Sophocles and Aesop

As a part of my lit project, I read the surviving plays of Sophocles and Aesop's fables.

Sophocles
Tragedy has something to teach me, but I am not yet sure what that something is.

Ancient Greek Dramatist Scorecard--
Aeschylus ... no
Aristophanes ... yes
Euripides ...
[Menander ... yes]
Sophocles ... no

Let's do this, Euripides.

Aesop
I do not understand why I did not read these as a child instead of Dr. Seuss. These are so much more bizarre. Many similar stories strike on similar morals, undoubtedly leaving a fine impression on young minds. Their matter-of-fact telling is at odds with the whimsical story told. It is adorable.

Favorite fable:

The Ass and the Grasshopper.

An Ass, having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, "The dew." The Ass resolved that he would only live upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.

literature project

Some months ago, DG emailed me the following:

I'm thinking of devoting much of my reading next year (i.e. when I can start doing leisure reading again) to classic novels and plays. I want to understand the form that 20th century literature did away with. I don't suppose you'd be interested in joining me for the novels but would you be interested in looking at plays? Wait of course you would. I think some of the stuff I want to read is stuff you like - 18th and 19th century stuff, maybe going all the way back to Shakespeare? Could always go for some more Greek stuff too I suppose... it's time for this to happen. I've done the 20th century - must move backwards...

[Update. DG has decided he does not want to follow through. The following paragraph has been edited to reflect this.]
So this is our my project. We I will read classic literature. I will blog about it here. DG there. We will try to synchronize some of our readings, but will otherwise go our separate ways (and hopefully cover a lot of ground between us). DG is the worst online lit friend ever and I hope something really bad happens to him. Not so bad that it ruins his life but bad enough that he regrets abandoning this project and being an overall jerk. Watch yourself, DG. Trouble lurks in the margins of every 20th C book you read.

All posts I write will be linked below.

Updates:
[lit project write-ups stopped]
J 11 The World as Will and Idea
Je 20 The Sorrows of Young Werther
Je 19 Montaigne
M 13 Homer
M 4 Callimachus
Ap 26 Homeric Hymns
Ap 23 Ovid's Fasti
Ap 18 Tibullus
Ap 9 Propertius
Ap 5 Hesiod
Ap 2 Pindar's Odes
Mr 25 Idylls of Theocritus
Mr 24 Heroides
Mr 20 Eclogues and Georgics
Mr 6 Odes of Horace
Mr 2 Lucretius On the Nature of Things
Fe 25 Aratus
Fe 23 The Aeneid of Virgil
Fe 17 Ovid's Metamorphoses
Ja 27 Euripides
Ja 10 Sophocles and Aesop

December 09 favorites

These were my favorite first-time viewings during this past month.

Some Photos in the City of Syliva (2007)

Miss Mend (1926)

The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)

Joris Ivens films

(of the 9 Ivens films I watched, these were the 4 I most enjoyed)

Pour le Mistral (1965)

...A Valparaiso (1963)

The Seine Meets Paris (1957)

Philips-Radio (1931)

This is my third month making this list. Had I been making these for the entire year, I could have picked my favorite first-time viewings for the whole year. How cool would that have been? Instead, all I can offer are my five favorite first-time viewings for the past three months:

1. Joris Ivens films (see above)
2. Film Ist. a girl & a gun (2009)
3. Four Seasons of Children (1939)
4. Diatoms (1968)
5. Under the Bridges (1945)

If I can keep these lists up for another year, expect a cooler list at the beginning of 2011.