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..
All private
editorial communications are read by both co-editors.