord over gods and men alike except that one time when one of them got tricked and impregnated by Zeus as a goose (it rhymes!) and what this means is that man鈥檚 relationship with necessity displays its overarching conflict with beauty and Zzzzz.
But what is this book? Eh, it鈥檚 okay I guess.
鈥淲hat conclusions can we draw? To invite the gods ruins our relationship with them but sets history in motion. A life in which the gods are not invited isn鈥檛 worth living. It will be quieter, but there won鈥檛 be any stories.鈥�
December 19, 2021
Este es un libro para hacerse m谩s sabio. S铆, la prosa es exquisita. S铆, la variedad de las historias es inagotable. S铆, la riqueza de las fuentes es abrumadora. Da igual. Lo inaudito, lo inefable de este libro es que el Sr. Calasso no solo cuenta mitos, sino que lo hace utilizando el pensamiento m铆tico. La forma en que funciona un mito es radicalmente distinta al pensamiento cient铆fico: un historiador, un bi贸logo, un f铆sico aspiran a contar hechos de forma inmutable, irrefutable, no falsable. Aspiran a que nadie pueda contar los hechos de forma distinta a como lo han hecho ellos. El pensamiento m铆tico funciona justo al rev茅s: el creador de mitos aspira a que se cuenten de forma distinta cada vez, con nuevos matices, con nuevos giros, con nuevos hallazgos, hasta llegar a englobar una cosa y su contraria. El pensamiento m铆tico da coherencia a lo incoherente. Es la concordia discordantium. Son el 谩ncora y el delf铆n de Aldo Manuzio. Festina lente.
El Sr. Calasso bucea en la tradici贸n cl谩sica y despliega leyenda tras leyenda, recuenta las mismas historias una y otra vez, las entrelaza usando unos mismos personajes (dioses, da铆mones, h茅roes y hombres), que nunca son realmente los mismos. Zeus nunca es el mismo Zeus en cada uno de sus estupros. Ulises es distinto en cada uno de sus viajes. Todo es una excusa para hablar del ser humano, de sus pasiones, de sus temores, de lo rid铆culo y lo sublime. Todo es un pretexto para ofrecer una explicaci贸n, incre铆ble pero plausible, de la realidad.
Nada de esto es distinto a lo que hace la Literatura. Pero hacerlo usando la materia prima de la mitolog铆a griega es una salvajada, una haza帽a al alcance de muy pocos: el sabio Sr. Calasso en este libro, el poderoso mago Alan Moore en su Promethea. Tal vez los embaucadores Jung o Jodorowsky.
El Sr. Calasso bucea en la tradici贸n cl谩sica y despliega leyenda tras leyenda, recuenta las mismas historias una y otra vez, las entrelaza usando unos mismos personajes (dioses, da铆mones, h茅roes y hombres), que nunca son realmente los mismos. Zeus nunca es el mismo Zeus en cada uno de sus estupros. Ulises es distinto en cada uno de sus viajes. Todo es una excusa para hablar del ser humano, de sus pasiones, de sus temores, de lo rid铆culo y lo sublime. Todo es un pretexto para ofrecer una explicaci贸n, incre铆ble pero plausible, de la realidad.
Nada de esto es distinto a lo que hace la Literatura. Pero hacerlo usando la materia prima de la mitolog铆a griega es una salvajada, una haza帽a al alcance de muy pocos: el sabio Sr. Calasso en este libro, el poderoso mago Alan Moore en su Promethea. Tal vez los embaucadores Jung o Jodorowsky.
October 6, 2008
I seem to be out of step with the 欧宝娱乐 consensus on this one. I received this book as a gift from a friend who claimed it was one of the best things she'd ever read. There's no doubting Calasso's scholarship, but unless you have a PhD in Greek mythology (or just a boundless fascination in it) then I imagine you'll struggle with this as I did.
December 5, 2017
"entra-se no mito quando se entra no risco, e o mito 茅 o encanto que nesse momento consigamos fazer agir em n贸s. Mais do que uma cren莽a, 茅 um la莽o m谩gico que nos cinge. 脡 um sortil茅gio que a alma concede a si pr贸pria."
脡 isso...
脡 isso...
August 2, 2021
This is a truly remarkable book which puts classical mythology in an entirely new context. It is one of those rare, insightful books that comes along once every fifty years or so. It is a retelling (translated from the Italian) of Greek myth by an exceptionally talented writer in a style that is poetic, provocative, and profound. The author seeks on every page to delve into the deepest meanings of myths: how they came to be, what they tell us about human nature, and what they reveal about the Greeks in particular.
Calasso has done his homework. In a page by page reference key he lists the ancient sources he quotes in his text, including Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Vergil, Ovid, Plutarch, Callimachus, Horace, Herodotus, Hyginus, Eratosthenes, Nonnus, Diodorus Siculus, Apollonius Rhodius, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Lycophron, Theocritus, Athenaeus, Strabo, Pausanius and even obscure writers such as Simia, Tzetzes, Pseudo-Lucian, Nicola Damasceno, and Chaeremon.
He understands and expounds effortlessly upon the social, moral and religious dimensions of myth and touches on these with scholarly depth and precision. He is interested in the connections between myth and religious ritual. He dispenses entirely with dull recitations of what his sophisticated readers likely already know and instead offers fresh, insightful interpretations in a style that is colorful, lively, and literary.
This is neither a mythology schoolbook (a la Edith Hamilton), nor a pedantic treatise. It is something altogether different, and that is what makes it so attractive. Also highly recommended in the same vein is:
Calasso has done his homework. In a page by page reference key he lists the ancient sources he quotes in his text, including Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Vergil, Ovid, Plutarch, Callimachus, Horace, Herodotus, Hyginus, Eratosthenes, Nonnus, Diodorus Siculus, Apollonius Rhodius, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Lycophron, Theocritus, Athenaeus, Strabo, Pausanius and even obscure writers such as Simia, Tzetzes, Pseudo-Lucian, Nicola Damasceno, and Chaeremon.
He understands and expounds effortlessly upon the social, moral and religious dimensions of myth and touches on these with scholarly depth and precision. He is interested in the connections between myth and religious ritual. He dispenses entirely with dull recitations of what his sophisticated readers likely already know and instead offers fresh, insightful interpretations in a style that is colorful, lively, and literary.
This is neither a mythology schoolbook (a la Edith Hamilton), nor a pedantic treatise. It is something altogether different, and that is what makes it so attractive. Also highly recommended in the same vein is:
August 31, 2017
Ay me dio tristeza terminar este libro, me gust贸 mucho ir ley茅ndolo de a poquito, no es para leer en cualquier momento, de corrido o as铆 nom谩s.
Voy a contar de qu茅 se trata porque no es muy claro. Obviamente gran parte de lo lindo del libro est谩 en esa ambig眉edad, pero esto es una review de goodreads. Calasso es un erudito mal. Relata los mitos y a la vez los analiza y reflexiona sobre temas que trata cada uno, sobre figuras que se repiten, sobre la relaci贸n entre antig眉edad y modernidad. La forma en que enlaza los mitos, c贸mo va dosificando la informaci贸n con saltos de p谩rrafo locos, agregando personajes, detalles, lecturas, citas, yendo y viniendo, retomando lo que hab铆a dicho pero cada vez con otro enfoque y c贸mo va armando algo super denso pero que a la vez da mucho placer leer es hermoso y me dio much铆sima envidia. Lo recomiendo para tiempos oscuros.
Voy a contar de qu茅 se trata porque no es muy claro. Obviamente gran parte de lo lindo del libro est谩 en esa ambig眉edad, pero esto es una review de goodreads. Calasso es un erudito mal. Relata los mitos y a la vez los analiza y reflexiona sobre temas que trata cada uno, sobre figuras que se repiten, sobre la relaci贸n entre antig眉edad y modernidad. La forma en que enlaza los mitos, c贸mo va dosificando la informaci贸n con saltos de p谩rrafo locos, agregando personajes, detalles, lecturas, citas, yendo y viniendo, retomando lo que hab铆a dicho pero cada vez con otro enfoque y c贸mo va armando algo super denso pero que a la vez da mucho placer leer es hermoso y me dio much铆sima envidia. Lo recomiendo para tiempos oscuros.
May 23, 2024
El ciclo del mito. Pero durante; la develaci贸n de la consistencia del mito. Si el mito es substancia, no es gracias al rito, pues el rito se trata s贸lo de llevar a lo mat茅rico aquello que es intangible, es decir, el nacimiento del gesto. Pero el mito, como plantea Calasso en esta obra, es aquello que est谩 antes del gesto, "el forro invisible que lo acompa帽a". Esa es su substancia. El velo. La venda. Como vendas ondeantes acompa帽an a dioses y h茅roes y que en esta construcci贸n literaria de Calasso, tambi茅n ondeante, llevan a otro lugar a las alegor铆as de la Teogon铆a griega. Sin ser una Teogon铆a m谩s, esta obra inclasificable es un rapto del ensayo a la ficci贸n (as铆 como el rapto es inmanente a los dioses, sobre todo a Zeus), es la reconstrucci贸n del relato m铆tico griego y 贸rfico, sin alterar sus elementos, pero encarnando la prosa en una especie de Teseo que enrolla el hilo de Ariadna mientras avanza por el laberinto del Minotauro para matar al monstruo, finalmente. Y aunque el hilo de esta narraci贸n no es el de Ariadna, sino m谩s bien el rastro invisible de Europa raptada por un toro, a煤n es una narraci贸n dentro de un laberinto. El toro era Zeus. Llega entonces la pregunta (驴C贸mo hab铆a comenzado todo?) que arranca, as铆 como en la Odisea, la Orestiada o la empresa de Jas贸n y los argonautas en busca del vellocino de oro, la traves铆a del lenguaje (y esto se ver谩 al final) en busca del origen de todo que, como m谩xima cualidad del mito, sabemos que no es un origen, sino un final que a la vez es un nuevo origen: el de la palabra escrita. Cadmo, hermano de Europa, parte en su b煤squeda por insistencia de su padre. Nunca la encuentra, pero salva a Zeus de su destrucci贸n y del robo de su haz de rel谩mpagos por parte de Tifeo, con lo que Zeus perd铆a todo su poder y significaba la entrada del caos, la muerte del mito, el desgarro de los velos. Todos los mecanismos de la funcionalidad del mito (el monstruo, el h茅roe, la metamorfosis, el estupro) ser铆an destruidos de no ser por Cadmo, el fenicio, que con "sus dones provistos de mente", "vocales y consonantes unidas en signos min煤sculos" (el alfabeto), abrir铆an al mito su hogar definitivo: la literatura.
"Los mitos griegos eran historias transmitidas con variantes. El escritor, fuera P铆ndaro u Ovidio, las recompon铆a de manera diferente, en cada ocasi贸n, omitiendo o a帽adiendo. Pero las nuevas variantes deb铆an ser raras y poco visibles. As铆 cada escritor incrementaba y afinaba el cuerpo de las historias. As铆 sigui贸 respirando el mito en la literatura".
Y esta es, ret贸ricamente, la causa del ocultamiento necesario en la supervivencia del mito. "Ocultar con la luz". En esta duplicidad/multiplicidad de versiones, los dioses se ocultan y las vendas que los recubren reconectan al "todo con el todo", que es lo 煤nico que da sentido a la vida, seg煤n Calasso. As铆, la funci贸n del mito es ligar lo visible y lo invisible, cielo y tierra, materia e idea. All铆 tambi茅n, en la posibilidad de varias versiones de un mismo dios, est谩 la copia no como una falsificaci贸n sino como una peque帽a alteraci贸n del orden que genera un nuevo significado. Y dentro de ello, el simulacro como fuente misma del origen de los dioses: "En el origen del simulacro est谩 la imagen mental. Este ser caprichoso e impalpable replica al mundo y al mismo tiempo lo sujeta a la furia combinatoria, azotando sus formas en una proliferaci贸n inexhausta". Aqu铆 Helena es el poder del simulacro; las muchas Helenas y todas sus versiones son un simulacro: "Cuando un mito deja actuar la repetici贸n y la variante, aflora por un instante el esqueleto del sistema, el orden latente, cubierto de algas". Helena como simulacro (y causa de una guerra) deja en evidencia ese esqueleto.
Para Homero, seg煤n se帽ala Calasso, Helena no era un simulacro, sino El simulacro, es decir, Homero buscaba la unicidad, rechazaba las copias "por fines literarios". Homero habr铆a silenciado el esc谩ndalo m谩ximo de la guerra de Troya: el derramamiento de sangre por un fantasma, por el cuerpo de una mujer que no exist铆a.
Esa intenci贸n de lo 煤nico, de lo irrepetible, que buscaba Homero, es aquello que escapa al dominio del lenguaje seg煤n Calasso, que lo distingue dentro del mito como un "reino" con el que conviven y a la vez se sobrepasan entre s铆, el reino de la metamorfosis, que existe cuando el lenguaje no se ha separado de la cosa, ni la mente de la materia; el reino de la sustituci贸n, que es el del signo y la palabra; y el reino de Zeus, que son las historias griegas. Historias que en este libro inician y terminan en la misma historia, pero no en el mismo lugar: el desenlace de la b煤squeda de Europa por Cadmo desembocar谩 en el regalo que le hace Zeus, su boda con Armon铆a (hija de Afrodita y Ares), cosa que solo terminar谩 en tragedia, pero traer谩 un hilo de escape al mito: la escritura.
Una obra abundante, expansiva y densa a la vez, llena de asociaciones y conexiones como vendas que envuelven una inmaterialidad hoy posible s贸lo en su encarnaci贸n dentro de la ficci贸n literaria, as铆 como el juego de velos que se desvelan y no, tras los cuales puede estar una estatua de madera vistiendo un velo de novia pronta a casarse con Zeus...
"Los mitos griegos eran historias transmitidas con variantes. El escritor, fuera P铆ndaro u Ovidio, las recompon铆a de manera diferente, en cada ocasi贸n, omitiendo o a帽adiendo. Pero las nuevas variantes deb铆an ser raras y poco visibles. As铆 cada escritor incrementaba y afinaba el cuerpo de las historias. As铆 sigui贸 respirando el mito en la literatura".
Y esta es, ret贸ricamente, la causa del ocultamiento necesario en la supervivencia del mito. "Ocultar con la luz". En esta duplicidad/multiplicidad de versiones, los dioses se ocultan y las vendas que los recubren reconectan al "todo con el todo", que es lo 煤nico que da sentido a la vida, seg煤n Calasso. As铆, la funci贸n del mito es ligar lo visible y lo invisible, cielo y tierra, materia e idea. All铆 tambi茅n, en la posibilidad de varias versiones de un mismo dios, est谩 la copia no como una falsificaci贸n sino como una peque帽a alteraci贸n del orden que genera un nuevo significado. Y dentro de ello, el simulacro como fuente misma del origen de los dioses: "En el origen del simulacro est谩 la imagen mental. Este ser caprichoso e impalpable replica al mundo y al mismo tiempo lo sujeta a la furia combinatoria, azotando sus formas en una proliferaci贸n inexhausta". Aqu铆 Helena es el poder del simulacro; las muchas Helenas y todas sus versiones son un simulacro: "Cuando un mito deja actuar la repetici贸n y la variante, aflora por un instante el esqueleto del sistema, el orden latente, cubierto de algas". Helena como simulacro (y causa de una guerra) deja en evidencia ese esqueleto.
Para Homero, seg煤n se帽ala Calasso, Helena no era un simulacro, sino El simulacro, es decir, Homero buscaba la unicidad, rechazaba las copias "por fines literarios". Homero habr铆a silenciado el esc谩ndalo m谩ximo de la guerra de Troya: el derramamiento de sangre por un fantasma, por el cuerpo de una mujer que no exist铆a.
Esa intenci贸n de lo 煤nico, de lo irrepetible, que buscaba Homero, es aquello que escapa al dominio del lenguaje seg煤n Calasso, que lo distingue dentro del mito como un "reino" con el que conviven y a la vez se sobrepasan entre s铆, el reino de la metamorfosis, que existe cuando el lenguaje no se ha separado de la cosa, ni la mente de la materia; el reino de la sustituci贸n, que es el del signo y la palabra; y el reino de Zeus, que son las historias griegas. Historias que en este libro inician y terminan en la misma historia, pero no en el mismo lugar: el desenlace de la b煤squeda de Europa por Cadmo desembocar谩 en el regalo que le hace Zeus, su boda con Armon铆a (hija de Afrodita y Ares), cosa que solo terminar谩 en tragedia, pero traer谩 un hilo de escape al mito: la escritura.
Una obra abundante, expansiva y densa a la vez, llena de asociaciones y conexiones como vendas que envuelven una inmaterialidad hoy posible s贸lo en su encarnaci贸n dentro de la ficci贸n literaria, as铆 como el juego de velos que se desvelan y no, tras los cuales puede estar una estatua de madera vistiendo un velo de novia pronta a casarse con Zeus...
September 16, 2017
Opera immensa, difficile apprezzarla pienamente con una sola lettura... Il mito, tutto il mito greco, raccolto in un unico libro, raccontato, interpretato, rivisitato, con la circolarit脿 e le mille versioni che sono proprie, appunto, del mito. Un libro sicuramente difficile, ma ricco, denso, a tratti illuminante, in certi punti estremamente oscuro, 猫 una lettura che mi ha arricchito moltissimo e credo riprender貌 sicuramente.
Tra un mito e l'altro, emerge la famosa cultura greca, la matrice classica da cui discende, a quanto pare, tutta la cultura occidentale. La razionalit脿, l'eleganza, la logica, sono solo alcune delle qualit脿 che siamo soliti attribuire ai nostri illustri antenati ellenici. Nulla di pi霉 sbagliato!
"I Greci non avevano alcuna inclinazione alla temperanza. Sapevano che l'eccesso 猫 il dio, e che il dio travolge la vita (...) La sobriet脿 occidentale, che due millenni dopo sarebbe diventata il buon senso di chiunque, fu all'inizio un miraggio intravisto nella tempesta delle forze."
Ho l'impressione che gran parte di quel che noi moderni siamo soliti considerare "classico", ha in realt脿 a che fare con il neoclassico, una cristallizzazione estetizzante delle forme e degli archetipi della cultura classica, avvenuta tra il '600 e l'800, di cui ancora oggi subiamo l'influenza. Quel che si scopre leggendo i miti greci 猫 che i classici erano, nei gusti, nell'immaginario, nei costumi, nella sessualit脿, estremamente diversi da noi, quasi degli alieni. Come sia possibile che nonostante tutto oggi noi occidentali ci consideriamo eredi della cultura classica diventa, secondo me, dopo questa lettura, ancora pi霉 inverosimile, eppure, come dice Calasso, "I miti sono composti di azioni che includono in s茅 il proprio opposto", e forse, proprio per questa circolarit脿 che concilia gli opposti, ancora adesso noi possiamo specchiarci in queste incredibili storie fantasy di quasi tremila anni fa.
Tra un mito e l'altro, emerge la famosa cultura greca, la matrice classica da cui discende, a quanto pare, tutta la cultura occidentale. La razionalit脿, l'eleganza, la logica, sono solo alcune delle qualit脿 che siamo soliti attribuire ai nostri illustri antenati ellenici. Nulla di pi霉 sbagliato!
"I Greci non avevano alcuna inclinazione alla temperanza. Sapevano che l'eccesso 猫 il dio, e che il dio travolge la vita (...) La sobriet脿 occidentale, che due millenni dopo sarebbe diventata il buon senso di chiunque, fu all'inizio un miraggio intravisto nella tempesta delle forze."
Ho l'impressione che gran parte di quel che noi moderni siamo soliti considerare "classico", ha in realt脿 a che fare con il neoclassico, una cristallizzazione estetizzante delle forme e degli archetipi della cultura classica, avvenuta tra il '600 e l'800, di cui ancora oggi subiamo l'influenza. Quel che si scopre leggendo i miti greci 猫 che i classici erano, nei gusti, nell'immaginario, nei costumi, nella sessualit脿, estremamente diversi da noi, quasi degli alieni. Come sia possibile che nonostante tutto oggi noi occidentali ci consideriamo eredi della cultura classica diventa, secondo me, dopo questa lettura, ancora pi霉 inverosimile, eppure, come dice Calasso, "I miti sono composti di azioni che includono in s茅 il proprio opposto", e forse, proprio per questa circolarit脿 che concilia gli opposti, ancora adesso noi possiamo specchiarci in queste incredibili storie fantasy di quasi tremila anni fa.
December 4, 2023
Por momentos es como leer una enciclopedia, interesante pero aburrido, y por momentos es altamente po茅tico. Sin lugar a dudas, desafiante.
Es innumerable la cantidad de veces que fui a buscar a internet los nombres de lugares, ninfas, dioses locales, y animales fabulosos. Qu茅 puedo decir que resuma un libro que tiene 400 p谩ginas y en el que agregu茅 780 notas? Por ejemplo, que al fin de cada cap铆tulo, el autor hace un cierre magistral, que en alg煤n caso pens茅 que s贸lo ese cierre val铆a leer el libro entero.
Me gust贸 particularmente una entrada de lo que escribi贸 sobre este libro Jacinto Ant贸n para el diario El pa铆s, de Espa帽a: 鈥淓l procedimiento del mit贸grafo es 茅ste: se ilumina una zona, dejando otra en la oscuridad. Y se vislumbra una cadena en la que todo est谩 interrelacionado".
Sin dudas, Calasso ha sido un mit贸grafo y un maestro.
Es innumerable la cantidad de veces que fui a buscar a internet los nombres de lugares, ninfas, dioses locales, y animales fabulosos. Qu茅 puedo decir que resuma un libro que tiene 400 p谩ginas y en el que agregu茅 780 notas? Por ejemplo, que al fin de cada cap铆tulo, el autor hace un cierre magistral, que en alg煤n caso pens茅 que s贸lo ese cierre val铆a leer el libro entero.
Me gust贸 particularmente una entrada de lo que escribi贸 sobre este libro Jacinto Ant贸n para el diario El pa铆s, de Espa帽a: 鈥淓l procedimiento del mit贸grafo es 茅ste: se ilumina una zona, dejando otra en la oscuridad. Y se vislumbra una cadena en la que todo est谩 interrelacionado".
Sin dudas, Calasso ha sido un mit贸grafo y un maestro.
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