Posts tagged 'literature'

A painting, Antigone in front of the Dead Polynieces (1865), by Nikiforos Lytras.

In ancient Greek playwright Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the heroine Antigone defies the law of the land in order to grant Polyneices a proper burial. Polyneices was a terrorist (by our modern definition) who wanted to blow up the city of Thebes and died in the process.

Daniel Mendelsohn, literature Professor at Bard College, brings up the ethics and politics of the burial of the dead in ancient Greek society and literature, while discussing the recent controversy surrounding the burial of the dead Boston bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

(Source: newyorker.com)

"I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

— Daisy says this of her daughter, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (I’m guessing it’s a “fool” capable of falling head over heels in love “foolishly”)

"We are all furies, except the ones who are too damned foolish."

— Nora, the angry heroine of Claire Messud’s new novel, The Woman Upstairs.

An illustration from Mary Sullivan’s book for children, Ball.

In Ball the main characters are dogs that go berserk in the presence of balls.

"We live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom: our body."

— Marcel Proust