Western Literature 2016/12/15(Week14)

▲Argonauts

The Argonauts were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War, around 1300 BC, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, Argo, named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts" literally means "Argo sailors". They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area.

▲Jason

Jason was an ancient Greek mythological hero who was famous for his role as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He was also the great-grandson of the messenger god Hermes, through his mother's side.
Jason appeared in various literary works in the classical world of Greece and Rome, including the epic poem Argonautica and the tragedy Medea. In the modern world, Jason has emerged as a character in various adaptations of his myths, such as the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts and the 2000 TV miniseries of the same name. Jason is also the main character in the British TV series Atlantis.

▲Catharsis

Catharsis is the purification and purgation of emotions—especially pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics, comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind of a spectator to the effect of a cathartic on the body.

▲Classical unities

The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities are rules for drama derived from a passage in Aristotle's Poetics. In their neoclassical form they are as follows:

1.    unity of action: a play should have one action that it follows, with minimal subplots.

2.    unity of time: the action in a play should occur over a period of no more than 24 hours.

3.    unity of place: a play should exist in a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.

▲Aristotle’s three unities

Aristotle is a name that has survived the years because of all the contributions he made to various types of arts and sciences. He was taught by another famous philosopher, Plato, and was the tutor of Alexander the Great. This already impressive resume included some works on theater and tragedy. Aristotle crafted three unities or rules for how to make a perfect tragedy. these unities were, the unity of time, meaning that a perfect tragedy should only tell the story of what happened in one day. The next unity was about space, there should only be one scene in a tragedy. Last was the unity of action, which stated that there should be no side stories or subplots that did not directly contribute to the story.

Aristotle was a great fan of Sophocles and Oedipus Rex in particular because it followed all of his unites. Though it refers to past events, the story talks about what happened in just one day. As far as space, Oedipus Rex has only one scene, outside the palace in Thebes. There are no subplots, and everything contributes the play as a whole.

Another concept Aristotle believed in was Catharsis. Catharsis was an emotional cleansing felt by the audience where all the emotional tensions of the tragedy would be resolved. Aristotle left us many legacies. His work on tragedy has survived to this day. Writers, playwrights, any one with a story to tell, all study the Aristotle’s three unities of tragedy.

▲Mimesis

Mimesis is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the presentation of the self. In ancient Greece, mimesis was an idea that governed the creation of works of art, in particular, with correspondence to the physical world understood as a model for beauty, truth, and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis, or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its use has changed and been reinterpreted many times since then.

▲Riddle Sphinx

A sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion.

In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion, and sometimes the wings of a bird. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man .

In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a major revival during the Renaissance. Later, the sphinx image, something very similar to the original Ancient Egyptian concept, was exported into many other cultures, albeit often interpreted quite differently due to translations of descriptions of the originals and the evolution of the concept in relation to other cultural traditions.

Sphinxes are generally associated with architectural structures such as royal tombs or religious temples. The oldest known sphinx was found near Gobekli Tepe at another site, Nevali Çori, or possibly 120 miles to the east at Kortik Tepe, Turkey, and was dated to 9,500 BCE.

▲Biblical Magi

The Magi referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, were, in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition, a group of distinguished foreigners who visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition.
According to Matthew, the only one of the four Canonical gospels to mention the Magi, they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews". Although the account does not mention the number of Magi, the three gifts has led to the widespread assumption that there were three men. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Psalms 72:11, "May all kings fall down before him".

▲It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

By Andy Williams

Lyrics:

It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you be of good cheer
It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap-happiest season of all

There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's the most wonderful time of the year

There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

It's the most wonderful time of the year
There'll be much mistltoeing
And hearts will be glowing
When love ones are near
It's the most wonderful time
Yes the most wonderful time
Oh the most wonderful time
Of the year