Carolyn Kunin: "I hate to appear dense, but I cannot for
the life of me comprehend in what possible sense Zolushka (Cendrillon,
Aschenbrodel, etsy etsy etsy) are incest tales...But, Jansy if I may, I have no
idea of what you mean by the following, and how I could possibly have anything
to do with it. "I was
happy when I read Carolyn Kunin's reference to "Speak, Nabokov" because, in her
commentary, she stressed Maar's non-idolatrous vertex and the
scope of his literary inter/intra-connections, favouring exciting inroads
into VN's works." By the way, I have on my bookshelves all the
books you, Jansy, reference - so perhaps I need to go back and re-read. But for
the sake of others who may not have Marina(!) Warner, Bettelheim and/or
Levi-Strauss, could you please be more specific. Also I fail to see any
homosexuality &/or pederasty in Hamlet or Oedipus Rex. Have I been missing
something obvious?"
Jansy Mello: I know that I
criticized Maar's book in the past and for various reasons.
Although "over interpretation" is not exactly the word I need, it
comes close to my discomfort while reading Maar's misuse of the
traditional psychoanalytic theories when he wrote about what he
understood to be VN's inner life or motivations. However, I also
recognize that his book carries invaluable information and
research.
I don't know why Carolyn attributes to
me the theory that the Cendrillon/Cinderella stories are
particularly related to incest. Or why
she denies that there's homosexuality in the Oedipus cycle. Pederasty
is not actually present in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" (if I remember it
right), but in what led to King Laius's attempt to kill his son (due
to the malediction thrown on him by King Pelops, after he seduced
his host's son, Chrysippus). Hamlet
(King Lear, as well*) were freudian examples of oedipal wishes in
literature, not of oedipal homosexual or pederast pre-history.
Levy-Strauss, in one of his articles
in "Structural Anthropology," used the Oedipus "myth" to illustrate some of
his ideas (it was from him, in that specific article, that I learned the
meaning of the word "cthonic", associated to a non-sexual kind of birth, as
opposed to parental coupling). I think its title was "The Symbolic
Machine."
.........................................
* - Cf. Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres," or Lawrence Olivier's "King
Lear." Freud chose to write about Lear's three daughters, the moira, and
ancient fairy-stories, not about incest, though. Unfortunately most
of these articles and books were read a long long time ago and my recollections
are fragmentary..