The unhinged things I would do to see this on stage

Dionysius stages a play. His Bacchic drama is wild, ecstatic, full of fun reversals, but also dangerous.

bu kitabı klasik yunan tragedyası olduğunu varsayarak okumaya başlamayın çünkü bu bir inanç kitabı. üstelik klasik yunan tragedyalarında olduğu gibi sadece karşılıklı kısa diyaloglardan oluşmuyor, hikaye anlatımı da var.
Sabahattin Eyüboğlu kitabı iki farklı fransızca çevirisini karşılaştırarak çevirmekle birlikte Azra Erhat'a kontrol ettirmiş. Metni okurken üçüncü dilden okuyorsunuz gibi bir his hiç yok. O dönemin çevirmenlerindeki bu hassasiyet ve işini iyi yapma aşkına hayranım. Kitabın girişinde Mario Meunier'in Dionysos Dini başlıklı makalesini metinden önce okumakta fayda var, fakat makalenin aşırı akademik ve dipnotlarla bezeli olduğunu söylemeden geçemeyeceğim. Ben geçtiğimiz aylarda birkaç defa başlayıp karmaşık geldiği için bırakmıştım. Dionysos iki kere doğmasından başlayarak özünde ikilik barındıran ve bölgeye göre miti değişen bir tanrı. bu da okuduğunuzu anlamayı, kişileri ve tanrıları konumlandırmayı zorlaştırıyor.
Zeugma öncesi Mainadlarla tanışmam süper oldu, çingene kızını bambaşka bir gözle göreceğim şimdi.

کادموس: ای دیونوسوس بر ما رحم آور اگرچه گناهکارانیم
دیونوسوس: دریغا که مرا دیر به جا آوردی نه آن زمان که می بایست
آگاوه: اما خدایان را نشاید که خشم آدمیان را با خشم پاسخ بگویند.
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باکخانت ها یا کاهنه های باکوس

SECOND READING:
It's been a Bacchus kind of year. I've warmed up to him more since my first outing. Now I want to breastfeed wolf pups and frolic in the woods with my thyrsus and fawnskin.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Some backstory on this play: Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) is the son of Semele, a mortal woman, and Zeus, a god. He was already divinely conceived, so to speak, when his mother was destroyed by seeing Zeus’ true face (lighting) and she never got the chance to carry him to term. Zeus took the fetus Dionysus into his thigh and bore him himself (something I wish for every male anti-abortion advocate).

Some of Semele’s family, however, refuse to believe that she had really conceived Dionysus with Zeus. They claim that she had slept with some regular old mortal and essentially disown their divine kin. This is comparable to those who doubted Mary when she claimed to have given virgin birth. At the time the play takes place, king Pentheus, the cousin of Dionysus, is trying to drive his religious order from the land. To be fair to Pentheus, the Bacchae (female worshippers of Bacchus) do get weird sometimes, like when they tear animals apart with their bare hands, or go about stealing other people’s babies and...pots and pans (?!) I can see why a king might start to get nervous.

Dionysus is understandably angry and punishes the members of his family who talk smack about his mama and who refuse to honor him as a god. But he also punishes those family members who worship him gladly. He’s excessively cruel, even to his own followers. He does, however, have some redeeming qualities: He throws pretty interesting parties and seems to promote equality (young and old, royal and commoner – all party together). Those going into Bacchic frenzies gain access to foreknowledge. His female followers get to escape the patriarchy for a little while. And people do really like wine:

“The flowing wine, drunk to the full, provides
sleep and forgetfulness from daily pain,
nor is there any other cure for trouble.
This god is poured as offering to the gods,
so through this god comes human happiness.”

DNA testinin olmaması sebebiyle Zeus evladı olduğuna inanmayanların hayatını kaydıran Dionysos, Thebai’ye musallat olur ve bu hikayede yanan Kadmos’un olaylarla tamamen ilgisiz karısı, Ares’ün kızı Harmonia olur. Son ana kadar adı bile geçmeyen kadını niye yılana dönüştürdün ki? Adaletin bu mu Bromios?

"swoony type,
long hair, bedroom eyes,
cheeks like wine.”

Dionysus is my favourite ancient Greek god. Why? Because he is the coolest, simple as.

n  “He is life's liberating force.
He is release of limbs and communion through dance.
He is laughter, and music in flutes.
He is repose from all cares -- he is sleep!"n


- The Young Bacchus by Caravaggio, 1595.

Not only is he the god of theatre (a huge passion of mine) but he is also the god of wine, festivals, ecstasy and madness. Every set of self-respecting Gods needs one like him on the team. In a way he represents excess, the excess of human emotion and passion. Every so often we all need a good binge of some sort and any god that denies our needs is a very poor god. Dionysus gets it. He understands.

And he is capable of great good and filling the needs of his subjects, but his whims can easily slip into darkness. In this play he presents himself in a clam collective manner; he does not really represent the aspects of human nature he is god of: he merely facilitates them. He gives man the opportunity to go too far; it’s up to him if he takes it and falls into complete intoxication. And this bespeaks his enthralling power. He is not controlling and does not tamper with free-will, if his subjects worship him to heavily then it is of their own accord.

The Dionysian cult Euripides creates here is one completely necessary in the society of Ancient Greece. He is the solution for the ongoing battle between freedom and restraint. He suggests that the irrational and the indulgent are both necessary for society to function and develop. Any society that denies these things will fall apart in misery. So Dionysus is an important force, but one that should be taken is small measures.

So this is a good play, and it’s completely character driven and loaded with this message (supposedly as a learning tool.) It’s real fun to read.

Whiplash!

How else can I describe the quick transition from Pearl S. Buck’s Korea to Euripides’ Greece?

This play would be authentic and current in any era, including today. Amazing. Stunning.

Euripides lived from 480-406 BCE. In this play, the protagonist, Dionysus, is the son of a mortal mother, Semele, and a divine ruler of the world, Zeus. He appears on Earth in human form, he is killed and resurrected. Sound like any other figure in history you might have heard about?

Dionysus, young and immortal, male and feminine, smiling and savage, born in Thebes but considered a barbarian, an animal, and a G-d. That is quite a lot to pack into one character. Oh, and I almost forgot, he is very into wine.

His rival, and of course, his cousin, Pentheus, the king, is a somewhat conflicted man, unsettled in his sexuality, shall we say? It is incredible how Euripides deconstructs the outwardly mannish king in a comedic and not insulting way, so that you must laugh in the middle of a great tragedy. This head of state appears darling in his royal gown and wig, when he is only slightly prodded to cross dress. (there is no reference to a Queen).

It is his last play, published posthumously, but it is an incomparable psychological masterpiece. Who knew? It is a study, in every aspect, of opposites. Dichotomies in each character. Wow.

Unlike Medea, (I have not read Phaedra) an example of extreme feminine emotionality; in Bacchae, the protagonist is male, yet the plays’ main concern is femininity, again; in thought, desire, and mind. This is what consumes Euripides thoughts and pen.

And the chorus, always the chorus. Fascinating. Dithyrambs. Offstage in this production, carrying verses to the main platform by way of messenger. Imagine, this is twenty-five hundred years ago.

In this period, the actors are all men, wearing masks to assume different roles. The audiences, in the thousands, are all men. I apologize, ladies, but I am only a reporter.

It is almost inconceivable, to me, how this could be pulled off, and I would give a hundred bitcoins, to be in the audience and to witness this through modern eyes.

It is short piece and I do not want to give any of it away. However, Euripides is peerless.

What's next? Aristophanes? Sophocles?

Surely not the news.

Si divora facilmente, pur imponendosi di assaporarlo con calma.
Tuffetto al cuore nelle ultime pagine, quando Cadmo ricorda Penteo (vv. 1316-1322).
La tragica fine di un eroe tragico come Penteo rappresenta simbolicamente il nefasto destino di chiunque osi sfidare la legge, non quella civile, ma quella divina. Il fatto che a mettere in atto tale punizione sia Dioniso, apparentemente sovvertitore dell’ordine e dell’equilibrio, evidenzia chiaramente la sua parità rispetto agli dei olimpici, colpevolmente non riconosciuta dal sovrano di Tebe. La follia instillata dal dio viene mostrata come elemento necessario per una vita beata e si manifesta in modo cruento per coloro che la rifiutano e nella serenità per chi la accetta.

Lascio qui ancora un altro passaggio che mi è piaciuto tantissimo (vv. 902-911):
Beato chi sfugge al mare in tempesta e adesso è nel porto;
beato chi è uscito dai mali: variamente l'uno sull'altro prevale in ricchezza e potenza.
Infinite persone hanno infinite speranze: queste si compiono con successo per i mortali, quelle si dissolvono.
Ma chi giorno per giorno ha una vita felice, quello lo chiamo beato.

O voi cita (aprox) pe draga mea colega Madalina cu un comentariul pe care l-a facut la Don Quijote, insa il aplic la Bacantele: “Devine mai buna cu fiecare recitire”

اساطیر و خدایان یونانی از جذاب‌ترین موضوعات برای منه. قهرمان کتاب کاهنه‌های باکوس دیونیزوس هست. دیونیزوس خدای شراب و انگور و شهوته و جوان ترین ایزد در بین خدایان یونان.
حاصل ازدواج کادموس و هارمونیا چهار دختر به نام های سمله، آگاوه، آتونوئه و اینو و یک پسر به نام پلیدروس بود. زئوس پادشاه خدایان، فرزند رئا و کرونوس، عاشق سمله میشه و حاصل این عشق دیونیزوس هست. آگاره که به این عشق باور نداشت، به سمله گفت از زئوس در خواست کند که خودش را به تمامی به او نشان دهد. زئوس که عهد کرده بود به تمام درخواست‌های سمله پاسخ مثبت دهد، خود را به سمله نمایاند و سمله چنان سوخت که حتی پس از مرگش هم دود از آرامگاهش بلند بود. زئوس، دیونیزوس را در ران خود جا می‌دهد و تا زمان متولد شدن از او نگهداری میکند. پس از اعلام خدایی، پنتئون پسر آگاوه از پرستش دیونیزوس سر باز میزنه و میخواد با اون بجنگه اما گرفتار کینه‌ی دیونیزوس میشه و این نمایشنامه شرح ماجرایی هست که در برخورد دیونیزوس و پنتئوس به وجود میاد. یک رویارویی همراه با شیدایی، جنون، نفرت و سنگدلی. دیونیزوس یک خدای بسیار انتقام گیرنده هست و سرنوشت دشمناش بسیار غم‌انگیزه. این نمایشنامه میتونه برای علاقه‌مندان به این ژانر جذاب و کمی سخت خوان باشه.ه