Weavers of words
I've been thinking about stories today. I read The little mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, and it's been a long time since I read it last, but it hasn't lost its charm. We have all seen the Disney version, I think, but I never like the movie versions as well as the originals. And this one was definitely "disneyfied", with so much comic relief that became almost a comedy, which it isn't. I've outgrown the Disney movies, of course, and I shouldn't let it bug me, but I think it's such a shame, that many kids seem to be familiar only with the Disney versions of old fairy-tales. I did an essay of some 30 pages about the different versions of Cinderella for my literature studies some five years ago, and I was astonished to hear that not many of my fellow students had even heard the Grimm brothers' version. They knew only the Perrault version, with the pumpkin, the fairy godmother and the helpful mice, and that one they had seen as the Disney adaptation. It's a cute movie, but it doesn't give you as much to think about as reading the story, or better yet, having someone tell it to you.
I love reading and listening to stories and fairy-tales, and I like reading them aloud to children, although I seldom get the chance. I should start volunteering at the library, they need people to tell stories and read aloud to kids now and then. I'm interested in acting, but storytelling might suit me even better. I must think about it...
The stories that really stay with me are the myths of ancient times. I used to read a lot about Greek mythology, and I still remember a good deal. The gods and goddesses were very human in all their failings, although they had the power to do much more harm. Have you heard the story of how the spider was created? Let me tell you...
The goddess Athena was a skilled weaver. She was the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill, and there was nothing she couldn't make. But there were skilful mortal women, too. One of them, Arachne, was a student of Athena. Arachne was conceited and proud of her skills. Athena appeared to her one day as an old woman, to warn her not to brag. But Arachne told her that she wanted to compete with Athena herself, to see who was the better weaver. Athena consented, and she had to admit that Arachne was a skilful weaver, and that her work was flawless, except for the choice of subject. Arachne had indeed woven a beautiful tapestry, but it depicted the gods and goddesses having affairs with mortal men and women. This was something Athena couldn't let pass. She destroyed the tapestry and struck Arachne on her head with the shuttle. Not content with this outburst, she turned Arachne into a spider, saying: "You shall weave for the rest of your days." In a way, Arachne was made immortal, since her name still means 'spider'. Possibly that's another moral of this story: nothing that is touched by magic is ever the same again.
David Copperfield is still at school, and he has climbed the ladder of learning so diligently, that he is now head of the class. He has also started to notice the opposite sex more, and has survived his first one-sided romance. It will be interesting to see, how his romantic feelings develop, and what he makes of himself. I'm about 230 pages in, and there's 500 more pages to go. I'm a relatively quick reader, but more importantly I haven't really read much of anything else. Somehow, this book fulfills my reading needs for now. That's quite an accomplishment, I usually can't invest enough in one book to drop all others. Of course, I might not be so keen to get on with the reading, if I didn't have this blog. I want to write about my reading, and there's only one way to do that: to read a bit every day.
How much, I wonder, is the blogger affected by the blog? Am I beginning to look at my own life as a narrative, instead of a lot of loosely connected events? Reading back a bit, I notice that the feeling of ease has increased these past few weeks. I remember I had more trouble expressing myself earlier, and I found it more difficult to choose what to write. Coming up with ideas isn't hard, but developing them into something fit to publish is. I never write drafts, although I do make changes after finishing an entry. At some point, I may choose to write longer pieces, and then I suppose I will have to write drafts. But this isn't meant to become a collection of essays at any point. There won't be any fan fiction, either. I like reading it sometimes, but the writing part isn't for me.
Another weekend! Have a good one, and see you tomorrow!
I love reading and listening to stories and fairy-tales, and I like reading them aloud to children, although I seldom get the chance. I should start volunteering at the library, they need people to tell stories and read aloud to kids now and then. I'm interested in acting, but storytelling might suit me even better. I must think about it...
The stories that really stay with me are the myths of ancient times. I used to read a lot about Greek mythology, and I still remember a good deal. The gods and goddesses were very human in all their failings, although they had the power to do much more harm. Have you heard the story of how the spider was created? Let me tell you...
The goddess Athena was a skilled weaver. She was the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill, and there was nothing she couldn't make. But there were skilful mortal women, too. One of them, Arachne, was a student of Athena. Arachne was conceited and proud of her skills. Athena appeared to her one day as an old woman, to warn her not to brag. But Arachne told her that she wanted to compete with Athena herself, to see who was the better weaver. Athena consented, and she had to admit that Arachne was a skilful weaver, and that her work was flawless, except for the choice of subject. Arachne had indeed woven a beautiful tapestry, but it depicted the gods and goddesses having affairs with mortal men and women. This was something Athena couldn't let pass. She destroyed the tapestry and struck Arachne on her head with the shuttle. Not content with this outburst, she turned Arachne into a spider, saying: "You shall weave for the rest of your days." In a way, Arachne was made immortal, since her name still means 'spider'. Possibly that's another moral of this story: nothing that is touched by magic is ever the same again.
David Copperfield is still at school, and he has climbed the ladder of learning so diligently, that he is now head of the class. He has also started to notice the opposite sex more, and has survived his first one-sided romance. It will be interesting to see, how his romantic feelings develop, and what he makes of himself. I'm about 230 pages in, and there's 500 more pages to go. I'm a relatively quick reader, but more importantly I haven't really read much of anything else. Somehow, this book fulfills my reading needs for now. That's quite an accomplishment, I usually can't invest enough in one book to drop all others. Of course, I might not be so keen to get on with the reading, if I didn't have this blog. I want to write about my reading, and there's only one way to do that: to read a bit every day.
How much, I wonder, is the blogger affected by the blog? Am I beginning to look at my own life as a narrative, instead of a lot of loosely connected events? Reading back a bit, I notice that the feeling of ease has increased these past few weeks. I remember I had more trouble expressing myself earlier, and I found it more difficult to choose what to write. Coming up with ideas isn't hard, but developing them into something fit to publish is. I never write drafts, although I do make changes after finishing an entry. At some point, I may choose to write longer pieces, and then I suppose I will have to write drafts. But this isn't meant to become a collection of essays at any point. There won't be any fan fiction, either. I like reading it sometimes, but the writing part isn't for me.
Another weekend! Have a good one, and see you tomorrow!