I can say that the movie and the book were both delightful.

henüz oyunlara alışık bir okur değilim. bu türe, en iyi örneklerini barındıran antik yunan tragedyasından başlamak istedim. kral oedipus'u seçmemdeki amaç ise yazıldığı dönemden binlerce yıl sonra bile ilham kaynağı olmayı başarmış olması oldu.

the doors'un "the end" isimli müthiş şarkısında, her dinleyenin merakını ve ilgisini çeken; jim morrison'ın meşhur;
-father
-yes son...
repliğini içinde barındıran bölümü dinledikten sonra öğrenmiştim zaten, freud'un zamanında "oedipus karmaşası" olarak psikoloji literatürüne kattığı bu antik anlatıyı.

yirmi beş yüzyıl önce yazılmış, "insanın kaderinde ne yazıyorsa o olur" temalı eserde, insanlara, durumların ne kadar kolay değişebileceği, kimseyi sonuna kadar görmeden, o kişiyle ilgili peşin yargıya varmamak gerektiği anlatılıyor. rüzgarın ne kadar kolay ve hızlı yön değiştirebileceği, olabilecek en trajik ve çarpıcı bir örnekle gözlerimizin önüne seriliyor.

bu kadar basit bir şekilde özetlediğim için yanlış anlaşılmasın, tabi ki yirminci yüzyılın metafor fışkıran eserleri gibi değil ancak kesinlikle edebi kaygı barındıran ve dilin ustalıkla kullanıldığı bir eser.

Não vou fazer nenhuma análise em profundidade desta obra pois para o tamanho do texto, nomeadamente o conflito principal em causa, já foi tudo tão amplamente dissecado que será impossível dizer algo de novo. Por isso expressarei apenas breves notas sobre a minha experiência de leitura.

Há muito tempo que tinha intenção de iniciar a leitura dos textos dramáticos da antiga Grécia, mas tal como aconteceu com Shakespeare, fui sempre protelando, porque as peças teatrais escritas não são propriamente o meu forte. Tenho dificuldade em aceitar aceder a uma obra que no estado escrito é apenas parte de um todo. Contudo, quando li Shakespeare e agora Sófocles, fui surpreendido pelos textos, pela sua capacidade de me demover. Sei bem que falo de peças não apenas de grande qualidade mas capazes de ultrapassar o teste de séculos e milénios.

Assim e se Édipo era para mim um personagem amplamente conhecido, pelo modo como invadiu o imaginário ocidental, não sei se por graça de Sófocles ou das tontices de Freud, a peça acabou por me surpreender exatamente no modo como se destaca da descoberta do conflito principal. Quando iniciei a leitura senti-me algo desmotivado por ver tanta discussão — sobre o filho que mata o pai e casa com a mãe — tentasse eu aceder à obra onde quer que fosse, em que edição fosse. No entanto Sófocles vai muito para além da trama, ela está lá, ela tudo faz mover, e de certo modo confere a Aristoteles razão quando este afirma que é a trama mais importante que os personagens, mas é Sófocles que acaba a demonstrar o contrário. Ou seja, se o conflito está lá, se o enredo empurra os personagens para uma espécie de precipício dramático, continuam a ser os personagens quem decidem saltar ou não. Sófocles centra-se nesse ponto, em buscar o modo como reagir a algo que conhecíamos de antemão, e executa de forma trágica, como não podia deixar de ser numa tragédia.

Assim, digo que se me incomodou toda a dependência dos deuses e dos adivinhos, não deixou de me impactar a decisão final de Édipo pensada para ter efeito tanto nesta vida como no além. É um clímax digno da catarse de Aristoteles, e que explica bem o receio que Platão tinha de ver a República manipulada pelas artes.


"The blind Oedipus commending his children to the Gods", 1784, de Bénigne Gagneraux

Uma nota final para a questão do incesto. Vivemos uma época de grande liberação sexual, o que tem vindo a abrir espaço para a defesa do incesto entre adultos (cf. "Impunidade" HG Cancela). Em defesa destas visões muitas vezes enunciam-se os nossos antepassados gregos e romanos pela sua liberdade que teria sido, mais tarde, castrada pela igreja. Contudo, do que se pode ler nestes textos, é que se existia maior liberdade sexual ela estava muito longe de uma anarquia moral.

I can't decide if it was more tragic or more bizzare. A man killing his father to marry his mother. Interesting play to have read, not as entertaining to read as other plays I've read but an interesting story nevertheless

Sometimes life's a real bitch.

Fate is unavoidable in ancient Greek Tragedy. Trying to avoid it will only lead to it, and doing nothing will lead you there too. So if a God tells you that you will die at the hands of your son, and that he will then go on to steal your wife, you’d best do nothing because it’s going to happen anyway. Any preventative action you take will only lead to the same ending. So, you’re pretty much screwed. You might as well lie down and accept it. The God's are mean.

But, nope, if you’re like the King of Thebes you’ll leave your infant son for dead instead.



Poor Oedipus. He really didn’t have much chance in life. He could do nothing to intervene with his own destiny, mainly because his tragic flaw is his lack of awareness about his true origins. He hears a rumour of the prophecy told to his farther, so he endeavours to stay away from him. But, in doing so he is pushed ever closer to his real farther. That’s the problem with being abandoned at birth; you just don’t know who is who in the world! There’s some irony in this somewhere.

Indeed, it suggests that no free will exists at all because any exertions of the supposed free will lead to the predetermined fate. So every action has been accounted for already. The intended audience may have been aware of these powers but Oedipus and his farther were hapless in their wake. They had to both learn the hard way. Oedipus had to recognise it, and in the process he shattered his life: it made him tear out his very eyes. Now that’s real grief. There’s no wonder Aristotle made this his model for the perfect play because this is masterful.

Aristotle’s theory can be used to assist the reader in understanding how the plot contributes to the tragedy. I couldn’t have read tragedy without it. The tragedy is created, in part, by the complexity of its plot which leads towards the catharsis. According to Aristotle’s Poetics the complexity of the plot is established through reversal, recognition and suffering. A simple plot will only establish one of these; therefore, it will have a limited catharsis. The reversal (peritpeteia) is the change of a state of affairs to its opposite, such as the reversal of Oedipus’ identity. The recognition (anaghorsis) is achieved through the acquiring of knowledge, like the knowledge Oedipus gains of his birth. Aristotle argues that an effective plot has its anaghorisis bound up with the peritpeteia. This is because it, “carries with it pity or fear” such as these following lines:


tt"O god-
All come true, all busting to light!
O light- now let me look my last on you!
I stand revealed at last-” (Lines 1305-9)



I hope I didn’t lose anyone or bore them to death with my summary of Poetics. The structure is the key; it is everything in delivering the plot. If, in the cathartic moment, the action can evoke suffering through a combination of a reversal of circumstances during a brutally stark recognition, then the ultimate delivery of pity and fear will be achieved. Such is the case with Oedipus. Oedipus’s hamartia, his tragic flaw at the core of his being, is his ignorance, and when the veil is lifted he realises the tragedy of the situation; he realises all too late that fate is unshakable and unconquerable.

He has unknowingly committed incest with his mother and murdered his farther, so, like I said, life is a real bitch.

از تقدیر نمی توان گریخت

طرح کلی داستان همینه که هرچه در تقدیر تو نوشته باشند همون رخ می دهد و تو نمی تونی تقدیر خودت رو عوض کنی
آوازه ی این کتاب زیاد به گوشم رسیده بود ولی اصلا اون طور که انتظار داشتم عالی نبود
داستان ادیپ یکی از مشهور ترین تراژدی های جهان به شمار میاد ولی خب مشکل اینجاست کتاب اصلا راضی کننده نیست ، احتمالا چون با یک نمایشنامه روبروییم نه یک داستان
به عنوان یک نمایش میتونه عالی اجرا بشه و بیننده رو شگفت زده کنه ، ولی کتاب ؟ نع

nIl est un être à deux pieds, trois pieds, quatre pieds sur la terre, mais une seule voix: il est seul à changer de nature parmi les êtres qui vont sur la terre, dans l'air, dans les vagues: lorsque prenant appui sur le plus de pieds il chemine, c'est alors que la rapidité de son corps est la moindre.
(Anthologie Palatine, XIV, 64)

Juste une petite relecture rapide d'Œdipe (prononcé édipe) Roi de Sophocle avant d'en traduire plusieurs passage, histoire de bien avoir l'histoire en tête.

Œdipe (littéralement en grec, pied enflé) est sollicité par la population de Thèbes, car la population est frappée par un mal mystérieux: les dieux annoncent qu'une souillure infecte la cité.

Le pauvre Œdipe ignore qu'il est lui-même la victime des imprécations qu'il lance contre le responsable, et le dénouement est bien évidemment, tragique!

Cette édition a la charité de bien vouloir faire goûter au lecteur les merveilles du rythme du grec, en indiquant sur les voyelles à quantité variable si elle est longue ou brève: une excellente initiative!

I really do not like my mother.

I realize that moms (mums for the English) have many hats to wear. There is the tumult she has with the husband who never listens to her, and the children who end up at the principal’s office, and the clothes that need mending, and the purveying and construction of victuals to meet everyone’s different palate. Got it. I cannot even imagine what extra toll and toil the 1960’s will bring on these unappreciated females. But that is still years away. I like to focus on the now. Why? Sounds good, I think. Please pass the black and white corn on the cob.

But some mothers are…well…mothers. I include mine in this subsection. She is so bad I do not hesitate to walk little old ladies across the interstate. She is so bad that occasionally I will borrow a granny's walker for few minutes and ask them to lean against a wall while I spin it around. She is so bad that I consciously walk through the make-up departments at big chains and offer an ersatz opinion to elderly mothers on their rouge or their eyeliner or whatever it is that they buy for their faces.

I will say, in passing, “No, the lipstick is too vermillion.” Of course, they will think it over, because what kind of man knows the word vermillion. “Periwinkle eye-shadow? In the summer?” will cause them to blush vermillion, as I roll my eyes (drama). You can never use the word vermillion enough, I have always thought. It’s the opposite of pizza. One slice of it after forty-years old and you have gained twelve pounds. Two slices, straight away to a triple bypass at the local emergency room. Three slices and a Parson delivers the box, and waits.

And even after many attempts at self-normalizing behavior, I still do not like my mother. I know, it is against one of those ten commandments, but we just do not get along. It happens. Why are you trying to make me feel guilty?

“Tell me about your mother, david?”
“Oh no, not again.”
“Is she pretty?”
“What?”
“Is she malicious?”
“Well…”
“Oops. Sorry. The session is up. See you again next Monday at nine?”
“Cannot. I must give a speech at the Greater NY Jockey association. The topic is ‘Organic Horse Feed, Worth the Cost?’”
“You sound resentful?”
“I thought our time was over? Hmm.”
“One hundred dollars, please.”
“A little resentful, now.”

Sophocles, what’s your deal? This is Greece. It is friggin’ hot here. There are no “Saturday Morning food fairs” and you do not like fishing? Why not go to Santorini for the week? They are having a sale on last year’s togas and this year’s newest flip-flops.

No. Instead, you go off on your own, chisel in hand and rocks on the ground, no one around for hectares, and you start writing a story about a boy and his mommy, in an intimate way? Perhaps you also wrote for Penthouse forum? Our Athenian audience is all men, this is not Off-Off Broadway. They ain't going to like it. Well, maybe the politicians...

Listen to me, your friend Socratberg. Go to the nearest dispensary and buy yourself some hybrid hemlock. Have it with a little vino. Don’t forget it may take an hour before the effects set in.

Okay, basta. Y’all know how the story goes. A tragedy indeed for the son/husband and serendipity for Sophocles, who, so far has about twenty-five hundred years run on this production.

Next time, take my mother, please.

Ben Kral Oidupus'un Bordo/Siyah Dünya Klasikleri Serisinden çıkan versiyonunu okudum. Eser herkesin okuması, üzerine düşünmesi gereken antik bir kült.
Artık etkisi yalnız tiyatro sahnelerinde değil; sinemada, edebiyatta, şiirde, psikolojide sürekli olarak bize kendini gösteriyor. Bordo/Siyah versiyonunda Versel Atayman'ın yazmış olduğu önsöz nefis. Her açıdan Kral Oidipus'a bir bakış getirmiş. Hepimizin az çok bildiği ve kavradığı bu hikayeye; kısa ama çok yeterli/açıklayıcı bir makale yazmış. Çeviride keyifli ve özenli. Tavsiye ederim.

Empezarè a "mudar" las reseñas de mi blog para acá, pq ya no escribo en el blog y pues si ya le tengo reseñas a infinidad de libros lo justo es que estén por acá también...
***


¿Quién en su vida ha escuchado sobre el complejo de Edipo? Creo que es una historia bastante difundida en la cultura popular y que si bien estaba enterada de que iba NO ESTABA PREPARADA PARA LO QUE HA SIDO…
Como toda tragedia griega, esta obra –obvio- abunda y se aprovecha del DRAMA y en base a él, es que se construye la historia. Tenemos un contexto muy bien presentado y la trama de entrada por una “profecía” –que tanto le gustan a los griegos- y el héroe –en este caso Edipo- por lógica ha de ignorar –porque ese es el deber ser-
A lo que me refiero, es que desde los primeros capítulos el lector el personaje principal están enterados de UN POSIBLE DESENLACE y que aun así este termine siendo SORPRENDE y por ello es que Edipo Rey ha trascendido desde tiempos inmemoriales…
Sófocles como el capitán que dirige el curso de la historia, tiene la capacidad de adentrarte en la trama, y revelarte información tan detallada y precisa pero de a momentos como para armar el rompecabezas y cuando crees que ya lo tienes TE DA UNA PATADA EN LA CARA y quedas en plan:


Edipo finding out the truth about everything

Por eso lo proclaman el maestro del PLOT-TWIST…

Muchos infortunios se viven a través de esta obra y es agotador el leer todas las desgracias por las que pasa nuestro protagonista, pese a ser un relato corto y casi todo transcurre en un día es MUCHO para todo el mundo…
Por ser un CLÁSICO y de los griegos, las personas no se adentran de una con su lectura, pero YO LA RECOMIENDO… la narración es ágil, los personajes tienen su grado de complejidad y pasan por situaciones bien dignas de OBRA DE TEATRO y la moraleja de la historia es mundialmente conocida, no obstante su mensaje guarda vigencia hasta hoy: NO HAY PEOR CIEGO QUE EL QUE NO QUIERE VER…
La verdad estaba allí enfrente y tanto Edipo como el lector la niegan, me encontré leyendo ya los capítulos cruciales y seguía SHOCKEADA porque la situación me superaba en muchos sentidos y bueno… TOO MUCH DRAMA TO BE TRUTH pero si…

Quedó como una de mis lecturas favs de ese año (2017), me dejó con ganas de leer más clásicos griegos –muy en serio- y NO LE TENGAN MIEDO… en dos horas ya conocerán el final de Edipo y serán testigos de su “compleja” historia.

Reseña en MI BLOG!

The original story of a man who tries to escape his fate. I think after so many centuries we all know his fate and it still leaves a bitter taste in our mouth but it does teach us about the ancient Greeks idea of Fate and man been unable to escape this as a God driven life.

Accept your fate or drive against it? But what is predestined in life? How can we know our fate? If everything is predestined would we want to know? Would certain fate lead to hopeless and lethargy?

It raises more questions for mankind than a simple play

أوديب ملكاً - سوفوكليس




لم أتوقع أنني سأتأثر بهذه التراجيديا بعدما سمعتها مرات ومرات وكدت أن أفقد دهشة الحكاية لولا قرائتي لهذه المسرحية , كونها من أكثر القصص والأساطير اليونانية شهرة على الإطلاق, قلت آن لي أن أقرأ هذه المسرحية الشهيرة التي أستوحاها سوفوكليس من الاسطورة اليونانية المذكورة في ملحمة اليونان القديمة المعروفة بالإلياذة ..


جسدها سوفوكليس بعبقرية لا توصف وتراجيدية وفلسفة عميقة يشهد لها التاريخ ومازالت تثير الدهشة في قلب القارئ , وهي قصة أوديب الذي قتل أباه وتزوج من أمه بعد ذلك من دون أن يعلم ذلك , حدث ذلك بعد الوحي الذي أوحاه أبولون لوالد أوديب الذي حاول جاهداً التخلص من أبنه وتفادي المصير المشؤوم الذي قال به الوحي, ولكن ماذا عسى أن ينقذ الأب إذا كانت الأقدار قد سلطت ذلك المصير القاسي على أوديب وكيف يتفادى المرء حدثاً قد كان مكتوباً ..


تدور الأحداث وتنقلب الأيام فيقع الأثم وتتحطم مسارات البشر أمام جحيم القدر ويعلم أوديب أنه لم يولد إلا لكي يقع فريسة لتلك النبوءة المشؤومة, يصرخ أوديب , يتألم كأن جنون العالم قد صب على رأسه , يعلم حينها أنه أشقى البشر على وجه الأرض..




" أنظروا, يا أهالي ثيبا , ها هو ذا أوديب الحاذق في حل الألغاز الشهيرة
والذي صار أول بني الإنسان , لم يكن أحد في المدينة يتأمل مصيره إلا ويحسده ..
أما اليوم , فها هو قد وقع في هاوية من الشقاء الرهيب..
فحذار إذن من أن نصف إنساناً بأنه سعيد , قبل أن يكون قد إجتاز نهاية عمره دون أن يكون قد عانى مصيبة !! "




هذه واحدة من أكثر القصص تراجيدية وعبثية التي ستقرأها في حياتك , كيف لا وهي تتعلق بمصير إنسان قد حكمت عليه الأقدار بمصير كالجحيم وحياة شقية أكثر سوداوية من كل تصوراتنا العبثية حتى ..