Questions of time. Time is the enemy. There are things to be done and there are things to be done. Today I have had David Lewis-William’s The Mind in the Cave opened to page 106 and have yet to progress over the pages to consider metaphors of mind as Swiss Army knife or as cathedral, although Raymond Carver had already dealt with that issue. For Mishima awareness loves landscape and curve.
We are all in the same boat: things to be done. This problem is difficult for everyone, but, of course, my main concern is for the story writers whose endeavors cannot be boxed into discrete units. The writer may write from six to seven in the morning then go to work or school. But this can be a painful routine, because once the writer begins, it’s hard to stop, and what if we forget the next step.
On the drive home yesterday, it struck me that people enjoy repeating stories. This is analogous to Beowulf, whose story must be told, repeated, and remembered. In a sense, we tell stories to repeat them, which is an element of sharing.
But there’s also the Dr. Manhattan issue to story. For some reason, perhaps having to do with the atomic weight of hydrogen, we communicate ideas through story. We are therefore stepped in narrative. We are, therefore, steeped in time. If there were no time and space, would there be story?
Thank you.
I’ve always felt that the more we repeat stories, the more we learn from them. I’ve spent many many summer afternoons on my grandmother’s lap hearing the same stories over and over again.
Are’nt stories part of the reason that we teach?
There would be no story if there was no time because the story would not find a ground for its roots. Consequently, there would be no teaching.
Well, indeed the more we repeat stories..the more we learn from them… Though, when we repeat stories are the “repeats” the exact replica of the original? Surely, changes take place…
I am thinking of this in regard to a Greek Tragedy class I am in…
Characters and stories are repeated, but not in the same fashion as before…
For instance, Sophocles’ “Electra” is a continuation or an interpretation of Aeschylus’ “The Orestiea”… Though, Aeschylus diminshes the role of Electra, while Sophocles elevates, or enlarges her role…
Often in Greek Tragedy, we meet the same characters over and over again..but they are not exactly the same as before…
I would say that if we find ourselves repeating or re-interpreting the same story over and over again..there is something about that story that still fascinates us…There is something that story still has to tell us whether it be in regard to social, political, or familial issues.
Fascinating….
Most Graciously,
Maureen
*A Mayde in her own little woode….