tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post4558578245805890545..comments2024-02-26T09:30:54.111-06:00Comments on Domine, da mihi hanc aquam!: Faulkner's Homeric epics?Fr. Philip Powell, OPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14970857401221305221noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-68691052061195140972009-08-13T17:52:08.173-05:002009-08-13T17:52:08.173-05:00Perhaps it's because I read As I Lay Dying in ...Perhaps it's because I read <i>As I Lay Dying</i> in a public high school, before having the UD Core, but I never saw anything particularly epic about the novel. Even now, with the connections provided above, I can't help but think that these themes have undergone a major change in Faulkner's hands, which may be the point.<br /><br />Homer's heroes, for all their (many) shortcomings, are of heroic dimensions: these men are warriors, living legends, even in their own day. Jewel and the other characters of <i>As I Lay Dying</i> are pretty minuscule in comparison. They are legendary only in the sense that the neighbors in small-town America no doubt gossiped about them (and wagged their fingers).<br /><br />It seems to me Faulkner could be doing one of two things here. Either he is (a) pointing out how much the heroic has degenerated in the modern age, that we have a Jewel instead of an Achilles or Aeneas or (b) he's democratizing the heroic, pointing out that this sort of thing is accessible to anyone.<br /><br />Does that make sense, or am I totally barking up the wrong tree?<br /><br />(Hmm... This may merit a post on the Guild Review at some point...)Aaron Lindermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15992073027586818751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-42862676784504545022009-08-07T15:18:16.309-05:002009-08-07T15:18:16.309-05:00I know. Criticism was reduced to "isms."...I know. Criticism was reduced to "isms." Marxism. Feminism. Etc.<br /><br />She's the best I've ever witnessed. Changed my life and that is what teaching at it's best does.<br /><br />I hope she is well and still active.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-63559135633445121492009-08-07T09:38:27.960-05:002009-08-07T09:38:27.960-05:00Good points.Good points.thetempleoflove.comhttp://www.thetempleoflove.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-11520914500860917812009-08-07T05:40:07.742-05:002009-08-07T05:40:07.742-05:00Anne,
Dr Cowan is as close as we are going to get...Anne,<br /><br />Dr Cowan is as close as we are going to get to a Pope in Literature! I've never had the privilege of taking a class with her...most definitely my loss. I've had dinner with her and chatted with her many times. She is a champion of a way of reading literature that pomo junk theory killed in the 1980's.Fr. Philip Powell, OPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14970857401221305221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-29059510364711431362009-08-06T22:12:54.087-05:002009-08-06T22:12:54.087-05:00The very notion of carrying ashes is akin to the n...The very notion of carrying ashes is akin to the notion of carrying one's patrimony, one's tradition [Anchises] on one's back. To the founding of the new place.<br /><br />Yes, Faulkner is epic. Homer and otherwise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-33601007146279332052009-08-06T19:58:50.000-05:002009-08-06T19:58:50.000-05:00Louise Cowan has included Faulkner as part of the ...Louise Cowan has included Faulkner as part of the Epic tradition for at least two decades.<br /><br />She is the best thing to have ever happened to UD. Too bad so few people know her these days. Her lectures were the best. Bar none.<br /><br />I mean: staggeringly, mind-changing, miraculous and transfigurative. Ask around. People will back me up.<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-63478608615202689232009-08-06T11:04:23.070-05:002009-08-06T11:04:23.070-05:00Reminds me more of Aeneas escaping the city of Tro...Reminds me more of Aeneas escaping the city of Troy with his father and his son.Sean DeWitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13839888331467279876noreply@blogger.com