Are Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy the greatest love story? 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 Grace Rexroth weighs in

What is the greatest love story of all time?

This is a question many like to consider, discuss and debate, especially around Valentine鈥檚 Day. Whether you鈥檙e more of a romantic at heart or a casual softie, you鈥檝e more than likely heard or expressed the opinion that there is no love story quite like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen鈥檚 Pride and Prejudice.

Despite being more than 200 years old, something about this classic novel transcends centuries and social changes to remain a text with which many people connect, whether on the screen, stage or in the pages of the novel.

What makes this love story so memorable and so beloved? Is it truly the greatest love story of all time, or is there something else about it that draws readers in again and again?

According to Grace Rexroth, a teaching assistant professor in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of English who is currently teaching a global women鈥檚 literature course focused on writing about love, the historical context in which Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice is crucial to understanding the novel's inner workings.

The Regency Era was a period of intense revolution and change. There still were very strict social norms surrounding marriage and status, which are evident in the novel, but it鈥檚 also important to consider that proto-feminist ideals, such as those expressed by Mary Wollstonecraft, were influencing conversations about the position of women in society, Rexroth notes.

Even at the time of publication, Pride and Prejudice was perceived differently between opposing political groups鈥攎ore conservative thinkers saw it as a story that still rewarded conservative values, such as humility, beauty (always beauty) and a reserved disposition. Other, more progressive readers saw it as standing up to the status quo.

To this day, readers and scholars often debate whether Austen was writing to criticize or praise Regency Era ideas about women鈥檚 autonomy. In The Making of Jane Austen, author Devoney Looser observes, 鈥�It sounds impossible, but Jane Austen has been and remains a figure at the vanguard of reinforcing tradition and promoting social change.鈥�

Nuance helps it endure

The fact that Pride and Prejudice lends itself to different interpretations is part of the reason why it鈥檚 lived such a long life in the spotlight, Rexroth says. It has managed to appeal to what people鈥攕pecifically women鈥攈ave wanted and fantasized about through different eras following its publication.

According to Looser, both film and stage adaptations have highlighted different aspects of the text for different reasons. During its first stage adaptations, for instance, the emphasis was often placed on Elizabeth鈥檚 character development. In fact, the most tense and climactic scene in these early performances was often her final confrontation with Lady Catherine De Bourgh, when Elizabeth asserts that she鈥檚 going to do what鈥檚 best for herself instead of cowering under Lady Catherine鈥檚 anger at her engagement to her nephew, Mr. Darcy.

Such scenes emphasize Elizabeth鈥檚 assertiveness and self-possession in the face of social pressure. Featuring this scene as the climax of the story is quite different from interpretations that focus on the suppressed erotic tension between Elizabeth and Darcy.

This doesn鈥檛 mean that adaptations prioritizing the romantic union didn鈥檛 soon follow. In 1935, Helen Jerome flipped the narrative on what Pride and Prejudice meant to a modern audience by casting a young, conventionally attractive man to play Mr. Darcy. Looser refers to this change as the beginning of 鈥渢he rise of sexy Darcy,鈥� a phenomenon that has continued in the nearly 100 years following this first casting choice.

In many ways, the intentional decision to make Mr. Darcy physically desirable on stage coincided with the rising popularity of the 鈥渞omantic marriage鈥濃�攁 union founded on love and attraction rather than on status and societal expectations. Before this, Mr. Darcy鈥檚 being handsome was just a nice perk to Elizabeth, not a clear driving force for her feelings towards him.

From loathing to love

This is not to say there鈥檚 no implication of attraction in the original novel, though. There鈥檚 something magnetic about Darcy and Elizabeth鈥檚 relationship from the very beginning, when they profess their distaste for each other as the reigning sentiment between them (though readers can see that Elizabeth really doesn鈥檛 seem to mind being insulted by Mr. Darcy until later in the novel). It鈥檚 a quintessential 鈥渆nemies to lovers鈥� narrative, Rexroth says.

In that way, the novel offers a hint of the unruly desires driving many creative decisions in most modern film adaptations鈥攆rom the famous 鈥渨et shirt鈥� scene in the 1995 BBC adaptation with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, to what some critics argue is a highly over-dramatized first proposal scene staged in the rain in the 2005 Keira Knightly version. That sense of tension between Elizabeth and Darcy, unsaid but palpable, is a draw that has reeled in modern audiences to the point of obsession.

Rexroth suggests that part of the novel鈥檚 appeal hinges on what can and cannot be expressed in the text: 鈥淏ecause discussions of sex and desire are fairly repressed in the novel, emotional discourse has more free reign, which is often appealing to modern readers who experience a reverse set of tensions in modern life. Modern discourse, while often privileging a more open discussion of sex, often places tension on how and why we express emotion鈥攅specially in romantic relationships.鈥�

Modern sexual liberation, especially through the eyes of women, has been an integral part of feminist movements. However, feminism also offers reminders that when the world still is governed by misogynistic ideas about sex鈥攊ncluding women as the object and men as more emotionally unattached sexual partners鈥攌ey aspects of what sex can mean from an anti-misogynist viewpoint are lost.

This, perhaps, is one reason that Pride and Prejudice is so appealing to women battling standards of sexuality centered around patriarchy, and who find themselves longing for something more鈥攁 鈥渓ove ethic,鈥� as author bell hooks called it.

However, is Pride and Prejudice really a perfect example of a "love ethic鈥�? Rexroth also asks her classes to consider the pitfalls of how readers continue to fantasize about Pride and Prejudice, potentially seeing it as a model for modern romantic relationships.

Questions of true autonomy

While Elizabeth exercises her autonomy and free choice by rejecting not one but two men, standing up to Lady Catherine and overall just being a clever and witty heroine, she is still living within a larger society that privileges the status of her husband over her own and sees her value primarily in relation to the ways she circulates on the marriage market.

For that reason, women are never really autonomous, Rexroth says. How can they be, when Elizabeth鈥檚 decision to reject a man could potentially ruin her life and the lives of her sisters? Or when her sister Lydia鈥檚 decision to run away with Mr. Wickham nearly sends the entire family into ruin? What happens to Elizabeth in a world without Darcy?

This, according to Rexroth, is the danger of looking at Pride and Prejudice uncritically. Though readers and scholars may never know if Austen meant it to be a critical piece about the wider societal implications of the marriage market鈥攁lthough it can be inferred pretty strongly that she did mean it that way, Rexroth says鈥攊t does have startling implications towards modern relationships that we tend to find ourselves in.

鈥淢odern discussions of love often focus on the individual, psychological aspects of relationships rather than the larger social networks that structure them,鈥� Rexroth explains. 鈥淢y students sometimes think that if they just work on themselves, go to the gym and find the right partner, everything will be okay鈥攖hey鈥檙e not always thinking about how our larger social or political context might play a role in their love lives.鈥�

The fantasy of Pride and Prejudice tends to reinforce this idea, she adds. It鈥檚 not that the world needs to change鈥攖he fantasy is that finding the right man will 鈥渃hange my world.鈥� Such fantasies tend to treat patriarchy as a game women can win if they just play it the right way, Rexroth says. If a woman finds the right man or the right partner, that man will somehow provide the forms of social, economic or political autonomy that might otherwise be lacking in a woman鈥檚 life.

Such fantasies sidestep the question of what produces true autonomy鈥攁nd therefore the capacity to fully participate in a romantic union, she adds.

So, is Pride and Prejudice the ultimate love story? Ardent fans might argue yes鈥攁 鈥減erfect ending鈥� with a 鈥減erfect man鈥� is the quintessential love story, and who can blame readers for wanting those things? Happy endings are lovely. 

Others, however, might still wish that Mr. Darcy had behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.

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精品SM在线影片 Associate Professor Emily Harrington examines the enduring power of stories we read in childhood and what we can learn from them as adults 

When many people think of December, their minds are filled with thoughts of snow, warm drinks, family and childhood. This is the time of year when memories of childhood bubble to the surface鈥攂urnished by time to seem simpler and happier.

For avid childhood readers, a profound element of those memories is the books they read in their youth, which can continue to play a significant role in their adult lives. , who died 100 years ago this fall, was the author of such books鈥攖he kind that young readers devour and still swoon over in adulthood.

Her most famous works, including A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, continue to be fan favorites for young children and books that many adults consider the beginning of their reading careers.

Remembering Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett is a household name in the world of children鈥檚 literature. Her beloved novels are perennially popular with children and have been made into multiple film adaptations. However, says Emily Harrington, an assistant professor in the English Department at the 精品SM在线影片, who has taught a course on children鈥檚 literature, it is important to critically examine even the beloved books of childhood鈥攏ot allowing memory to obscure what adult readers may recognize as controversial aspects of children鈥檚 literature.

Critics and educators have been noted how Hodgson Burnett portrayed characters of color in her novels. For example, in The Secret Garden, the character Mary is unhealthy because she grew up in India. Martha, a sympathetic character, contrasts people of color with "respectable鈥� white people. Modern readers have questioned the effect that could have had on the children reading these stories.

Harrington notes it鈥檚 important to teach the novels in a way that doesn鈥檛 dismiss their issues: 鈥淏oth (A Little Princess and The Secret Garden) have some super problematic, racist attitudes. It鈥檚 not why they鈥檙e remembered but I think it鈥檚 important to acknowledge,鈥� Harrington says.

When looking back on novels written in the early 20th century, it isn鈥檛 uncommon to discover undertones of racism or sexism.

Some argue that racism was more normalized at the time some books were written, but even in the context of a work鈥檚 time, it is important to recognize and consider these issues when they exist in novels written for children, Harrington says. She also notes Burnett鈥檚 questionable views about medicine, which are apparent in The Secret Garden, when a wheelchair-bound child is able to walk after a little exposure to fresh air. Burnett believed that nature and God were the solution to most medical issues, which can change the meaning of the Secret Garden as being a magical place outside that fixes all medical ailments.

A lifetime effect

However, even if some of their content makes a modern reader pause, the novels that young readers enjoy can have lasting echoes in their lives as adults. Childhood fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and many other novels may continue to visit those worlds in their minds as adults or to wish they could be transported by books in the way they were as children. This includes Frances Hodgson Burnett鈥檚 novels, which many readers continue loving into adulthood. A large part of this connection is how the books made young readers feel while reading them, Harrington says.

鈥淚n these books like The Secret Garden, the kids are the ones who are empowered to figure things out for themselves and who are in worlds that are magical or partially magical. That kind of magic attaches itself to the kids,鈥� Harrington says.

Due to this escape that children can experience while reading these novels, the stories, characters and places can stay with them into adulthood. It isn鈥檛 rare to see someone who is still as deeply infatuated with novels such as A Little Princess or The Secret Garden as an adult because those books have been those escapes for many generations of children. And as parents or grandparents read these novels to children, the cycle continues, and the literary love is passed to new generations.

Even with Hodgson Burnett鈥檚 questionable beliefs, as well as aspects of her novels that trouble modern readers, readers still are able to take the best parts of these magical worlds and make them their own, Harrington says. That, in turn, allows the children who read them to make these fictional worlds their own, she adds.

She notes that this is a process that many children experience while reading these novels as a form of escapism: 鈥淸As they grow up, children may think] 鈥楾his magical world is mine now, and it鈥檚 not going to be racist or anti-trans. I鈥檓 gonna imagine myself in it in my own way and reject the parts of the legacy that I don鈥檛 want.鈥�

鈥淎ll the people who enjoy these books can take the parts that they love and keep them, and hopefully had enough alternate influences that counteract the colonialist ideology,鈥� Harrington says, citing common issues with The Secret Garden and A Little Princess.

Best friends forever

For many avid childhood readers, books have been a major part of their lives for as long as they can remember and the characters in them their lifelong friends. Those reading experiences can transfer deeply into their adult lives, especially when correlating reading with comfort, Harrington says.

Further, last year found multiple points of positive correlation between early reading for pleasure with subsequent brain and cognitive development and mental well-being. Also, the most recent finds that while 70% of 6- to 8-year-olds love or like reading books for fun, that number shrinks to just 47% among 12- to 17-year olds.

R. Joseph Rodriguez, a teaching fellow with the National Book Foundation, , 鈥淭he joy of books has been killed. Suppressed, tested and killed. I hate when students are called 鈥榮truggling readers.鈥� We need to see them as students who need a revival! I want a revival!鈥�

Educators, researchers, parents, health care professionals and children themselves study and discuss how to 鈥攆rom alleviating testing pressure to proving time and space for reading, supporting diversity in children鈥檚 literature and not dismissing the literature that children actually enjoy as 鈥渇rivolous.鈥�

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精品SM在线影片 philosopher Iskra Fileva explores the complexities in separating the magic of a story from the controversies of its teller

The transition from summer to fall鈥攖rading warm days for cool evenings鈥攎eans that things are getting 鈥� spookier. Witchier, maybe. For fans of the series, the approach of Halloween means it鈥檚 time to rewatch the Harry Potter movies.

This autumn also marks the 25^th anniversary of the U.S. release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, book three in author J.K. Rowling鈥檚 seven-book series about a boy wizard defeating the forces of evil with help from his friends. Many U.S. readers of a certain age cite Azkaban as the point at which they discovered the magic of Harry Potter.

However, in the years since the series ended, Rowling has gained notoriety for stating strongly anti-trans views. Harry Potter fans have expressed disappointment and feelings of betrayal, and asked the question that has shadowed the arts for centuries, if not millennia: Is it possible to love the art but dislike the artist? Can the two be separated?

精品SM在线影片 philosopher Iskra Fileva notes that, "Even if you are an aestheticist, you probably cannot separate the art from the artist if the background information is affecting the proper interpretation of the story.鈥�

鈥淚n principle, you can try to focus on the purely aesthetic properties of an artwork. This is the aestheticist attitude,鈥� says Iskra Fileva, a 精品SM在线影片 assistant professor of philosophy who has published on topics of virtue and morality. 鈥淏ut even if you are an aestheticist, you probably cannot separate the art from the artist if the background information is affecting the proper interpretation of the story.鈥�

The Impact of Knowing

Fileva offered as an example the work of Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro. In a short story called 鈥淲ild Swans,鈥� Munro depicts a young girl on a train who is sexually assaulted by an older man sitting beside her, but who pretends to be asleep and does nothing because she is curious about what would happen next.

Munro鈥檚 daughter came forward several months after Munro鈥檚 death in May to say she鈥檇 been abused by her stepfather and that her mother, after initially separating from her stepfather, went back to live with him, saying that she loved him too much.

Fileva points out that in light of these revelations, it is reasonable for readers of 鈥淲ild Swans鈥� to reinterpret the story. Whereas initially they may have seen it as a psychologically nuanced portrayal of the train scene, they may, after learning of the daughter鈥檚 reports, come to read the story as an attempt at victim-blaming disguised as literature.

Fileva contrasts Munro鈥檚 case with cases in which an author may have said or done reprehensible things, but not anything that bears on how their work should be interpreted鈥攁s when Italian painter Caravaggio killed a man in a brawl, but the homicide is considered irrelevant to interpreting his paintings.    

Fileva points out also that the question of whether the art can be separated from the artist may seem particularly pressing today, because modern audiences know so much more about artists than art consumers in the past may have. If no one knows facts about the author鈥檚 life, art consumers would be unable to draw parallels between an artwork and biographical information about the author. 

鈥淭hese are things that, historically, few would have known about鈥攖he origin of a novel or any other kind of artwork. Art might have looked a little bit more magical, and there may have been more mystery surrounding the author and in the act of creation,鈥� says Fileva, explaining how the personal lives of artists have begun to seep into the minds of their consumers, something that has recently become common.

"The Crowning of Thorns" by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (ca. 1602-1607). Philosopher Iskra Fileva notes that even though Caravaggio killed a man in a brawl, the homicide is considered irrelevant to interpreting his paintings.

In 1919, , 鈥淚 have assumed as axiomatic that a creation, a work of art, is autonomous.鈥� And in his essay 鈥�,鈥� literary theorist Roland Barthes criticized and sought to counter 鈥渢he explanation of the work is always sought in the man who has produced it, as if, through the more or less transparent allegory of fiction, it was always finally the voice of one and the same person.鈥�

However, early 20th-century movements such as , which considered works of art as autonomous, have given way to more nuanced considerations of art in relation to its artist.

鈥淚 do think that if you want to understand what work literature does in the world, starting with its historical moment is an important step,鈥� Amy Hungerford, a Yale University professor of English, told author Constance Grady in a . 鈥淏ut I also am fully committed to the idea that every generation of readers remakes artworks鈥� significance for themselves. When you try to separate works of art from history, whether that鈥檚 the moment of creation or the moment of reception, you鈥檙e impoverishing the artwork itself to say that they don鈥檛 have a relation.鈥�

Too many tweets

The growth of social media has added a new layer to the issues of art and the artists who create it. According to Fileva, social media have made it more difficult to separate the two because of how much more the consumer is able to know, or think they know, about the artist: 鈥淎rtists are often now expected to have a public persona, to be there, to talk to their fans, to have these parasocial relationships, and that might make it difficult to separate the art from the artist,鈥� she says.

In Fileva鈥檚 view, all this creates a second way in which facts about the author seem to bear on the public鈥檚 perception of an artwork. While learning about the revelations made by Munro鈥檚 daughter may lead some readers to reinterpret 鈥淲ild Swans,鈥� other readers and viewers may feel disappointed and 鈥渓et down鈥� by the author even without reinterpreting the artwork or changing their judgment about the work鈥檚 qualities.

This fall marks the 25th anniversary of the U.S. release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which many U.S. readers of a certain age cite as their entry point into the series.

This is another way in which it may become difficult to separate the art from the artist: The work becomes 鈥渢ainted鈥� for some audience members because of what they have learned about its creator.

It may have always been the case, Fileva suggests, that people who really loved a work of art, even when they knew nothing about its creator, imagined that they were connected to the artist, but this is truer today than ever. Fans are able to follow their favorite artists on social media and feel that they know the artist as a person, which creates expectations and the possibility for disappointment.

Perhaps inevitably, greater knowledge of the artist as a person affects how consumers interact with his or her art鈥攚hether it鈥檚 Ye (formerly Kanye) West鈥檚 music, Johnny Depp鈥檚 films or Alice Munro鈥檚 short stories.

So, where does that leave Harry Potter fans who have been disappointed by Rowling鈥檚 public statements?

Different books by Rowling illustrate the two different ways in which biographical information about the author may affect readers鈥� interpretation of the work, Fileva says. Rowling鈥檚 book (written under the pen name Robert Galbraith) The Ink Black Heart, featuring a character , is an example of the first way: Facts about the author鈥檚 life may bear directly on the interpretation of the work.

When, by contrast, a transgender person who loved Harry Potter in her youth and loved Rowling feels saddened by statements Rowling made about gender, the reader may experience the book differently without reinterpreting it, Fileva says. Such a reader may think that the book is just as good as it was when she fell in love with it; it鈥檚 just that she can no longer enjoy it in the same way.         

Some art consumers are more inclined to be what Fileva calls 鈥渁estheticists鈥濃�擝arthes鈥� account of the death of the author resonates with them. Aestheticists may find it easier to separate the art from the artist in cases in which biographical information about the author is irrelevant to understanding and interpreting the work.

Whether any reader, whatever their sympathies, can separate facts about Munro鈥檚 life from the story 鈥淲hite Swans鈥� or Rowling鈥檚 public pronouncements on gender from the interpretation of her book The Ink Black Heart, Fileva says, is a different question.

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In an election season when accusations of 鈥楩austian bargains鈥� are flying, 精品SM在线影片 scholar Helmut M眉ller-Sievers reflects on what that really means

Danish philosopher S酶ren Kierkegaard noted that 鈥渆very notable historical era will have its own Faust.鈥�

The current election season seems to have an abundance of them, judging by the frequent cries of 鈥淔austian bargain鈥� made by media pundits, candidates in races across the country and members of the opinion class. With the term so commonly used as Election Day approaches鈥攇enerally as an accusation of having made a deal with the devil or of selling one鈥檚 soul鈥攊t seems fair to ask: Is this what Goethe meant?

Is claiming that a candidate made a Faustian bargain if they aligned themselves with a certain politician, voted a particular way or made certain stump-speech promises true to what the German author envisioned two centuries ago?

Helmut M眉ller-Sievers, a 精品SM在线影片 professor of German, notes that 鈥渢he Faustian bargain always has to do with the value of our conscience.鈥�

鈥淭he Faustian bargain always has to do with the value of our conscience,鈥� says Helmut M眉ller-Sievers, a professor of German in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literature. 鈥淵ou're basically saying, so long as I have created advantages for my family, created advantages for my political ideology, created advantages for my short-term goals in life, it will not bother me. I will be able to sleep.鈥�

M眉ller-Sievers鈥攚hose academic focus includes the intersections of literature, science and engineering in the 18th and 19th centuries and the history of technology鈥攖eaches a course on Johann Goethe鈥檚 tragic play Faust, in which he also examines the motif of the Faustian bargain as it appears in literature.

A deal with the devil

According to M眉ller-Sievers, the mythical idea of the Faustian deal with the devil as we understand it today originated in Germany sometime around the beginning of the 16th century. Likely the first literary treatment is by Christopher Marlowe late in the 1500s.

鈥淏ut already Marlowe situates the play in Germany,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers explains. 鈥淭here seems to be a sense that the Reformation might have emboldened people to make their own relationship with God and the devil, so there鈥檚 a little bit of polemics going on there.鈥�

In Goethe鈥檚 rendition, Faust is a bitter academic who has been seeking truth and failing in his pursuit. 鈥淣othing gives him satisfaction, and he falls into what we would today call a  depression. He is a cynic,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers says.

Faust meets the devil, who is in the form of a dog that soon transforms into the demon Mephistopheles, and they begin a debate over the price for Faust鈥檚 soul. 鈥淚t's the banter of super clever people who have no values and are too highly educated. That was already a common criticism at the time鈥攊ntellectuals who want to show their brilliance but have no inner core.鈥�

The two soon agree to a contest: Mephistopheles will win Faust's soul if he is able to entice Faust into wanting to hold on to some experience or aspect of the world that he finds desirable or fulfilling. Faust is convinced at first that he can resist, but soon succumbs.

The story of Faust has inspired artists for centuries, including the etching (left, ca. 1652) and a flying above the skyline (right) by Eug猫ne Delacroix for an 1828 translation of Goethe's Faust.

鈥淲e use the term Faustian bargain, and we think there must have been some kind of decision, but it might well be a gradual sliding鈥攕mall bargains you make along the way, and then can鈥檛 go back,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers says.

鈥淚t is basically a question of whether we are able to push aside our moral qualms when we act. At a certain point, will they come and bite us, and make us change? Will our conscience ever rise up and force us to denounce compromises that we've made?鈥�

M眉ller-Sievers cites the example of German actor Gustaf Gr眉ndgens, whose career is portrayed in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Mephisto by Hungarian director Istv谩n Szab贸. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bizarre. He was one of the great actors of his time, and maybe the greatest actor ever to play Mephisto on the stage,鈥� he says.

鈥淏ut he made a deal with the Nazi regime so he could continue to work in theater.鈥� Gr眉ndgens continued playing Mephisto in performance in Germany in the run up to and even during World War II.

Sometimes, as in Gr眉ndgens鈥� case, one makes a deal with a reigning power rather than an individual, M眉ller-Sievers notes, and sometimes a large percentage of a population makes a deal.

鈥淚n the former East Germany, the GDR, you had an oppressive regime, and many people thought, 鈥榃ell, I have to cut a deal with this system to get a job or get ahead,鈥� and they started snooping on other people,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers explains.

鈥淭here were conscientious objectors, but it was embarrassing that so many people consented to this, and it was embarrassing later when all the documents came out, and you could read all the terms of the bargains people had made.鈥�

Top image: , artist unknown

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精品SM在线影片 Classics scholars identify previously unknown fragments of two lost tragedies by Greek tragedian Euripides

After months of intense scrutiny, two 精品SM在线影片 scholars have deciphered and interpreted what they believe to be the most significant new fragments of works by classical Greek tragedian Euripides in more than half a century.

In November 2022, Basem Gehad, an archaeologist with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, sent a papyrus unearthed at the ancient site of Philadelphia in Egypt to Yvona Trnka-Amrhein, assistant professor of classics. The two scholars have also recently discovered the upper half of a colossal statue of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II in their joint excavation project at Hermopolis Magna.

She began to pore over the high-resolution photo of the papyrus (Egyptian law prohibits physically removing any artifact from the country), scrutinizing its 98 lines.

精品SM在线影片 classicists Yvona Trnka-Amrhein (left) and John Gibert (right) spent months studying a small square of papyrus and became confident it contains previously unknown material from two fragmentary Euripides plays, Polyidus and Ino.

鈥淚t was very clearly tragedy,鈥� she says.

Using the , a comprehensive, digitized database of ancient Greek texts maintained by the University of California, Irvine, Trnka-Amrhein confirmed she was looking at previously unknown excerpts from mostly lost Euripidean plays.

鈥淎fter more digging, I realized I should call in an expert in Euripides fragments,鈥� she says. 鈥淟uckily, my mentor in the department is just that!鈥�

Working together, Trnka-Amrhein and renowned classics Professor John Gibert embarked on many months of grueling work, meticulously poring over a high-resolution photo of the 10.5-square-inch papyrus. They made out words and ensured that the words they thought they were seeing fit the norms of tragic style and meter.

Eventually, they became confident that they were working with new material from two fragmentary Euripides plays, Polyidus and Ino. Twenty-two of the lines were previously known in slightly varied versions, but 鈥�80 percent was brand-new stuff,鈥� Gibert says.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 think there has been a find of this significance since the 1960s,鈥� he says.

鈥淭his is a large and unusual papyrus for this day and age,鈥� Trnka-Amrhein says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a big deal in the field.鈥�

Retelling a Cretan myth

Polyidus retells an ancient Cretan myth in which King Minos and Queen Pasipha毛 demand that the eponymous seer resurrect their son Glaucus after he drowns in a vat of honey.

鈥淎ctually, it has a relatively happy ending. It鈥檚 not one of these tragedies where everyone winds up dead,鈥� Trnka-Amrhein says: Polyidus is able to revive the boy using an herb he previously saw one snake use to revive another.

The papyrus contains part of a scene in which Minos and Polyidus debate the morality of resurrecting the dead, she says.

A marble statuette of Euripides, found in 1704 CE in the Esquiline Hill at Rome and dated to the 2nd century CE, lists several of the tragedian's works on the back panel. It is on display at the Louvre-Lens Museum in France. (Photo: Pierre Andr茅/Wikimedia Commons)

Ino came close to being one of Euripides鈥� best-known plays, Gibert says. Part of the text was inscribed on cliffs in Armenia that were destroyed in modern conflict. Fortunately, early 20th-century Russian scholars had preserved the images in drawings.

The eponymous character is an aunt of the Greek god Dionysus and part of the royal family of Thebes. In previously known fragments of a related play, Ino is an evil stepmother intent on killing her husband the Thessalian king鈥檚 children from a previous marriage. The new fragment introduces a new plot, Trnka-Amrhein says.

鈥淎nother woman is the evil stepmother, and Ino is the victim,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he third wife of the king is trying to eliminate Ino鈥檚 children. 鈥� Ino turns the tables on her, causing her to kill her own children and commit suicide. It鈥檚 a more traditional tragedy: death, mayhem, suicide.鈥�

Of course, in matters of ancient Greek, there is always room for interpretation, and such bold claims will receive careful scrutiny from other experts. Gibert and Trnka-Amrhein decided not to pull any punches with their conclusions.

鈥淲e could play it safe,鈥� Gibert says. 鈥淲e are establishing a solid foundation, and on top of that we are sticking our necks out a little.鈥�

They鈥檝e already entered the gauntlet of scrutiny, making their case to 13 experts in Washington, D.C., in June and having their first edition of the fragment accepted for publication in August.

On Sept. 14, they will host the Ninth Fountain Symposium on the 精品SM在线影片 campus, supported by long-time Boulder resident and classics enthusiast Dr. Celia M. Fountain. The day-long event will feature three illustrious experts: Professor Paul Schubert, a Swiss specialist in papyrology; specialist in ancient Greek literature and drama Laura Swift of Oxford University; and Professor Sarah Iles Johnston, an expert in Greek religion, goddesses and magic from the Ohio State University. They will be joined by Trnka-Amrhein, Gibert and Associate Professor of Classics Laurialan Reitzammer.

鈥淚n a departure, instead of having the guests give hour-long papers, we鈥檙e going to present for 20 to 25 minutes each, in pairs, in dialogue, followed by Q-and-A,鈥� Gibert says.

And as the academic year gets underway, Gibert says he and Trnka-Amrhein will 鈥渢ake the show on the road鈥� to such places as Dartmouth and Harvard.

鈥淛ohn鈥檚 contacts and readers in the Euripides world have given us reassurance we鈥檙e not going to have too much pie on our faces,鈥� Trnka-Amrhein says. 鈥淲e feel extremely lucky to have worked on this material and look forward to the world鈥檚 reactions.鈥�

Top image: A marble bas-relief show Euripides (seated), a standing woman holding out a theater mask to him (left) and the god Dionysus (right), dated to between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, from the Misthos collection in the Istanbul (Turkey) Archaeological Museum. (Photo: John-Gr茅goire/Wikimedia Commons)

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In newly published story collection The Rupture Files, 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 Nathan Alexander Moore explores identity and community in dystopian worlds

Nathan Alexander Moore was thinking about the end of the world鈥攏ot how to survive the apocalypse or overcome it, necessarily, or even how to fix it, but rather the decisions we make when the world collapses around us.

鈥淲ho do you become?鈥� asks Moore, an assistant professor in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Women and Gender Studies. 鈥淲hat choices do we make in this new world? How do we understand ourselves, and understand ourselves in community, in the larger context of a world that is ending or starting anew?

鈥淔or me, as someone who loves all things speculative fiction, dystopias are so interesting because these worlds become dystopic because of who the events are happening to. And the largest impacts, in fiction and real life, often happen to people who are marginalized. Dystopia largely impacts people who are Black or Brown, in places that are underdeveloped and underfunded.鈥�

Nathan Alexander Moore, an assistant professor of Black trans and queer studies in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Women and Gender Studies, explores issues of identity in her newly published dystopian story collection The Rupture Files.

From that end鈥攐r beginning鈥攐f the world was born , Moore鈥檚 newly published story collection. Touted by publisher Hajar Press as 鈥渟upernatural stories of life in the fissures of disaster,鈥� Moore鈥檚 tales actually plunge deeper into the ruined Earth, with Black and queer and trans characters exploring who they are and who they might become.

鈥淚鈥檓 very aware of all of the history and the many cultural representations that have shaped Black people, and specifically Black queer people,鈥� Moore explains. 鈥淚 feel so much in our culture and in representations in film and television and literature, that Black characters and Black queer characters either become paragons or, on the opposite end, they鈥檙e kind of the worst of the worst, the villains, the despicable ones.

鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 about telling a story about a person who is nuanced. Some will see them as the hero, some as the villain, but at the core they are a person who is learning and growing and struggling. I want to show them鈥攖o show us鈥攁s beautiful, nuanced, complex characters, and that whatever their experience is, it鈥檚 a real experience. To try to be universal would strip us of what makes it interesting.鈥�

Becoming a writer

Moore, who identifies as Black and trans, was a reader before she was a writer, finding motivation to finish her homework so she could crack open an Anne Rice novel. One of the first stories she wrote and shared with other people was called 鈥淢idnight and Nocturnes鈥濃�斺�淚 was using big words,鈥� Moore recalls, 鈥淚 thought I was so cute in high school鈥濃�攁bout a vampire who was turned in ancient Egypt.

The vampire wakes at dusk 鈥渁nd she鈥檚 like, 鈥業鈥檓 gonna go eat some people, I鈥檓 hungry.鈥� Then she runs into a vampire hunter, and for the first time she pauses at killing because he has the exact eyes of someone she knew in life. She says, 鈥業 remember when I was human, I loved you. You broke my heart, and I loved you鈥� and it ends with her making a big choice whether she鈥檚 going to live or die.鈥�

Moore wrote it when she was 16 or 17 and submitted to a contest on Facebook and ended up winning third place. 鈥淚t was the first story where I very much remember writing it and thinking, 鈥極K, I think I鈥檓 writing, I think I might be a writer.鈥� And then when I came in third, I was like, 鈥極h, she鈥檚 on her way!鈥� It also helped that I wrote that story when Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries was of the moment, and I was reading all of those books.鈥�

Through graduate school, she focused on creative writing and Black literature and cultures, delving deeper into speculative fiction through a lens of feminism and collective memory. , earned at the University of Texas at Austin, focused on contingency and Black temporal imaginations, and included a chapter titled 鈥淔rom Catastrophe to the Cataclysm: Black Speculations on the Limits of the Anthropocene & the Temporality of Disasters.鈥�

In fact, writing The Rupture Files wasn鈥檛 completely Moore's idea. An editor at Hajar Press saw about writing Black geopolitics through speculative fiction and asked Moore if she wrote her own speculative fiction.

As it happened, there were some people she鈥檇 been living with for a while鈥�

鈥楾he world we鈥檙e living in鈥�

鈥淭he first story (in The Rupture Files) is called 鈥楽equela,鈥� and it鈥檚 about this far-future dystopia where the world is mostly ocean and everything is transient,鈥� Moore says. 鈥淭here were portions (of that story) I had written as series of prose poems, and they had been kind of living in my head. With the other stories, I had characters who weren鈥檛 fully realized鈥擨 had a snapshot, a photograph, they were peering over the fence and I was like, 鈥楬mm, what are you doing?鈥� For a long time, they were thought experiments, and in writing them they became real.鈥�

The story 鈥淪equela鈥� is about a woman named Shalomar, who lives in one of a series of stations in this new ocean world鈥斺�淚 imagine the stations like metallic squids, though I never said it in the story, and they kind of hunker on land and then jump around,鈥� Moore explains鈥攁nd whose job is station archivist. Whatever the station pulls out of the ocean, it鈥檚 her job to analyze it and think about its historical value. As a Black woman, Shalomar had been trying to document Black history before the apocalypse, and after it she discovered that the water wanted her to tell a different story, as did the mermaids.

In a story called 鈥淎shes for Your Beauty,鈥� Moore tells the story of a woman who is the consort (read: food source) of a vampire in a bombed-out, post-nuclear world, who discovers that she has power, and she can make power. 鈥淪o, she has to decide, 鈥楢m I going to stay in this life that鈥檚 very scary and terrible but stable, or burn shit down?鈥欌�� Moore says.

Writing the four stories in The Rupture Files was a different experience from the novel manuscript Moore wrote while earning her master鈥檚.

鈥淚 was thinking about narrative arcs, about character development, who is the main person, whose perspective feels the most interesting,鈥� Moore says. 鈥淚 was balancing the expansiveness of living in a brand-new world that even I didn鈥檛 know all the rules of and also making it containable in short form. It was a steep learning curve but really fun.鈥�

It also, she says, allowed her to more deeply consider the world as it currently is: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 always interesting about dystopias is they are projected as far futures, but any time someone鈥檚 writing a dystopia, they鈥檙e writing about the present鈥攅xpanded and intensified, but the present. Dystopic writing is really about looking out at the world we鈥檙e living in today.鈥�

Top: Background dystopia image by

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Remembering writer Raymond Chandler at the 65^th anniversary of his death, a 精品SM在线影片 English scholar reflects on the hard-boiled investigator and why this character still appeals

Philip Marlowe was in a grubby waterfront hotel room 鈥渨ith a hard bed and a mattress slightly thicker than the cotton blanket that covered it.鈥�

A neon light outside the window illuminated the room in red. He got up to splash cold water on his face, feeling 鈥渁 little better, but very little. I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.鈥�

Call him hard-boiled or hard-bitten, call him jaded, call him a relic鈥攈e鈥檚 all those things, and one of the most alluring and enduring archetypes in fiction. As written by Raymond Chandler, who died 65 years ago this week and who is increasingly recognized for the artistry of his writing, Philip Marlowe is the private investigator who鈥檚 seen it all and is surprised by little. He drinks too much, smokes too much, cracks wise, cracks the case and is, above all things, alone.

Mary Klages, a 精品SM在线影片 associate professor of English, notes that part of the appeal of the hard-boiled investigator character is he's a "knight in soiled armor."

Many consider Marlowe the patron not-saint of all the hard-boiled and hard-edged private investigators who followed, the semi-heroes of literature and film who solve crime, yes, but generally by immersing themselves in the sordid world of it鈥攁t the expense of relationships, health, happiness and sometimes the law.

What is the continued appeal of the hard-boiled investigator character, who鈥檚 brilliant and kind of a jerk, handy in a fight and charming when it鈥檚 convenient, all kinds of trouble鈥攐r troubled鈥攁nd the ultimate cipher?

鈥淲hat Marlowe and other characters like him bring in is being more of the people,鈥� says Mary Klages, an associate professor of English who teaches a course called . 鈥�(Marlowe) doesn鈥檛 have a partner, never has anybody he works with, doesn鈥檛 need a Watson figure to explain how the great brain works. He鈥檚 just a guy, and he鈥檚 not apart from the dirty world that he has to investigate. He doesn鈥檛 have this sensibility of, 鈥極h, bad guys and criminals, they鈥檙e over there and I鈥檓 something different鈥� that you get with other detectives or investigators.鈥�

A desire for story

Understanding the appeal of the jaded investigator whose native habitat seems to be dark and rainy city streets begins with understanding the basic human desire for story, Klages says. 

鈥淗uman beings love narratives, we love telling stories, and with mysteries there鈥檚 that added element of, 鈥楥an I figure out who the villain is?鈥� Then we get the reward of a sense of justice鈥攕omebody out there is fighting crime and that makes us feel a little bit better about living in a dangerous real world. As a reader, I can go to mystery novel and say, 鈥極h, if only there were a Sherlock Holmes or a V.I. Warshawski in the real world solving crimes and making us safer.鈥�

鈥淎lso, stories鈥攅specially mysteries鈥攇ive us all that in nice container. Anything can happen, but it鈥檚 not going to happen. Reading words on a page lets us empathize with characters and have a vicarious experience that we don鈥檛 want to have happen in real life. We experience it in a way that makes it vivid, and that has shape and that wraps up in the end with a nice, neat bow. That鈥檚 the convention in most mystery stories.鈥�

And while there are as many types of mystery solvers in fiction as there are audiences for them鈥攆rom elderly knitting enthusiasts and roadster-driving teens to insufferable British geniuses with superhuman powers of observation鈥攖he hard-boiled private eye character brought a new and interesting layer to the mystery genre.

Both Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett honed the literary hard-boiled investigator writing for Black Mask magazine.

A knight in soiled armor

The character really came into his own鈥攁nd in the beginning, it was always a 鈥渉e鈥濃�攚hen the pulp magazine was launched in April 1920 by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. One of the first iterations of the hard-boiled investigator slouched through its pages in December 1922, embodied in Carroll John Daly鈥檚 novella 鈥淭he False Burton Combs.鈥�

The titular false Burton Combs memorably introduces himself in the story's fourth paragraph: 鈥淚 ain鈥檛 a crook; just a gentleman adventurer and make my living working against the law breakers. Not that work with the police鈥攏o, not me. I鈥檓 no knight errant either. It just came to me that the simplest people in the world are crooks.鈥�

His progeny includes Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, Mike Hammer, V.I. Warshawski, Harry Hole, the Continental Op, Kurt Wallander and further generations of fictional investigators who often exist as shadow opposites to the upstanding police detectives, the crime-solving priests, the kooky Southern bookstore owners who happen upon murder, the otherwise decent people in whom readers like to think they see themselves.

Both Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, who wrote hard-boiled investigator Sam Spade, published in Black Mask and brought dimension to an essentially unknowable鈥攁nd sometimes unlikable鈥攂ut always compelling archetype.

鈥淚n Philip Marlowe, Chandler gives us guy who鈥檚 educated, who鈥檚 been to college, who quotes Shakespeare, but works with lowlifes,鈥� Klages explains. 鈥淗e gives us a portrait of a very dirty underworld where you can鈥檛 trust anybody, the police are corrupt, rich people are corrupt, and he looks for a kind of moral compass to guide him. I think of Marlowe as a knight in soiled armor, and Chandler makes that image at the very beginning of 鈥楾he Big Sleep.鈥� He has Marlowe go into the house of a very rich client and he鈥檚 looking at this stained-glass window that shows a knight trying to free a woman from being chained up around a tree. Marlowe says something like, 鈥業 wanted to go up and help the guy, but then I realized he was never going to get that woman free.鈥�

鈥淢arlowe鈥檚 attitude is, 鈥業 know there鈥檚 supposed to be nobility and self-sacrifice in world, but I don鈥檛 see them, and I don鈥檛鈥� believe in them. But I still want there to be some kind of morality, some kind of code,鈥� so he makes his own. He doesn鈥檛 follow anything traditional, he鈥檚 not religious, not spiritual, not a law and order and justice guy, so he makes his own code, and that鈥檚 part of the ongoing appeal of this character, this knight in soiled armor.鈥�

Humphrey Bogart (left) starred as Philip Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" with Lauren Bacall. (Photo: National Motion Picture Council)

Trench coats for a modern audience

Philip Marlowe was notably embodied on film by Humphrey Bogart, as was Dashiell Hammett鈥檚 Sam Spade, and he鈥檚 the image many people bring to mind when they think of the hard-boiled investigator, Klages says鈥攖rench coat, cigarette and, by today鈥檚 standards, appalling attitudes toward women.

In fact, some might claim that the hard-bitten investigator is a relic of the past, but Klages argues that this character and what he (and not as often, she) represents and embodies remains relevant for modern audiences.

鈥淚t鈥檚 this idea of, 鈥榃hy should we believe in anything when we鈥檝e had time after time the proof that the politicians are corrupt, the police are corrupt, it鈥檚 all over the place,鈥欌�� Klages says. 鈥淚 think the question is, from a hard-boiled perspective, why would anybody give a damn about anybody else? You have to be in it for yourself, and I think the genius of Chandler鈥檚 portrait of Marlowe is that you have to be in it for yourself, yes, but it has to be something bigger that you stand for rather than just your own selfishness and your own greed and desires.鈥�

She notes that Marlowe sees the world with very clear eyes, without delusion or traditional notions of hope, yet he still crafts his own kind of hope and his own code of morality, which resonates with readers and viewers today.

鈥淚 just watched first season of 鈥楾rue Detective鈥� and that鈥檚 a perfect example,鈥� Klages says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got two guys with torn up, terrible lives and part of the plot is, let鈥檚 find out how these guys with messed up lives can pursue justice. How do you take somebody who is flawed as a character and make them be the vehicle for something as elevated as truth, justice and the American way? As people who love stories, we like that complication.鈥�

Top image: Humphrey Bogart (center) as Philip Marlowe in "The Big Sleep." (Photo: Warner Bros.)

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精品SM在线影片 Victorian literature scholars discuss why Charles Dickens鈥� classic is still retold and probably will be retold in Christmases yet to come

This month is the 180th anniversary of Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. For nearly two centuries, this tale of redemption and reflection has buoyed readers with its depictions of regret and the enduring tenacity of hope.

Dickens鈥� novella also can be read as a social commentary, reflecting his views of Victorian England through themes that remain relevant today. The narrative keenly addresses issues of wealth imbalance, labor inequity and the harsh realities the working class faced鈥攁ll struggles Dickens experienced personally.

But why, among Dickens鈥� body of work, is A Christmas Carol the story that still gets told? Why does a reflection on social injustice in Victorian England ring true for readers in the 21st century?

Emily Harrington (left) and Elizabeth Anderman are Victorian literature scholars who cite multiple factors influencing A Christmas Carol's enduring place in culture.

Enduring social commentary

As Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, he took aim at attitudes toward poverty and those living in it.

鈥淭here was a lot of tension at the time, in the sense that some people had everything and some people had nothing,鈥� explains Elizabeth Anderman, an associate teaching professor, English lecturer and English teacher for the College of Arts and Sciences Residential Academic Programs. 鈥淥bviously, I think that鈥檚 still true for us today, right? Scrooge, who starts as a miser and is converted, speaks to our culture of aspiring to wealth鈥攁nd I think we all know there are some potential negatives with that.鈥�

Dickens鈥� choice to confront the widening gap between the richest and the poorest was uncomfortable for many at the time, Anderman says. When the story was published in 1843, England鈥檚 wealth gap was expanding dramatically.

Choosing to address income inequality via a ghost story made the tale and its themes more approachable鈥攁nd possibly more palatable鈥攆or a broader swath of readers, says Emily Harrington, an associate professor of English and associate chair for undergraduate studies in the Department of English. Also, ghost stories were very popular at Christmas in the 19^th century, much more than they were at Halloween.

鈥淕host stories and other gothic horror genres are great for representing big unwieldy social problems because they make those problems safer for readers to encounter them,鈥� she says.

However, Dickens ultimately balances the spookiness and social critique with nostalgia and visions of an ideal holiday鈥攐ne that readers can embrace even if they鈥檝e never experienced it.

Bob and Tiny Tim Cratchit (illustration by Frederick Barnard, noted for his work with editions of Charles Dickens' novels published between 1871 and 1879)

鈥淚 would say this story remains popular because it offers a fanciful solution to those big problems,鈥� Harrington says. 鈥淏ob Cratchit gets a raise, his family gets a turkey. Everyone who reads or watches can feel good about a problem with a resolution.鈥�

Eternal archetypes

The enduring appeal of A Christmas Carol isn鈥檛 exclusive to its commentary on social injustice. Dickens鈥� use of archetypal characters鈥攆igures like Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the Christmas spirits鈥攅mphasizes a desire for redemption narratives, and for good things to happen to people who deserve them.

鈥淲e really want our leaders and rich people to be nice people and to be able to be converted,鈥� Anderman says. 鈥淲e want to believe that being rich doesn鈥檛 make you horrible. Seeing Scrooge鈥檚 transformation from a miserly figure to being redeemed is something people want to hold onto.鈥�

However, Dickens鈥� characters, though beloved, are not without criticism. Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit鈥檚 preternaturally wise son, has in recent years been criticized as an objectifying portrayal of disability. While using disabled characters to tug at the heartstrings was a common technique in Victorian literature, and even though some readers gain significant emotional connection to the story via Tiny Tim, many view this use of the character archetype as harmful. 

鈥淧eople working in the area of disability studies have felt like Tiny Tim does their community a real disservice, because he is a poster child,鈥� Harrington says. 鈥淚n that sense, he is an object鈥攏ot a subject. There鈥檚 a need for stories that put the experiences of disabled people at the center and don鈥檛 just make them sentimental objects for eliciting sympathy.鈥�

Transcending the page

The fact that Dickens鈥� story still elicits strong opinions and that people are still discussing it bespeaks its enduring themes and characters. It is a story that holds up through countless adaptations and retellings, from animated films to stage plays to modern twists on the core story

Harrington notes that the story鈥檚 adaptability is thanks, in part, to its theatrical structure. Scrooge serves as a fill-in for the audience, while the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future transport the audience through scenes and, depending on the adaptation, acts.

鈥淢y dad has read A Christmas Carol to us each year for my entire life,鈥� Anderman says. 鈥淪o much of what Dickens wrote was meant to be read out loud. I think this is part of what has helped it convert really well into more modern media we understand better today. So many lines have a rhythm we want to speak and hear out loud.鈥�

Both Harrington and Anderman, researchers of and experts in Victorian literature, cite a beloved adaptation: 1992鈥檚 The Muppet Christmas Carol.

A scene from The Muppet Christmas Carol (photo: Disney)

鈥淚 can say that The Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite adaptation because of the whimsy and playfulness,鈥� Harrington says. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 take its subject too seriously.鈥�

Embracing fantasy and continued relevance

Though Dickens used Christmas themes and a patina of sentimentality to tell this story, the issues he aimed to address transcended the holiday season, and the decades of holiday seasons since its publication in December 1843. 

鈥淒ickens really wanted to work and help the poor in his own life,鈥� Anderman says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a part of me that wishes we could get back to that part of the text. There are some moments where he really wants us to take a look around and see the people in our communities we don鈥檛 often see. He wants us to embrace this aspect, but sadly, I think this gets glossed over by the Christmas side.鈥�

Harrington adds that she hopes to see a change in the type of stories people celebrate around the holidays. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important to understand how the stories we tell operate culturally, and to me, this one has maybe held on too long, suggesting that charitable giving will solve big problems rather than fundamental systemic change,鈥� she says.

Nevertheless, A Christmas Carol remains the story people read year after year, with its catchphrases 鈥淏ah! Humbug!鈥� and 鈥淕od bless us everyone.鈥�

鈥淵eah, it鈥檚 a nice fantasy to enjoy,鈥� Harrington says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a fairytale, right? It鈥檚 a ghost story. These are the stories we love to connect with and feel good about.鈥�

Or, in the words of the author himself, 鈥淭here is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.鈥�

Top image: A closing scene from The Muppet Christmas Carol (photo: Disney)

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精品SM在线影片 researcher Antje Richter studies early medieval Chinese records of the strange to understand how literature explores what it means to be human

It may seem like a wholly modern affliction, but replacement anxiety has haunted the human condition for a very long time鈥攖he worry that not only could someone or something else fill our roles, but possibly do a better job.

In medieval China, the privilege that was perceived as inherent to being human could be convincingly undermined by, of all things, animals鈥攁t least in the popular literature of the day. Called 鈥渞ecords of the strange,鈥� these largely forgotten narratives are tales of mistaken identity in which an animal successfully impersonates and replaces a human until it is eventually found out.

These stories, which have frequently been denied the esteem granted to the poetry and other 鈥渟erious鈥� literature of the time, nevertheless touch on important issues of identity and privilege: What is required to exist, or even just pass, as human? How is personal identity conceptualized across gender and species? How can literature illuminate 鈥渢rue鈥� identity?

Antje Richter, an associate professor in the 精品SM在线影片 Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, has researched themes of identity and privilege in Chinese records of the strange.

These are themes Antje Richter, a 精品SM在线影片 associate professor of Chinese, explores in a that focuses on three particular records of the strange. In it, she highlights how the political and social changes that shook early medieval China raised important questions about ethnic, social and personal identity鈥攁nd records of the strange were an accessible medium in which to address them.

鈥淭his literature has tended to be compartmentalized by scholars because it鈥檚 not 鈥榟igh鈥� literature,鈥� Richter explains. 鈥溾�橦igh鈥� literature is poetry, it鈥檚 historiography, it鈥檚 several other genres that get taken seriously, while these texts are often regarded as leftover literature.

鈥淏ut they enjoyed enormous popularity in the period they were written, though so many of these story collections have been lost. But the area of animal studies has really grown more prominent in the last 10 to 15 years, and scholars are looking to these records of the strange to learn more about how people thought about the human-animal boundary and what these stories had to say about species and social class.鈥�

The human-animal barrier

Throughout her scholarship, Richter has been fascinated by records of the strange, especially the ones that venture beyond the most common trope of 鈥渁nimal spirits impersonating women in order to have sex with men, which is a whole different can of worms,鈥� she says.

Richter instead focused on records of the strange from the collection Records of an Inquest into Spirit Phenomena, compiled by Jin Dynasty historian Gan Bao, and Latter Records of an Inquest into Spirit Phenomena, generally attributed to poet Tao Qian. Her focus is male protagonists, since at the time men could aspire to a broader range of social roles and activities.

In the story 鈥淭he Old Yellow Dog at Kuaiji,鈥� an inattentive, frequently absent husband named Wang returns to his deeply unhappy wife one day and is much more loving and attentive. A suspicious servant sees this and reports it to the real Wang, who challenges and fights the imposter, eventually revealing it to be an old yellow dog. Wang beats it to death, and his wife is so ashamed that she grows sick and dies.

In 鈥淭he Old Raccoon Dog at Wuxing,鈥� two sons mistake their father for a demon and kill him, only to have the demon return to their home in the appearance of their father. For many years, the imposter lives in their home until a ritual master recognizes the evil, utters a spell and reveals their 鈥渇ather鈥� to be an old raccoon dog. The sons then capture and kill it.

The third story Richter highlights, 鈥淭he Brindled Fox Scholar,鈥� involves a fox who passes as a highly respected scholar until it, too, is revealed and eventually boiled to death.

鈥淓ach of these stories is told not from the perspective of the animal, but by a human narrator, and an important aspect of the human-animal boundary is this question of what constitutes human identity,鈥� Richter says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exploring the difference between 鈥榩assing鈥� and 鈥榖eing.鈥�

鈥淚 think an important point is the human struggle with animals and drawing lines between us and them. Animals are either working for us, like dogs, or they are, like foxes, habitually crossing over from the wilderness into areas populated by humans in a way that can feel very threatening.鈥�

Questions of identity

The records of the strange that Richter highlights also reflect the upheaval and changes in Chinese society during the early medieval period, which is generally considered to have begun with the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE.

 

I feel that these kinds of uncertainties and insecurities, these questions of identity, are expressed in these stories. This is still a very relevant theme today.鈥�

 

鈥淎 large part of the northern Chinese aristocracy was driven south because of invasions by northern 鈥榖arbarians,鈥� and they then were living together with people of different cultures, different looks, different preferences,鈥� Richter says. 鈥淔or people originally from the north, the area south of the Yangtze River, in early China, was not regarded to be highly civilized.

鈥淚 feel that these kinds of uncertainties and insecurities, these questions of identity, are expressed in these stories. This is still a very relevant theme today.鈥�

Records of the strange also can be interpreted as a commentary on principles of meritocracy鈥攚hich then, as now, were frequently more ideal than reality.

鈥淚n these stories we see this aspiration to rise,鈥� Richter explains. 鈥淭he aspiration may have been there, but success was reserved only for certain people. We see it in the fox posing as a scholar, this idea of 鈥榟ow dare you seek to live in this realm where you do not belong.鈥� Being denied access was very likely a very common experience for quite a lot of people.鈥�

Top image: ink and color on paper handscroll, by unknown artists in the 13th and 14th centuries CE.

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In a critically acclaimed new translation of The Iliad, 精品SM在线影片 classics Professor Laurialan Reitzammer sees the enduring relevance of Homer

It鈥檚 not easy to create a work of literature that truly lasts. Many authors considered the brightest lights of the 20^th century are now virtually unknown, while countless critically acclaimed novels fade into oblivion once they slide too far down TheNew York Times bestseller list.

So, it鈥檚 no little feat that The Iliad and The Odyssey鈥攁ttributed to the ancient Greek writer Homer, but the product of a thousand-year oral tradition鈥攁re not only read and studied nearly three millennia after their creation, but still generate excitement among both critics and readers.

Enter Emily Wilson, a University of Pennsylvania classicist who earned rave reviews for her 2017 English translation of .

鈥淚n the history of Odyssey translations, few have exerted such a cultural influence that they become 鈥榗lassics鈥� in their own right,鈥� one critic wrote. 鈥淚 predict that Emily Wilson will win a place in this roll-call of the most significant translations of the poem in history.鈥�

精品SM在线影片 classicist Laurialan Reitzammer notes The Iliad's enduring relevance may stem, in part, from how it reflects the real world's complexity and messiness.

The enthusiasm and plaudits have continued with the release of Wilson鈥檚 translation of (W.W. Norton & Co.) in September, which TheWashington Post called 鈥渁 genuine page-turner,鈥� despite its reputation as the considerably more challenging of Homer鈥檚 two famous epic poems.

Not everyone鈥檚 a fan, of course. Some critics and scholars have balked at her modern sensibilities, word choices and even the meter of her translations.

But whatever the translation, Homer clearly remains relevant all these centuries later. Why does the work continue to speak to modern audiences?

鈥淏ecause some things don鈥檛 change鈥攚e still have war, unfortunately, and (The Iliad) doesn鈥檛 really take a side; it shows that everyone is human, the cost of war, what violence does to people and what is left behind when people die,鈥� says Laurialan Reitzammer, associate professor of classics at the 精品SM在线影片. 鈥淭he end of the poem is about grief and pain, big issues that speak to us all.鈥�

Yet The Iliad complicates that sense of familiarity with its portrait of a 鈥渄eeply alien, radically foreign鈥� culture, Reitzammer says.

She points to a famous episode in which Hector stands on the walls of Troy and prays to the gods that his infant son will grow up to 鈥渒ill his enemies and bring home the bloody spoils鈥濃�攏ot exactly the first impulse of most contemporary parents when trying to sooth a crying baby. Hector feels utterly compelled to go to war to maintain his status, and his wife agrees, though both understand that she will be violated and enslaved, and his own child will be hurled from the same high walls, as a result.

鈥淭hese moments are about the glory of the warrior and violence. 鈥� Yet the end of the poem is a scene of lamentation in which three women speak about what it means to lose Hector,鈥� Reitzammer says.

Having read The Iliad in English and the original Greek dozens of times over the past three decades, Reitzammer also is struck by how different facets of the poem have shone through or faded away with each new season of her life.

For example, when she first read the poem as an undergraduate, she took little notice of Achilles鈥� mother, the minor goddess Thetis, who seeks intervention by Zeus, the big dog of the Greek pantheon, when her valiant warrior son comes to her for help.

鈥淪he was really involved in his life. In a lot of ways, she was the first 鈥榟elicopter mom鈥�,鈥� Reitzammer says with a laugh.

Yet now that she鈥檚 been a mother herself for some 13 years, Reitzammer better understands the powerful impulse to protect and help one鈥檚 children.

鈥淲e see ourselves in this epic, but in different ways each time, because we ourselves change,鈥� she says.

Wilson has chafed at oft-made, well-intended praise for being the first woman to translate, and providing the first 鈥渇eminist鈥� translation, of Homer into English, which generated a backlash on social media (no doubt by many who had not read the book) accusing her of being 鈥渨oke.鈥�

鈥淚t may be the first non-misogynistic translation,鈥� Reitzammer notes wryly.

"Achilles Defeating Hector" by Peter Paul Rubens (1630-1632)

For example, she praises Wilson's avoidance of words like 鈥渟ervant鈥� or 鈥渕aid鈥� to describe the enslaved women slaughtered by Odysseus upon returning from his eponymous journey, a translation of a Greek word usually rendered as 鈥渟luts鈥� or 鈥渄isobedient maids.鈥�

She praises Wilson鈥檚 careful choices in bringing Homer to a modern audience without diluting his potency or poetry. She points to Wilson鈥檚 use of 鈥渃ataclysmic鈥� wrath for a Greek word that similarly has four syllables describing Achilles鈥� rage in the first lines of the poem, usually translated as 鈥渄estructive.鈥�

鈥淚t defamiliarizes 鈥榙estructive鈥� and makes us think of a washing over, torrential violence, being flooded with emotions, and flooded with rage that will have such dire consequences,鈥� Reitzammer says.

鈥�(Wilson鈥檚) attention to these kinds of things shows why we need new translations,鈥� Reitzammer says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 see things the way someone in 1950 or even 2000 saw them.鈥�

The fact that women in Homer鈥檚 time were viewed as objects and property is part of what gives The Iliad its 鈥渁lien nature,鈥� she says.

鈥淚 think (Homer) is worth reading,鈥� she says, 鈥渋n part because our own culture has deeply embedded misogyny.鈥�

And rather than flatly rejecting Homer because of offensive norms held by a culture so far removed in space and time, Reitzammer argues that studying his work can help students think about modern societal ills.

鈥淲hen teaching ancient Greek literature, especially fifth^-century Athenian literature, I get to have intense conversations with students about gender or citizenship or immigration, in the context of a culture from thousands of years ago,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y hope is that they will come back to modern times and think about our modern constructions in different ways.鈥�

Reading Homer may be uncomfortable, Reitzammer says, but it鈥檚 a valid reflection of the real world鈥檚 complexity and messiness. And that鈥檚 another reason we鈥檙e still reading, translating and arguing over his work.

鈥�(The Iliad) offers this complexity, celebrating the warrior, then showing us what is left behind,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so much harder to hold different strands and perspectives at once than to have just one perspective.鈥�

Top image: "" by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1786)

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