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Contents
Epic of Gilgamesh
1
Book of Job
12
Metamorphoses
20
The Tale of Genji
29
Richard III (play)
43
Emma
55
Edgar Allan Poe
62
To the Lighthouse
76
Things Fall Apart
81
José Saramago
90
References
Article Sources and Contributors
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
98
102
Article Licenses
License
104
Epic of Gilgamesh
1
Epic of Gilgamesh
Part of a series on
Mesopotamian
mythology
Mesopotamian religion
Other traditions
•
•
•
Arabian
Levantine
Near Eastern religions
Royal Epics of
Uruk
•
a series in Sumerian
Literature
The Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia, is amongst the earliest surviving works of literature. The
literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five independent Sumerian poems about 'Bilgamesh' (Sumerian for
Gilgamesh), king of Uruk. Four of these were used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. This first
combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit,
Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few fragments of it have survived. The later "Standard
Babylonian" version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru ("He who
Saw the Deep"). Fragments of approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered.
Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
The story centers on a friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Enkidu is a wild man created by the gods as
Gilgamesh's equal to distract him from oppressing the people of Uruk. Together, they journey to the Cedar Mountain
to defeat Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later they kill the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtar sends to
punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. As a punishment for these actions, the gods sentenced Enkidu to death.
The second half of the epic focuses on Gilgamesh's distress at Enkidu's death, and his quest for immortality. In order
to learn the secret of eternal life, Gilgamesh undertakes a long and perilous journey. He learns that "Life, which you
look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their
own hands".[1] Nevertheless, Gilgamesh's fame lived on after his death, because of his great building projects, and
his accounts of Siduri's advice and what Utnapishtim told him happened during the flood. The story has been
translated into many different languages, and Gilgamesh has since become adapted in works of popular fiction.
Epic of Gilgamesh
2
History
Many distinct sources exist from over a 2,000-year timeframe. The old
Sumerian poems, followed by a later Akkadian version, are important
sources for modern translations, with the Sumerian version mainly used
to fill in lacunae in the Akkadian version.
Although several revised versions based on new discoveries have been
published, the epic remains incomplete.[2]
The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in
Akkadian
The earliest Sumerian poems are now generally considered to be distinct
stories, rather than parts of a single epic.:45 They date from as early as the
Third Dynasty of Ur (2150-2000 BC).:41-42 The earliest Akkadian
versions are dated to the early second millennium,:45 most probably in
the eighteenth or seventeenth century BC, when one or more authors
drew upon existing literary material to create a single epic.[3] The
"standard" Akkadian version, consisting of twelve tablets, was edited by
Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC, and was found in
the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh.
The Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1853 and is now widely known. The central
character of Gilgamesh was initially reintroduced to the world as "Izdubir", before the cuneiform logographs in his
name could be pronounced accurately. The first modern translation was published in the early 1870s by George
Smith. Recent translations into English include one undertaken with the assistance of the American novelist John
Gardner, and John Maier, published in 1984. In 2001, Benjamin Foster produced a translation in the Norton Critical
Edition Series that uses new material to fill in many of the blanks in previous editions.
The most definitive translation is a two-volume critical work by Andrew George.[4] George discusses the state of the
surviving material, and provides a tablet-by-tablet exegesis, with a dual language side-by-side translation. This
translation was published by Penguin Classics in 2000. Stephen Mitchell in 2004 supplied a controversial translation
that takes many liberties with the text and includes modernized allusions and commentary relating to the Iraq war of
2003.[5] The first direct Arabic translation from the original tablets was made in the 1960s by the Iraqi archeologist
Taha Baqir.
The discovery of artifacts (ca. 2600 BC) associated with Enmebaragesi of Kish, mentioned in the legends as the
father of one of Gilgamesh's adversaries, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.:40-41
Versions of the epic
From the diverse sources found two main versions of the epic have been partially reconstructed: the Standard
Akkadian version, or He who saw the deep, and the Old Babylonian version, or Surpassing all other kings. Five
earlier Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh have been partially recovered, some with primitive versions of specific
episodes in the Akkadian version, others with unrelated stories.
Standard Akkadian version
The standard version was discovered by Austen Henry Layard in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh in 1849. It
was written in standard Babylonian, a dialect of Akkadian that was used for literary purposes. This version was
compiled by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC from earlier material.
The standard version, and earlier version, have different opening words, or incipit. The older version begins with the
words "Surpassing all other kings", while the standard version has "He who saw the deep" (ša nagba īmuru), "deep"
referring to the mysteries of the information brought back by Gilgamesh from his meeting with Uta-Napishti
Epic of Gilgamesh
(Utnapishtim) about Ea, the fountain of wisdom. Gilgamesh was given knowledge of how to worship the gods, why
death was ordained for human beings, what makes a good king, and how to live a good life. The story of
Utnapishtim, the hero of the flood myth, can also be found in the Babylonian Epic of Atrahasis.
The 12th tablet is a sequel to the original 11, and was probably added at a later date. It bears little relation to the
well-crafted 11-tablet epic; the lines at the beginning of the first tablet are quoted at the end of the 11th tablet, giving
it circularity and finality. Tablet 12 is a near copy of an earlier Sumerian tale, a prequel, in which Gilgamesh sends
Enkidu to retrieve some objects of his from the Underworld, and he returns in the form of a spirit to relate the nature
of the Underworld to Gilgamesh.
Content of the standard version tablets
Tablet one
The story begins by introducing Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, is
oppressing his people, who are crying out to the gods for help. For the young women of Uruk this oppression takes
the form of a droit de seigneur — or "lord's right" to sleep with newly married brides on their wedding night. For
the young men (the tablet is damaged at this point) it is conjectured that Gilgamesh is exhausting them through
games, tests of strength, or perhaps forced labour on building projects. The gods respond to their pleas by creating an
equal to Gilgamesh in order to distract him. They create a primitive man, Enkidu, who is covered in hair and lives in
the wild with the animals. He is spotted by a trapper, whose livelihood is being ruined because Enkidu is uprooting
his traps. The trapper tells Gilgamesh about the man, and it is arranged for Enkidu to be seduced by a harlot. This
seduction by Shamhat, a temple prostitute, is Enkidu's first step toward being tamed, and after seven days of making
love with him, she proposes to take him back to Uruk. Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams that relate to
the imminent arrival of a loved new companion.
Tablet two
Shamhat brings Enkidu to a shepherds' camp, where he is introduced to a human diet and becomes the night
watchman. Learning from a passing stranger about Gilgamesh's treatment of new brides, Enkidu is incensed and
travels to Uruk to intervene at a wedding. When Gilgamesh attempts to visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocks
his way, and they fight. After a fierce battle, Enkidu acknowledges Gilgamesh's superior strength and they become
friends. Gilgamesh proposes a journey to the Cedar Forest to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba, in order to gain
fame and renown. Despite warnings from Enkidu and the council of elders, Gilgamesh will not be deterred.
Tablet three
The elders give Gilgamesh advice for his journey. Gilgamesh visits his mother, the goddess Ninsun, who seeks the
support and protection of the sun-god Shamash for their adventure. Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh
leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his absence.
Tablet four
Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to Lebanon Cedar Forest. Every few days they camp on a mountain, and perform a
dream ritual. Gilgamesh has five terrifying dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a
thunderbird that breathes fire. Despite similarities between his dream figures and earlier descriptions of Humbaba,
Enkidu interprets these dreams as good omens, and denies that the frightening images represent the forest guardian.
As they approach the cedar mountain, they hear Humbaba bellowing, and have to encourage each other not to be
afraid.
3
Epic of Gilgamesh
Tablet five
The heroes enter the cedar forest. Humbaba, the ogre-guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and threatens them. He
accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid,
but with some encouraging words from Enkidu the battle commences. The mountains quake with the tumult and the
sky turns black. The god Shamash sends 13 winds to bind Humbaba, and he is captured. The monster pleads for his
life, and Gilgamesh pities him. Enkidu, however, is enraged and asks Gilgamesh to kill the beast. Humbaba curses
them both and Gilgamesh dispatches him with a blow to the neck. The two heroes cut down many cedars, including
a gigantic tree that Enkidu plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. They build a raft and return home
along the Euphrates with the giant tree and the head of Humbaba.
Tablet six
Gilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi.
Ishtar asks her father Anu to send Gugalanna the Bull of Heaven to avenge her. When Anu rejects her complaints,
Ishtar threatens to raise the dead who will "outnumber the living" and "devour them". Anu becomes frightened, and
gives in to her. Ishtar leads the bull of heaven to Uruk, and it causes widespread devastation. It lowers the level of
the Euphrates river, and dries up the marshes. It opens up huge pits that swallow 300 men. Without any divine
assistance, Enkidu and Gilgamesh attack and slay it, and offer up its heart to Shamash. When Ishtar cries out, Enkidu
hurls one of the hindquarters of the bull at her. The city of Uruk celebrates, but Enkidu has an ominous dream.
Tablet seven
In Enkidu's dream, the gods decide that one of the heroes must die because they killed Humbaba and the Bull of
Heaven. Despite the protestations of Shamash, Enkidu is marked for death. Enkidu curses the great door he has
fashioned for Enlil's temple. He also curses the trapper and Shamhat for removing him from the wild. Shamash
reminds Enkidu of how Shamhat fed and clothed him, and introduced him to Gilgamesh. Shamash tells him that
Gilgamesh will bestow great honors upon him at his funeral, and will wander into the wild consumed with grief.
Enkidu regrets his curses and blesses Shamhat. In a second dream however he sees himself being taken captive to the
Netherworld by a terrifying Angel of Death. The underworld is a "house of dust" and darkness whose inhabitants eat
clay, and are clothed in bird feathers, supervised by terrifying beings. For 12 days, Enkidu's condition worsens.
Finally, after a lament that he could not meet a heroic death in battle, he dies.
Tablet eight
Gilgamesh delivers a lamentation for Enkidu, in which he calls upon mountains, forests, fields, rivers, wild animals,
and all of Uruk to mourn for his friend. Recalling their adventures together, Gilgamesh tears at his hair and clothes in
grief. He commissions a funerary statue, and provides grave gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu has a
favourable reception in the realm of the dead. A great banquet is held where the treasures are offered to the gods of
the Netherworld. Just before a break in the text there is a suggestion that a river is being dammed, indicating a burial
in a river bed, as in the corresponding Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh.
Tablet nine
Tablet nine opens with Gilgamesh roaming the wild clothed in animal skins, grieving for Enkidu. Fearful of his own
death, he decides to seek Utnapishtim ("the Faraway"), and learn the secret of eternal life. Among the few survivors
of the Great Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife are the only humans to have been granted immortality by the gods.
Gilgamesh crosses a mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions. Before sleeping he prays for protection
to the moon god Sin. Then, waking from an encouraging dream, he kills the lions and uses their skins for clothing.
After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. He
comes across a tunnel, which no man has ever entered, guarded by two terrible scorpion-men. After questioning him
and recognizing his semi-divine nature, they allow him to enter it, and he passes under the mountains along the Road
4
Epic of Gilgamesh
of the Sun. In complete darkness he follows the road for 12 "double hours", managing to complete the trip before the
Sun catches up with him. He arrives at the Garden of the gods, a paradise full of jewel-laden trees.
Tablet ten
Meeting the ale wife Siduri, who assumes, because of his disheveled appearance, that he is a murderer or thief,
Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She attempts to dissuade him from his quest, but sends him to
Urshanabi the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh, out of spontaneous rage,
destroys the stone-giants that live with Urshanabi. He tells him his story, but when he asks for his help, Urshanabi
informs him that he has just destroyed the only creatures who can cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the
touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut down 300 trees, and fashion them into punting poles. When they reach
the island where Utnapishtim lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story asking him for his help. Utnapishtim reprimands
him, declaring that fighting the common fate of humans is futile and diminishes life's joys.
Tablet eleven
Gilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself, and asks him how he obtained his
immortality. Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood. To save Utnapishtim the god Ea told
him to build a boat. He gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed with pitch and bitumen. His entire family
went aboard, together with his craftsmen and "all the animals of the field". A violent storm then arose which caused
the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods
wept beside her. The storm lasted six days and nights, after which "all the human beings turned to clay". Utnapishtim
weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven.
When the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods,
who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the brilliant necklace that
hangs around her neck, she will always remember this time. When Enlil arrives, angry that there are survivors, she
condemns him for instigating the flood. Ea also castigates him for sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil
blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with eternal life. This account matches the flood story that
concludes the Epic of Atrahasis (see also Gilgamesh flood myth).
The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life it was a unique gift. As if to demonstrate this point,
Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh falls asleep, and
Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny his
failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep. After instructing
Urshanabi the ferryman to wash Gilgamesh, and clothe him in royal robes, they depart for Uruk.
As they are leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that at
the bottom of the sea there lives a boxthorn-like plant that will make him young again. Gilgamesh, by binding stones
to his feet so he can walk on the bottom, manages to obtain the plant. He intends to test it on an old man when he
returns to Uruk. Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent, who sheds its skin as it
departs. Gilgamesh weeps at the futility of his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He returns
to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to praise this enduring work to Urshanabi.
Tablet twelve
This tablet is mainly an Akkadian translation of an earlier Sumerian poem, Gilgamesh and the Netherworld (also
known as "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld" and variants), although it has been suggested that it is derived
from an unknown version of that story.:42 The contents of this last tablet are inconsistent with previous ones: Enkidu
is still alive, despite having been killed off earlier in the epic. Because of this, its lack of integration with the other
tablets, and the fact that it is almost a copy of an earlier version, it has been referred to as an 'inorganic appendage' to
the epic. Alternatively, it has been suggested that "its purpose, though crudely handled, is to explain to Gilgamesh
(and the reader) the various fates of the dead in the Afterlife" and in "an awkward attempt to bring closure", it both
5
Epic of Gilgamesh
connects the Gilgamesh of the epic with the Gilgamesh who is the King of the Netherworld, and is "a dramatic
capstone whereby the twelve-tablet epic ends on one and the same theme, that of "seeing" (= understanding,
discovery, etc.), with which it began."
Gilgamesh complains to Enkidu that various of his possessions (the tablet is unclear exactly what — different
translations include a drum and a ball) have fallen into the underworld. Enkidu offers to bring them back. Delighted,
Gilgamesh tells Enkidu what he must and must not do in the underworld if he is to return. Enkidu does everything
which he was told not to do. The underworld keeps him. Gilgamesh prays to the gods to give him back his friend.
Enlil and Suen don't reply, but Ea and Shamash decide to help. Shamash makes a crack in the earth, and Enkidu's
ghost jumps out of it. The tablet ends with Gilgamesh questioning Enkidu about what he has seen in the underworld.
Old-Babylonian versions
This version of the epic, called in some fragments Surpassing all other kings, is composed of tablets and fragments
from diverse origins and states of conservation. It remains incomplete in its majority, with several tablets missing
and big lacunae in those found. They are named after their current location or the place where they were found.
The Pennsylvania tablet
Surpassing all other kings Tablet II, greatly correlates with tablets I-II of the Standard version.
Gilgamesh tells his mother Ninsun about two dreams he had. His mother explains that they mean that a new
companion will soon arrive at Uruk. In the meanwhile the wild Enkidu and the priestess (here called Shamkatum) are
making love. She tames him in company of the shepherds by offering him bread and beer. Enkidu helps the
shepherds by guarding the sheep. They travel to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh and stop his abuses. Enkidu and
Gilgamesh battle but Gilgamesh breaks off the fight. Enkidu praises Gilgamesh.
The Yale tablet
Surpassing all other kings Tablet III, partially matches tablets II-III of the Standard version.
For reasons unknown (the tablet is partially broken) Enkidu is in a sad mood. In order to cheer him up Gilgamesh
suggests going to the Pine Forest to cut down trees and kill Humbaba (known here as Huwawa). Enkidu protests, as
he knows Huwawa and is aware of his power. Gilgamesh talks Enkidu into it with some words of encouragement,
but Enkidu remains reluctant. They prepare, and call for the elders. The elders also protest, but after Gilgamesh talks
to them, they agree to let him go. After Gilgamesh asks his god (Shamash) for protection and both equip, they leave
with the elder's blessing and counsel.
Philadelphia fragment
Possibly another version of the contents of the Yale Tablet, practically irrecoverable.
The Nippur School Tablet
In the journey to the cedar forest and Huwawa, Enkidu interprets one of Gilgamesh's dreams.
The Tell Harmal tablets
Fragments from two different versions/tablets tell how Enkidu interprets one of Gilgamesh's dreams on the way to
the Forest of Cedar, and their conversation when entering the forest.
The Ishchali tablet
After defeating Huwawa, Gilgamesh refrains from slaying him, and urges Enkidu to hunt Huwawa's "seven auras".
Enkidu convinces him to smite their enemy. After killing Huwawa and the auras, they chop down part of the forest
and discover the gods' secret abode. The rest of the tablet is broken.
6
Epic of Gilgamesh
The auras are not referred to in the standard version, but are in one of the Sumerian poems.
Partial fragment in Baghdad
Partially overlapping the felling of the trees from the Ishchali tablet.
The Sippar tablet
Partially overlapping the Standard version tablets IX-X.
Gilgamesh mourns the death of Enkidu wandering in his quest for immortality. Gilgamesh argues with Shamash
about the futility of his quest. After a lacuna, Gilgamesh talks to Siduri about his quest and his journey to meet
Utnapishtim (here called Uta-na’ishtim). Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging
him to be content with the simple pleasures of life (Gilgamesh, whither are you wandering? Life, which you look for,
you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands.
Gilgamesh, fill your belly. Day and night make merry. Let days be full of joy, dance and make music day and night.
And wear fresh clothes. And wash your head and bathe. Look at the child that is holding your hand, and let your wife
delight in your embrace. These things alone are the concern of men.)[6] After one more lacuna, Gilgamesh smashes
the stone creatures and talks to the ferryman Urshanabi (here called Sur-sunabu). After a short discussion,
Sur-sunabu asks him to carve 300 oars so that they may cross the waters of death without needing the "stone ones".
The rest of the tablet is missing.
The text on the Old Babylonian Meissner fragment (the larger surviving fragment of the Sippar tablet) has been used
to reconstruct possible earlier forms of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and it has been suggested that a "prior form of the
story - earlier even than that preserved on the Old Babylonian fragment - may well have ended with Siduri sending
Gilgamesh back to Uruk..." and "Utnapistim was not originally part of the tale."[7]
The Sumerian poems
There are five extant Gilgamesh stories in the form of older poems in Sumerian. These probably circulated
independently, rather than being in the form of a unified epic. Some of the names of the main characters in these
poems differ slightly from later Akkadian names, e.g. "Bilgamesh" is written for Gilgamesh, and there are some
differences in the underlying stories (e.g. in the Sumerian version Enkidu is Gilgamesh's servant):
1. `The lord to the Living One's Mountain` and `Ho, hurrah!` correspond to the Cedar Forest episode (Standard
version tablets II–V). Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel with other men to the Forest of Cedar. There, trapped by
Huwawa, Gilgamesh tricks him (with Enkidu's assistance in one of the versions) into giving up his auras, thus
losing his power.
2. `Hero in battle` corresponds to the Bull of Heaven episode (Standard version tablet VI) in the Akkadian version.
The Bull's voracious appetite causes drought and hardship in the land while Gilgamesh feasts. Lugalbanda
convinces him to face the beast and fights it alongside Enkidu.
3. `The envoys of Akka` has no corresponding episode in the epic, but the themes of whether to show mercy to
captives, and counsel from the city elders, also occur in the standard version of the Humbaba story. In the poem,
Uruk faces a siege from a Kish army led by King Akka, whom Gilgamesh defeats and forgives.
4. `In those days, in those far-off days` is the source for the Akkadian translation included as tablet XII in the
Standard version, telling of Enkidu's journey to the Netherworld.
5. `The great wild bull is lying down`, a poem about Bilgames' death, burial and consecration as a semigod, reigning
and giving judgement over the dead. After dreaming of how the gods decide his fate after death, Gilgamesh takes
counsel, prepares his funeral and offers gifts to the gods. Once deceased, he is buried under the Euphrates, taken
off its course and later returned to it.
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Epic of Gilgamesh
Relationship to the Bible
Various themes, plot elements, and characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh have counterparts in the book of Genesis,
notably in the stories of the Garden of Eden and Noah's Flood.
The parallels between the stories of Enkidu/Shamhat and Adam/Eve have been long recognized by scholars.[8] In
both, a man is created from the soil by a god, and lives in a natural setting amongst the animals. He is introduced to a
woman who tempts him. In both stories the man accepts food from the woman, covers his nakedness, and must leave
his former realm, unable to return. The presence of a snake that steals a plant of immortality from the hero later in
the epic is another point of similarity.
Andrew R. George submits that the flood story in Genesis 6–8 matches the Gilgamesh flood myth so closely, "few
doubt" that it derives from a Mesopotamian account. What is particularly noticeable is the way the Genesis flood
story follows the Gilgamesh flood tale "point by point and in the same order", even when the story permits other
alternatives.[9]
In a 2001 Torah commentary released on behalf of the Conservative Movement of Judaism, rabbinic scholar Robert
Wexler stated: "The most likely assumption we can make is that both Genesis and Gilgamesh drew their material
from a common tradition about the flood that existed in Mesopotamia. These stories then diverged in the
retelling."[10]
Other parallels
Matthias Henze suggests that Nebuchadnezzar's madness in the biblical book of Daniel draws on the Epic of
Gilgamesh. He claims that the author uses elements from the description of Enkidu to paint a sarcastic and mocking
portrait of the king of Babylon.[11]
Many scholars note an influence on the book of Ecclesiastes.[12] The speech of Sidhuri in an old Babylonian version
of the epic is so similar to Ecclesiastes 9:7–10 that direct influence is a genuine possibility. A rare proverb about the
strength of a triple-stranded rope is also common to both books.
Influence on Homer
Numerous scholars have drawn attention to various themes, episodes, and verses, that indicate a substantial influence
of the Epic of Gilgamesh on both of the epic poems ascribed to Homer. These influences are detailed by Martin
Litchfield West in The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth.[13]According to Tzvi
Abusch of Brandeis University, the novel "combines the power and tragedy of the Iliad with the wanderings and
marvels of the Odyssey. It is a work of adventure, but is no less a meditation on some fundamental issues of human
existence."
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Epic of Gilgamesh
In popular culture
The Epic of Gilgamesh has inspired many works of literature, art, music, as Theodore Ziolkowski points out in his
book Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters With the Ancient Epic (2011).[14][15] It was only after the First
World War that the Gilgamesh epic reached a wide audience, and only after the Second World War that it began to
feature in a variety of genres.
Notes
[1] James Thrower "The Alternative Tradition: A Study of Unbelief in the Ancient World" 1980, Mouton Publishers, The Hague, The
Netherlands
[2] George, Andrew R., trans. & edit. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin Books, 1999, ISBN 0-14-044919-1
[3] T.C. Mitchell. The Bible in the British Museum, The British Museum Press, 1988, p.70.
[4] A book review by the Cambridge scholar, Eleanor Robson, claims that George's is the most significant critical work on Gilgamesh in the last
70 years. See: http:/ / bmcr. brynmawr. edu/ 2004/ 2004-04-21. html
[5] http:/ / www. jstor. org/ discover/ 10. 2307/ 30044781?uid=3739728& uid=2& uid=4& uid=3739256& sid=21101352909941
[6] Jacobsen, T. Before Philosophy; The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man" by Frankfort, Wilson and Jacobsen, 1949, Penguin Books,
Baltimore, Maryland, Chapter VII, Page 226. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
[7] Abusch, T. The Tablet and the Scroll; Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, 1–14. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
[8] Gmirkin, Russell, "Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus.., Continuum, 2006, p. 103. See also Blenkinsopp, Joseph, "Treasures old and
new.." Eerdmans, 2004, pp. 93–95.
[9] Rendsburg, Gary. "The Biblical flood story in the light of the Gilgamesh flood account," in Gilgamesh and the world of Assyria, eds Azize, J
& Weeks, N. Peters, 2007, p. 117
[10] Robert Wexler, Ancient Near Eastern Mythology, 2001
[11] The Madness of King Nebuchadnezzar..., Leiden, Brill, 1999
[12] See, for example, Van Der Torn, Karel, "Did Ecclesiastes copy Gilgamesh?", BR, 16/1 (Feb 2000), pp. 22ff
[13] "The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth" Oxford (1997) pp.334-402.
[14] Theodore Ziolkowski. Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters With the Ancient Epic, Cornell Univ Pr (December 8, 2011). ISBN
978-0-8014-5035-8
[15] Theodore Ziolkowski (Nov 1, 2011). "Gilgamesh: An Epic Obsession" (http:/ / www. berfrois. com/ 2011/ 11/
theodore-ziolkowski-gilgamesh/ ), Berfrois.
Bibliography
Editions
• Kendall, Stuart, transl. with intro. (2012). Gilgamesh. New York: Contra Mundum Press.
ISBN 978-0-9836972-0-6.
• George, Andrew R., trans. & edit. (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts.
England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814922-0.
• Foster, Benjamin R., trans. & edit. (2001). The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
ISBN 0-393-97516-9.
• Kovacs, Maureen Gallery, transl. with intro. (1985,1989). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press:
Stanford, California. ISBN 0-8047-1711-7. Glossary, Appendices, Appendix (Chapter XII=Tablet XII). A
line-by-line translation (Chapters I-XI).
• Jackson, Danny (1997). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers.
ISBN 0-86516-352-9.
• Mason, Herbert (2003). Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative. Boston: Mariner Books. ISBN 978-0-618-27564-9. First
published in 1970 by Houghton Mifflin; Mentor Books paperback published 1972.
• Mitchell, Stephen (2004). Gilgamesh: A New English Version. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-6164-X.
• Sandars, N. K (2006). The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Epics). London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-102628-6.: re-print
of the Penguin Classic translation (in prose) by N. K. Sandars 1960 (ISBN 014044100X) without the introduction.
9
Epic of Gilgamesh
• Parpola, Simo, with Mikko Luuko, and Kalle Fabritius (1997). The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh. The
Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 951-45-7760-4.: (Volume 1) in the original Akkadian cuneiform and
transliteration; commentary and glossary are in English
• Ferry, David (1993). Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN 0-374-52383-5.
Other
• Damrosch, David (2007). The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh (http://
books.google.com/books?id=6jJQLrJXrakC&pg=PP1&dq="The+Buried+Book:+The+Loss+and+
Rediscovery+of+the+Great+Epic+of+Gilgamesh"&num=100&client=opera&
sig=ACfU3U19bQtV0FbzQHz00tu38-cpnaTj3g). Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-8029-5.
• Jacobsen, Thorkild (1976). The Treasures of Darkness, A History of Mesopotamian Religion (http://books.
google.com/books?id=pD17nsgWQBoC&dq="The+Treasures+of+Darkness,+A+History+of+
Mesopotamian+Religion"&pg=PP1&ots=xIB1vOkUgr&sig=48BSBQDrKwEWbD_1_tlIU7hkc0Y&hl=en&
sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result). Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01844-4.
• Tigay, Jeffrey H. (1982). The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic (http://books.google.com/
books?id=HzYOAAAAYAAJ&q="The+Evolution+of+the+Gilgamesh+Epic"&dq="The+Evolution+of+
the+Gilgamesh+Epic"&num=100&client=opera&pgis=1). University of Pennsylvania Press.
ISBN 0-8122-7805-4.
• West, Martin Litchfield (1997). The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth
(http://books.google.com/books?id=wuHeHQAACAAJ&dq="The+East+Face+of+Helicon"&num=100&
client=opera). Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815042-3.
• Kluger, Rivkah (1991). The Gilgamesh Epic: A Psychological Study of a Modern Ancient Hero (http://books.
google.com/books?id=oALOCGuQHK0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=gilgamesh&hl=en&sa=X&
ei=UICgUJcqqbfQAZ_NgYAO&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBjgK). Daimon. ISBN 3-85630-523-8.
• Best, Robert (1999). Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic (http://books.google.com/
books?id=VVjXAAAAMAAJ&q=noah's+ark+and+the+ziusudra+epic&dq=noah's+ark+and+the+
ziusudra+epic&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7yckUsjXFKTl4AOi5YCYAw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA). Eisenbrauns.
ISBN 0-9667840-1-4.
External links
• Translations of the legends of Gilgamesh in the Sumerian language can be found in Black, J.A., Cunningham, G.,
Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (http://
www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/), Oxford 1998–.
• Gilgamesh and Huwawa (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.5#), version A
• Gilgamesh and Huwawa (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.5.1#), version B
• Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.2#)
• Gilgamesh and Aga (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.1#)
• Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.4#)
• The death of Gilgamesh (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.3#)
• The 1901 full text translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh by William Muss-Arnolt (http://www.jasoncolavito.
com/epic-of-gilgamesh.html)
• An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic by Anonymous at Project Gutenberg, edited by Morris Jastrow,
translated by Albert T. Clay
• Gilgamesh (http://public.wsu.edu/~gened/orpheus/orpheus_gilgamesh.htm) by Richard Hooker (wsu.edu)
10
Epic of Gilgamesh
• The Epic of Gilgamesh, Complete Academic Translation (http://king-of-heroes.co.uk/the-epic-of-gilgamesh/
reginald-campbell-thompson-translation/) by R. Campbell Thompson
• The Epic of Gilgamesh (http://king-of-heroes.co.uk/the-epic-of-gilgamesh/
maureen-gallery-kovacs-translation/) by Kovacs, M.G.,
• He Who Saw Everything: Verse Translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh (http://king-of-heroes.co.uk/
the-epic-of-gilgamesh/robert-temple-translation/) by Temple, R.K.G.,
11
Book of Job
Book of Job
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Lamentations • LamentationsBook of Ezekiel • EzekielBook of Daniel • DanielTwelve Minor ProphetsMinor
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• JonahBook of Micah • MicahBook of Nahum • NahumBook of Habakkuk • HabakkukBook of Zephaniah •
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MalachiDeuterocanonDeuterocanonBook of Tobit • TobitBook of Judith • JudithBook of Esther#Additions to Esther
• Additions to Esther1 Maccabees • 1 Maccabees2 Maccabees • 2 MaccabeesBook of Wisdom • Wisdom of
SolomonSirach • Wisdom of SirachBook of Baruch • BaruchLetter of Jeremiah • Letter of JeremiahAdditions to
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Manasseh • Prayer of Manasseh4 Maccabees • 4 Maccabees (in appendix)Christianity portal The Book of Job
(/ˈdʒoʊb/; Hebrew: ‫ אִיוֹב‬Iyob), commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It
relates the story of Job (biblical figure)Job, his trials at the hands of a character referred to as "the satan", in Hebrew,
or in English, "the accuser", his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to
God, and finally a response from God. The book is a Biblical poetry#Didactic poemsdidactic poem set in a prose
frame. An oft-asked question in the book of Job is, "Why do the righteous suffer?".McKenzie, John L (1965).
Dictionary of the Bible. Simon & Schuster. 1965. p440 However, Maimonides suggests that the person of Elihu saw
12
Book of Job
Job as a shallow, "unexamining" and "Book of Job#In Judaismunwise", perhaps even foolish, man who was merely
grateful on a superficial level for what he had, thereby creating an opening for trouble to enter into his life.Scroll of
the Book of Job in Hebrew.The book of Job has been included in lists of the greatest books in world literature. "The
top 100 books of all time", The Guardian, 2002.ContentsSummary The Book of Job tells the story of an extremely
righteous man named Job, who is very prosperous and has seven sons and three daughters. Constantly fearing that
his sons may have sinned and "cursed God in their hearts", he habitually offers burnt offerings as a pardon for their
sins. The "sons of God" and satanthe satan (ha-satan, literally "the adversary/accuser") present themselves to God,
and God asks the satan for his opinion on Job. The satan answers that Job is pious only because God has put a "wall
around" him and "blessed" his favorite servant with prosperity, but if God were to stretch out his hand and strike
everything that Job had, then he would surely curse God. God gives the satan permission to test Job's
righteousness.All Job's possessions are destroyed: 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys carried off by Sabeans; 7,001
sheep burned up by 'The fire of God which fell from the sky'; 3,000 camels stolen by the Chaldeans; and the house of
the firstborn destroyed by a mighty wind, killing Job's ten children. Still Job does not curse God, but instead shaves
his head, tears his clothes, and says, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: Lord has
given, and Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."As Job endures these calamities without
reproaching God, Satan solicits permission to afflict his person as well, and God says, "Behold, he is in your hand,
but don't touch his life." Satan, therefore, smites him with dreadful boils, and Job, seated in ashes, scrapes his skin
with broken pottery. His wife prompts him to "curse God, and die," but Job answers, "You speak as one of the
foolish speaks. Moreover, shall we receive good from God and shall not receive evil?" Job and his tormentors, one of
William Blake's William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Jobillustrations of Job.Three friends of Job, Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, come to console him. (A fourth, Elihu (Job)Elihu the
Children of EberBuzite (Heb: Alieua ben Barakal the Buzite), begins talking in Chapter 32 and plays a significant
role in the dialogue, but his arrival is not described.) The friends spend seven days sitting on the ground with Job,
without saying anything to him because they see that he is suffering and in much pain. Job at last breaks his silence
and "curses the day he was born." God responds saying that there are so many things Job does not know about how
this world was formed or how nature works, that Job should consider God as being greater than the thunderstorm and
strong enough to pull in the leviathan with a fish-hook. God then rebukes the three friends and says, "I am angry with
you... you have not spoken of me what is right." The story ends with Job restored to health, with a new family and
twice as prosperous. Structure The book of Job has a fairly simple structure. Job 1 and 2 are the prologue, written in
prose. Job 3:1-42:6 is poetry that consists of a cycle of speeches between Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and later
Elihu, and then the dialogue between Yahweh and Job. Job 42:7-14 is the epilogue, which is written in
prose.Coogan, M. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context. (Oxford University
Press: Oxford 2009), pp.381.Speech cycles The dialogues of chapters 3-31 are, in general, a cycle of speeches
between Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that are structured as follows: Cycle 1 Job Chapters 3 Eliphaz 4-5 Job 6-7
Bildad 8 Job 9-10 Zophar 11 Cycle 2 Job Chapters 12-14 Eliphaz 15 Job 16-17 Bildad 18 Job 19 Zophar 20 Cycle 3
Job Chapters 21 Eliphaz 22 Job 23-24 Bildad 25:1-5 Job 26; 27-28; 29-31Coogan, M. A Brief Introduction to the
Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context. (Oxford University Press: Oxford 2009), pp.381The third cycle, it
should be noted, does not follow the pattern of the first two cycles. Zophar does not give a speech and Bildad's
speech is significantly shorter than his previous speeches.Speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar Job's friends do
not waver from their belief that Job must have sinned to incite God's punishment. As the speeches progress, Job's
friends increasingly berate him for refusing to confess his sins, although they themselves are at a loss as to which sin
he has committed. They also assume, in their view of theology, that God always rewards good and punishes evil,
with no apparent exceptions allowed. There seems to be no room in their understanding of God for divine discretion
and mystery in allowing and arranging suffering for purposes other than retribution. Speeches of Job Job, confident
of his own innocence, maintains that his suffering is unjustified as he has not sinned, and that there is no reason for
God to punish him thus. However, he does not curse God's name or accuse God of injustice but rather seeks an
explanation or an account of what he did wrong. Speech of Elihu Elihu takes a mediator's path—he attempts to
13
Book of Job
maintain the sovereignty and righteousness and gracious mercy of God. Elihu's speech comes after the final words of
Job in the third speech cycle (31:40) and goes from chapters 32-37. Elihu strongly condemns the approach taken by
the three friends, and argues that Job is misrepresenting God's righteousness and discrediting his loving character.
Elihu says he spoke last because he is much younger than the other three friends, but says that age makes no
difference when it comes to insights and wisdom. In his speech, Elihu argues for God's power, redemptive salvation,
and absolute rightness in all his conduct. God is mighty, yet just, and quick to warn and to forgive. Elihu's speeches
act as a narrative bridge which joins Job's summary of his case with the appearance of God.J. Gerald Jansen, Job,
Interpretation Bible Commentary, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1995. His speech maintains that Job, while righteous, is
not perfect. Job does not disagree with this and God does not rebuke Elihu as he does Bildad, Zophar, and
Eliphaz.The absence of comments by Job and by God has been explained with the hypothesis that the speeches of
Elihu (chapters 32-37) are later interpolations (see section Book of Job#Later interpolations and additionsLater
interpolations and additions). After Elihu's speech ends with the last verse of Chapter 37, God appears and in the
second verse of Chapter 38, God says: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?", and goes
on to explain why a creature cannot presume to question his intentions. It initially appears that he is speaking to
Elihu; however, it is Job who responds to and accepts the rebuke (Job 42). Though Job was wrong to question him,
God subsequently says that Job spoke the truth about Him (Job 42:8). God's response After several rounds of debate
between Job and his friends, in a divine voice, described as coming from a "cloud" or "whirlwind", God describes, in
evocative and lyrical language, what the experience of being the creator of the world is like, and Rhetorical
questionrhetorically asks if Job has ever had the experiences or the authority that God has had. God's answer
underscores that Job shares the world with numerous powerful and remarkable creatures. (Also compare Job
41:18-21 with Job 15:12-13 which was possibly in response to Job 7:11-16). God's speech also emphasizes his
sovereignty in creating and maintaining the world. The thrust is not merely that God has experiences that Job does
not, but that God is king over the world and is not necessarily subject to questions from his creatures, including men.
The point of these speeches is to proclaim the absolute freedom of God over His creation. God is not in need of the
approval of his creation. It is only the reader of the book who learns of God's conversations with Satan; Job himself
remains unaware of the reason or source of his sufferings. The traditional interpretation is that, humbled by God's
chastising, Job turns speechless, giving up and repenting his previous requests of justice. However, another
interpretation is that Job's silence is defiant, and that what he gives up is not his belief that justice be done, but his
confidence that God will behave justly.J. Jonathan Schraub, "For the Sins We Have Committed Through Theological
Rationalizations: Rescuing Job from Normative Religion," 86 Soundings 431 (2003).In the epilogue, God condemns
Job's friends for their ignorance and lack of understanding while commending Job for his righteous words,
commands them to prepare burnt offerings and reassures them that Job will pray for their forgiveness. Job is restored
to health, gaining double the riches he possessed before and having new children, 7 sons and 3 daughters (his wife
did not die in this ordeal). His new daughters (Jemima (Bible)Jemima, Keziah and Keren-Happuch) were the most
beautiful in the land, and were given inheritance along with their brothers. Job is blessed once again and lives on
another 140 years after the ordeal, living to see his children to the fourth generation and dying peacefully of old age.
Satan "The satan", meaning literally "the adversary", appears in the prose prologue of Job, as one of the celestial
beings created by God in the Throne of Godheavenly court. In Judaism, he is traditionally understood as a metaphor,
such as in the writings of Zerahiah ben Shealtiel Ḥen and other Talmudic scholars following Maimonides.Robert
Eisen Associate Professor of Religious Studies George Washington University The Book of Job in Medieval Jewish
Philosophy 2004 p120 "Moreover, Zerahfiiah gives us insight into the parallel between the Garden of Eden story and
the Job story alluded to ... both the satan and Job's wife are metaphors for the evil inclination, a motif Zerahfiiah
seems to identify with the imagination." but in apocalyptic literature sometimes understood to be the accusing angel
whose role is to accuse mankind, and who is "the author of all evil, who brought death into the world".Jewish
Encyclopedia http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13219-satanIn Christianity, Satan is traditionally
understood to be the devil, a fallen angelCoogan, M., ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. (Oxford University
Press: Oxford) 2001), pp. 728. and less commonly taken as a metaphor. As a member of a Divine Council "the
14
Book of Job
adversary" observes human activity with the purpose of searching out men's sins and acting as their accuser. "The
adversary" occurs in the framing story alone—he is never clearly alluded to in the central poem. However, Abaddon
and Sheol are mentioned throughout the central poem. Job does speak of an adversary on several occasions within
the central poem, but it is doubtful that he is referring to "the Adversary" of the prose prologue.[citation needed]Job's
wifeGeorges de La Tour, Job Mocked by his Wife. Job's wife is introduced in Job 2:9, when she suggests that Job
curse God and die. There is uncertainty about her intentions when she tells Job to curse God, but it is clear that Job
honors her by the way he talks about her in Chapter 31. As he says in verse one, "I have made a covenant with my
eyes. Why should I think on another woman?" He has remained true to his marriage vows, even in his heart, and has
not lusted after someone else. The later tradition preserved in the Greek Testament of Job (chap. 21-25; 39) names
Job's first wife (cf. Job 2:9) as List of names for the biblical nameless#Job's wifeSitidos (Sitis) and his later wife
(expanded from Job 42:13 in T.Job 1:6) as Dinah. CompositionOrigin and textual history Modern scholarship dates
the work between the 6th and 4th century BCE.Dell, p.337 While "there is an intentional editorial unity with a
cohesive purpose and message in the canonical form of the book," Job contains many separate elements, some of
which may have had an independent existence prior to being incorporated into the present text.Gerald H. Wilson,
"Job" (New International Biblical Commentary; Hendrickson, 2007) p.11 Scholars agree that the introductory and
concluding sections of the book, the framing devices, were composed to set the central poem into a prose
"folk-book", as the compilers of the Jewish Encyclopedia expressed it. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls is the Targum of
Job 11Q10. Another example of text from the last chapter or epilogue of Job can be found in the book The Dead Sea
Scrolls: A New Translation, showing examples of how fragments of The Book of Job found among the scrolls differ
from the text as now known.The "Job motif" in earlier literature In 1954, the AssyriologyAssyriologist and Sumerian
languageSumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer presented a Sumerian text treating the "Job motif" of the righteous
sufferer.Kramer, Samuel Noah, "Man and His God: A Sumerian Variation on the 'Job' Motif", in Noth, M. and
Thomas, D. W. (ed.), Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East Presented to Professor Harold Henry Rowley
(Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, 3) Brill: Leiden, 1955 , 170-182. Also discussed in History Begins at Sumer:
Thirty-Nine "Firsts" in Recorded History (1956) The Sumerian text is known as "A man and his god", after the
incipit lu2-ulu3 nam-mah dingir-ra-na. A man and his god: translation at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian
Literature. Ludlul bēl nēmeqi is a Babylonian text, also known as the "Babylonian Job", which concerns itself with
the unjust suffering of an afflicted man, named Šubši-mašrâ-ŠakkanShubshi-meshre-Shakkan."The Protestation of
Guiltlessness," from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, is a collection of assertions of innocence which were included
in ancient Egyptian burial rites, and is often compared to Job, especially chapter 31.Coogan, M. A Brief Introduction
to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context. (Oxford University Press: Oxford 2009), p.382While these
and other ancient Near Eastern texts consider comparable issues, scholars have not found their direct antecedent.
However, the similarity between the central concerns of Job and those of certain ancient Babylonian and Egyptian
texts reveals a shared interest in the question of why the innocent suffer. These texts also share an interest in
challenging traditional views of the nature of divine justice.Later interpolations and additions Various interpolations
have been made in the text of the central poem. They are of two kinds: the "parallel texts", which are parallel
developments of the corresponding passages in the base text, and the speeches of Elihu (Chapters 32-37), which
consist of a polemic against the ideas expressed elsewhere in the poem, and so are claimed to be interpretive
interpolations. The speeches of Elihu (who is not mentioned in the prologue) are claimed to contradict the
fundamental opinions expressed by the "friendly accusers" in the central body of the poem, according to which it is
impossible that the righteous should suffer, all pain being a punishment for some sin. The status of Elihu's
interrupting didactic sermon is brought further into question by his extremely sudden appearance and disappearance
from the text. He is not mentioned in Job 2:11, in which Job's friends are introduced, nor is he mentioned at all in the
epilogue, 42:7-10, in which God expresses anger at Job's friends. It is suggested that had Elihu appeared in the
original source, his spirited and virtuous defence of the divine right to punish would have been rewarded by God in
the conclusion, or at the very least mentioned. Additionally, Elihu's first spoken words are a confession of his
youthful status, being much younger than the three canonical friends, including a claim to be speaking because he
15
Book of Job
cannot bear to remain silent; it has been suggested that this interesting statement may have been symbolic of a
"younger" (that is to say, later and interpolating) writer, who has written Elihu's sermon to respond to what he views
as morally and theologically scandalous statements being made within the book of Job, and creating the literary
device of Elihu to provide what seemed to be a faith-based response to further refute heresy and provide a
counter-argument, a need partially provided by God's ambiguous and unspecific response to Job at the end of the
book. Subjects of further contention among scholars are the identity of claimed corrections and revisions of Job's
speeches, which are claimed to have been made for the purpose of harmonizing them with the orthodox doctrine of
retribution. A prime example of such a claim is the translation of the last line Job speaks (42:6), which is extremely
problematic in the Hebrew. Traditional translations have him say, "Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and
ashes." However, other scholarly interpretations of this verse also exist. J.B. Curtis in his 1979 paper "On Job's
Response to Yahweh", argues that Job's final responses to Yahweh are a total rejection of Yahweh rather than an
expression of repentance, and translates Job 42:6 as "Therefore I feel loathing contempt and revulsion (toward you,
O God); and I am sorry for frail man." Talmudic tradition The Talmudic Mishnahtractate Bava Batra (15a-b)
maintains that Job was written by Moses, although nowhere does it name its author. Other opinions in the Talmud
ascribe it to the period of before the Solomon's TempleFirst Temple, the time of the patriarch Jacob, or King
Ahasuerus. The Talmud cites a number of opinions about exactly when the events of the story happened, including
one opinion claiming that Job "never existed and was never created; it is a parable," (Tr. Baba Bathra 15a) without
specifically adopting any one stance. The medieval exegete Abraham ibn Ezra believed that Job was translated from
another language and it is therefore unclear "like all translated books" (Ibn Ezra Job 2:11). It is set in the land of
Edom, which has been retained as the background, and in the prologue and epilogue, the name of God is YHWH, a
name that even the Edomites used. Job is prominent in Aggadahaggadic legends. The later Greek Testament of Job
figures among the apocrypha.Dissenting/Speculative Wisdom Michael Coogan writes in regards to both Ecclesiastes
and Job that “Both take positions opposed to the mainstream of the wisdom tradition in the Bible, as exemplified in
the book of Proverbs…”Coogan, M. “A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context.
Oxford University Press, New York 2009 p.380 Job, along with Ecclesiastes is part of the dissenting or speculative
group of wisdom literature within the Old Testament.Shupak, Nili: Where can wisdom be found?: the sage’s
language Bible and in ancient Egyptian literature University Press, Freiburg Switzerland 1993 p. 12 In the narrative
there are conversations that occur between Job and family, Job and friends, and Job and God. Conventional wisdom
may be applied to the questions and advice given by Job’s friends or family, yet it is Job’s responses that make this
book part of the dissenting wisdom or “anti-wisdom wisdom”Pope, Marvin H. “Job: The Anchor Bible (p.LXXIII)
Doubleday, New York 1965,1973In JudaismBooks of theKetuvim (Hebrew Bible) Three poetic booksPsalmsBook
of ProverbsProverbsBook of JobJobFive MegillotSong of SongsBook of RuthRuthBook of
LamentationsLamentationsEcclesiastesBook of EstherEsther Other booksBook of DanielDanielBook of EzraEzra
Ezra–Nehemiah– Book of NehemiahNehemiahBooks of ChroniclesChroniclesSome of the Halakhalaws and
Minhagcustoms of Bereavement in Judaismmourning in Judaism are derived from the Book of Job's depiction of
Job's mourning and the behavior of his companions. For example, the behavior of Job's comforters, who kept silence
until he spoke to them, is the source for a norm applicable to contemporary traditional Jewish practice, that visitors
to a house of mourning should not speak to the mourner until they are spoken to.In most traditions of Jewish liturgy,
the Book of Job is not read publicly in the manner of the TorahPentateuch, Nevi'imProphets, or Five
Megillotmegillot. However, there are some Jews, particularly the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who do hold public
readings of the Book of Job on the Tisha B'Av fast (a day of mourning over the destruction of the Solomon's
TempleFirst and Second TempleSecond Temple in JerusalemTemples and other tragedies). The cantillation signs for
the large poetic section in the middle of the Book of Job differ from those of most of the biblical books, using a
system shared with it only by Psalms and Book of ProverbsProverbs. A sample of how the cantillations are chanted
is found below. Many quotes from the Book of Job are used throughout Jewish liturgy, especially at funerals and
times of mourning. Maimonides, a twelfth-century rabbi, discusses Job in his work The Guide for the Perplexed.
According to Maimonides (III 22–23), each of Job's friends represents a famous, distinct school of thought
16
Book of Job
concerning God and divine providence. According to Maimonides, the correct view of providence lies with Elihu,
who teaches Job that one must examine his religion ( Job 33). This view corresponds with the notion that "the only
worthy religion in the world is an examined religion." A habit religion, such as that originally practiced by Job, is
never enough. One has to look deep into the meaning of religion in order to fully appreciate it and make it a genuine
part of one's life. Elihu believed in the concepts of divine providence, rewards to individuals, as well as punishments.
He believed, according to Maimonides, that one has to practice religion in a rational way. The more one investigates
religion, the more he will be rewarded or find it rewarding. In the beginning, Job was an unexamining, pious man,
not a philosopher, and he did not have providence. He was unwise, simply grateful for what he had. God, according
to Elihu, did not single out Job for punishment, but rather abandoned him and let him be dealt with by natural,
unfriendly forces.Conversely, in more recent times, Russian existentialist philosopher Lev Shestov viewed Job as the
embodiment of the battle between reason (which offers general and seemingly comforting explanations for complex
events) and faith in a personal god, and one man's desperate cry for him. In fact, Shestov used the story of Job as a
central signifier for his core philosophy (the vast critique of the history of Western philosophy, which he saw broadly
as a monumental battle between Reason and Faith, Athens and Jerusalem, secular and religious outlook): The whole
book is one uninterrupted contest between the 'cries' of the much-afflicted Job and the 'reflections' of his rational
friends. The friends, as true thinkers, look not at Job but at the 'general.' Job, however, does not wish to hear about
the 'general'; he knows that the general is deaf and dumb - and that it is impossible to speak with it. 'But I would
speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God' (13:3). The friends are horrified at Job's words: they
are convinced that it is not possible to speak with God and that the Almighty is concerned about the firmness of his
power and the unchangeability of his laws but not about the fate of the people created by him. Perhaps they are
convinced that in general God does not know any concerns but that he only rules. That is why they answer, 'You who
tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you or the rock be removed from its place?' (18:4). And,
indeed, shall rocks really be removed from their place for the sake of Job? And shall necessity renounce its sacred
rights? This would truly be the summit of human audacity, this would truly be a 'mutiny,' a 'revolt' of the single
human personality against the eternal laws of the all-unity of being!—Lev Shestov, Speculation and RevelationIn
ChristianityMessianic anticipation in the book In Chapter nine, Job recognizes the chasm that exists between him
and God: “For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.”Job 9:32,
RSV Job’s regret is that he has no arbiter to act as a go-between; that Job cannot reconcile himself with God
anticipates the need for the Messiah to become Incarnation (Christianity)incarnate.Walter Kaiser, The Messiah in the
Old Testament, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), p. 62. In verse 33, Job wishes that there was an
“umpire” (Heb. mokiah) to decide between him and God. One scholar says, “This person would have to be superior
in authority to either party, ”;Marvin Pope, Job: The Anchor Bible, (New York: Doubleday, 1965), 74. thus the
arbiter for whom Job hopes would himself have to be divine, or else he would no more be qualified to “lay his hand
upon” God than is Job. This idea of a divine arbiter is returned to at Job 16:19. Job again expresses his desire for a
witness, and then declares, “my eyes pour out tears to God, that he would maintain the right of a man with God”.Job
16:20b-21a Job addresses God, desiring that God will advocate on Job’s behalf with himself.James Smith, What the
Bible Teaches about the Promised Messiah, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993), 213. Job knows that no
man such as himself, conceived in sin, can appeal to God on his behalf; so God must do it himself. The language
used earlier is that of a judicial judgement, in which God is both judge of and lawyer for Job. Job’s faith in this
arbiter is again brought up in chapter 19. It is commonly accepted that the “Redeemer” of 19:25 is the same person
as the witness of 16:19.e.g., John Telgren, The Identity of Job’s Goel in Job 19:25, 1999, 4. This verse in particular is
often seen as an anticipation of Christianity. Telgren notes that it has been suggested that verses 25 and 26 have a
poetic structure of ABBA. If this is true it would support the notion that God is himself the Redeemer, by associating
him with the living Redeemer in the parallel structure. The RSV’s “Redeemer” is a translation of the Hebrew go’el.
That this go’el could refer to God is explicitly demonstrated in the Psalms and Proverbs, and elsewhere. This
translation of go'el in Job 19:25-26 as "Redeemer (Christianity)Redeemer" has been made famous by its use in
Handel's Messiah (Handel)Messiah, the Air Messiah Part III#45I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the
17
Book of Job
lectionary during the Easter season. The go'el was a kinsman redeemer whose role included avenging bloodshed,
redeeming land sold to others outside the family, and redeeming family members sold into slavery.Hubbard, Robert
L., Jr.; The Go'el in Ancient Israel: Theological Reflection on and Israelite Institution,
http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/goel_hubbard.pdf The Christ, as both God and Man, is seen in Christian theology as
fulfilling this role in the redemption of man and of the earth and in the final judgment against evil.Muhlestein, Kerry
M.; Ruth, Redemption, Covenant, and Christ (2009,) http://en.scientificcommons.org/54038374An alternative
translation of the passage reads as follows:"But as for me, I know that my vindicator lives,and that he will at last
stand forth upon the dust.This will happen when my flesh has been stripped off,but from my flesh I would see
God."The capitalization of "Redeemer" (here translated as "vindicator") is a choice of the translator. The Hebrew
language has no capital letters. The capitalization is used in preference to the idea that the passage references the
Messiah.John Telgren, The Identity of Job’s Goel in Job 19:25, 1999, 4. However the use of "go'el" here can also be
taken to reference a human avenger-of-blood.Coogan, Michael. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament. Oxford
Press., 2009. Pp 385 According to this reading, Job is asserting that after he is dead, his go'el will take up his case.
However, he would rather it happen before he dies. This interpretation is supported with the argument that there is
nowhere else in the book where Job express a wish for bodily resurrection, only for someone to intervene as an
"umpire", a "vindicator", a "go'el", on his behalf as an impartial judge between himself and God in the
present.Liturgical use The Eastern Orthodox Church reads from Job during Holy Week.“Throughout the whole Lent
the two books of the Old Testament read at Vespers were Genesis and Proverbs. With the beginning of the Holy
Week they are replaced by Exodus and Job. Exodus is the story of Israel's liberation from Egyptian slavery, of their
Passover. It prepares us for the understanding of Christ's exodus to his Father, of his fulfillment of the whole history
of salvation. Job, the sufferer, is the Old Testament icon of Christ. This reading announces the great mystery of
Christ's sufferings, obedience and sacrifice.”—Alexander Schmemann, "A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of
Holy Week"The Roman Catholic Church traditionally reads from the Book of Job during Matins in the first two
weeks of September, as well as in the Office of the Dead. In the revised Liturgy of the Hours, Job is read during the
Eighth and Ninth Weeks in Ordinary Time.[citation needed] Among the musical settings of the Book of Job
composed for the Catholic Church is the liturgical cycle of motets by Orlande de Lassus called the Sacrae Lectiones
Novem ex Propheta Job, published in 1565.Middle Eastern folk traditions on Job In Palestinian folklorePalestinian
folk tradition, Job's (Arabic Ayyub ‫ )ﺍﻳﻮﺏ‬place of trial is JouraAl-Joura, a village outside the town of Al Majdal
(Ashkelon). It was there, God rewarded him with a Fountain of Youth that removed whatever illnesses he had, and
restored his youth. The town of Al-Joura was a place of annual festivities (4 days in all) when people of many faiths
gathered and bathed in a natural spring. In Turkey, Job is known as Eyüp, and he is supposed to have lived in
Şanlıurfa. There is also a tomb of Job outside the city of Salalah in Oman in the Sultanate of Oman, possibly
indicating he made his wealth in the frankincense trade.References to Ayyub (Job) in the Qur'an In Islam, Job, was a
prophet renowned for his endurance (assumed to be of pain and suffering). Job's prophecy: 4:163, 6:84 Trial and
patience: 21:83-84, 38:41ReferencesBibliographyCommentaries on JobBorg, Marcus J. (2001). "Reading Israel's
Wisdom Again". Reading the Bible Again for the First Time; Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally.
HarperSanFrancisco. International Standard Book NumberISBN 9780060609191.Dell, Katharine M (2003). "Job".
In James D. G. Dunn; John William Rogerson. Eerdmans Bible Commentary. Eerdmans. International Standard
Book NumberISBN 9780802837110.Hartley, John E (1988). The book of Job. Eerdmans. International Standard
Book NumberISBN 9780802825285.Habel, Norman C (1985). The Book of Job: A Commentary. Westminster John
Knox Press. International Standard Book NumberISBN 9780664222185.Hooks, Stephen M (2007). Job. College
Press. International Standard Book NumberISBN 9780899008868. Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr, and Edward
Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation, (1996), HarperSanFrancisco paperback 1999, ISBN
0-06-069201-4, (contains the non-biblical portion of the scrolls) Seow, C.L. (2013). Job 1-21: Interpretation and
commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-4895-6. Stella Papadaki-Oekland,"Byzantine Illuminated
Manuscripts of the Book of Job",ISBN 2-503-53232-2, Tracy Byrd in "Walking to Jerusalem" - see lyrics at url:
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/byrd-tracy/walking-to-jerusalem-5120.htmlMorriston, Wesley (1996). " God's
18
Book of Job
Answer to Job," Religious Studies, Vol. 32 (1996), 339-356.GeneralMcKenzie, John L (1965). Dictionary of the
Bible. Simon & Schuster.Brueggemann, Walter (2002). Reverberations of faith: a theological handbook of Old
Testament themes. Westminster John Knox. International Standard Book NumberISBN 9780664222314.Levin,
Christoph L (2005). The Old testament: a brief introduction. Princeton University Press. International Standard Book
NumberISBN 9780691113944.Walsh, Jerome T (2001). Style and structure in Biblical Hebrew narrative. Liturgical
Press. International Standard Book NumberISBN 9780814658970.Further readingPaul FiddesFiddes, Paul (1996).
"'Where Shall Wisdom be Found?' Job 28 as a Riddle for Ancient and Modern Readers". In John Barton & David
Reimer. After the Exile, Essays in Honour of Rex Mason. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.External links The
History and Life of Job: A man with great patience Sephardic Cantillations for the Book of Job by David M. Betesh
and the Sephardic Pizmonim Project Introduction to The Book of Job by Stephen Mitchell (translator)Stephen
Mitchell Excerpts from "Answer to Job" by Carl Jung Jewish Encyclopedia: Job; Book of Job Job at the Catholic
Encyclopedia The Paramount Lesson of Job: God's Glory Magnified by Faith Triumphant over Tribulation by J.T.
Mueller Job's Path to Enlightenment by Ethan Dor-Shav, Azure, Spring 2008 Translations of The Book of Job at
BibleGateway.com Hebrew and English Parallel and Complete Text of the Book of Job English Translation is the
1917 Jewish Publication Society of America VersionOld JPS Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job- a
literary, legal and philosophical commentary Job at Chabad.orgBook of Job Wisdom literaturePreceded byBook of
ProverbsProverbsTanakhHebrew
Bible
Succeeded bySong
of
SongsPreceded byBook
of
EstherEstherProtestantismProtestantOld Testament Succeeded byPsalmsPreceded by2 MaccabeesRoman Catholic
ChurchRoman CatholicOld TestamentPreceded by4 MaccabeesEastern Orthodox ChurchEastern OrthodoxOld
Testament
19
Metamorphoses
20
Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses
by Ovid
Title page of 1556 edition published by Joannes Gryphius (decorative border added subsequently). Hayden White Rare Book Collection, University
of California, Santa Cruz.
Genre(s)
Metamorphoseon libri
First published in
8 AD
Language
Latin
Narrative poetry, epic, elegy, tragedy, pastoral (see Contents)
The Metamorphoses (Latin: Metamorphoseon libri: "Books of Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem by the
Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles
the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical
framework. Although meeting the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple genre classification by its use of
varying themes and tones. Ovid took inspiration from the genre of metamorphosis poetry, and some of the
Metamorphoses derives from earlier treatment of the same myths; however, he diverged significantly from all of his
models.
One of the most influential works in Western culture, the Metamorphoses has inspired such authors as Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Dante and Boccaccio. Numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in masterpieces of
sculpture and painting by artists such as Titian. Although Ovid's reputation faded after the Renaissance, towards the
end of the twentieth century there was a resurgence of interest in his work; today, the Metamorphoses continues to
inspire and be retold through various media. The work has been the subject of numerous translations into English,
the first by William Caxton in 1480.
Sources and models
Ovid's relation to the Hellenistic poets was similar to the attitude of the Hellenistic poets themselves to their predecessors: he
demonstrated that he had read their versions ... but that he could still treat the myths in his own way.
[1]
—Karl Galinsky
Ovid's decision to make myth the dominant subject of the Metamorphoses was influenced by the predisposition of
Alexandrian poetry.[2] However, it ceased to be the cause for moral reflection or insight, but rather an "object of play
and artful manipulation". His model for a collection of metamorphosis myths was a pre-existing genre of
metamorphosis poetry in the Hellenistic tradition. The earliest known example is Boio(s)' Ornithogonia—a
now-fragmentary poem collecting the myths of metamorphoses of humans into birds. There are three examples of
the Metamorphoses by later Hellenistic writers, but little is known of their contents. The Heteroioumena by Nicander
Metamorphoses
21
of Colophon is better known, and clearly an influence on the poem—21 of the stories from this work were treated in
the Metamorphoses. However, in a way that was typical for writers of the period, Ovid diverged significantly from
his models; the Metamorphoses was longer than any previous collection of metamorphosis myths—Nicander's work
consisted of probably four or five books[3]—and positioned itself within a historical framework.[4]
Some of the Metamorphoses derives from earlier literary and poetic treatment of the same myths. This material was
of varying quality and comprehensiveness; while some of it was "finely worked", in other cases Ovid may have been
working from limited material.[5] In the case of an oft-used myth such as that of Io in Book I—the subject of literary
adaptation as early as the fifth century BC, and as recently as a generation prior—Ovid reorganises and innovates
existing material in order to foreground his favoured topics and to embody the key themes of the Metamorphoses.[6]
Contents
Scholars have found it difficult to place the Metamorphoses in a genre. The poem has been considered as an epic or a
type of epic: e.g. an anti-epic or mock-epic;[7] a Kollektivgedicht that pulls together a series of examples in miniature
form, such as the epyllion;[8] a sampling of one genre after another;[9] or a narrative that refuses categorization.[10]
The poem is generally considered to meet the criteria for an epic; it is considerably long, relating over 250 narratives
across fifteen books;[11] it is composed in dactylic hexameter, the meter of both the ancient Iliad and Odyssey, and
the more contemporary epic Aeneid; and it treats the high literary subject of myth.[12] However, the poem "handles
the themes and employs the tone of virtually every species of literature",[13] ranging from epic and elegy to tragedy
and pastoral.[14] Commenting on the genre debate, G. Karl Galinsky has opined that "... it would be misguided to pin
the label of any genre on the Metamorphoses."
The Metamorphoses is comprehensive in its chronology, recounting
the creation of the world to the death of Julius Caesar, which had
occurred only a year before Ovid's birth; it has been compared to
works of universal history, which became important in the first century
BC. In spite of its apparently unbroken chronology, scholar Brooks
Otis has identified four divisions in the narrative:[15]
A woodcut from Virgil Solis illustrating the
apotheosis of Julius Caesar, the final event of the
poem (XV.745–850)
Section I
Book I–Book II (end, line 875): The Divine Comedy
Section II
Book III–Book VI, 400: The Avenging Gods
Section III Book VI, 401–Book XI (end, line 795): The Pathos of Love
Section IV Book XII–Book XV (end, line 879): Rome and the Deified Ruler
Ovid works his way through his subject matter, often in an apparently arbitrary fashion, by jumping from one
transformation tale to another, sometimes retelling what had come to be seen as central events in the world of Greek
mythology and sometimes straying in odd directions. It is written in dactylic hexameter, the form of the great heroic
and nationalistic epic poems, both those of the ancient tradition (the Iliad and the Odyssey) and of Ovid's own day
(the Aeneid of Virgil). It begins with the ritual "invocation of the muse", and makes use of traditional epithets and
circumlocutions. But instead of following and extolling the deeds of a human hero, it leaps from story to story with
little connection.
Metamorphoses
22
The recurring theme, as with nearly all of Ovid's work, is love—be it personal love or love personified in the figure
of Amor (Cupid). Indeed, the other Roman gods are repeatedly perplexed, humiliated, and made ridiculous by Amor,
an otherwise relatively minor god of the pantheon, who is the closest thing this putative mock-epic has to a hero.
Apollo comes in for particular ridicule as Ovid shows how irrational love can confound the god out of reason. The
work as a whole inverts the accepted order, elevating humans and human passions while making the gods and their
desires and conquests objects of low humor.
The Metamorphoses ends with an epilogue (Book XV.871–9), one of only two surviving Latin epics to do so—along
with Statius' Thebiad.[16] The ending acts as a declaration that everything except his poetry—even Rome—must give
way to change:[17]
"Now stands my task accomplished, such a work
As not the wrath of Jove, nor fire nor sword
Nor the devouring ages can destroy".[18]
Books
• Book I [19] — The Creation, The Ages of Mankind, The Flood,
Deucalion and Pyrrha, Apollo and Daphne, Io, Phaëton;
• Book II [20] — Phaëton (cont.), Callisto, The Raven and The Crow,
Ocyrhoe, Mercury and Battus, The Envy of Aglauros, Jupiter and
Europa;
• Book III [21] — Cadmus, Diana and Actaeon, Semele and the Birth
of Bacchus, Tiresias, Narcissus and Echo, Pentheus and Bacchus;
• Book IV [22] — The Daughters of Minyas, Pyramus and Thisbe,
The Sun in Love, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, The Daughters of
Minyas Transformed, Athamas and Ino, The Transformation of
Cadmus, Perseus and Andromeda.
• Book V [23] — Perseus' Flight in the Palace of Cepheus, Minerva
Meets the Muses on Helicon, The Rape of Proserpina, Arethusa,
Triptolemus;
• Book VI [24] — Arachne, Niobe, The Lycian Peasants, Marsyas,
Pelops, Tereus, Procne and Philomela, Boreas and Orithyia;
Depiction of the story of Pygmalion by Jean
Raoux (1717)
• Book VII [25] — Medea and Jason, Medea and Aeson, Medea and
Pelias: her Flight, Theseus, Minos, Aeacus, the Plague at Aegina, the Myrmidons, Cephalus and Procris;
• Book VIII [26] — Scylla and Minos, The Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, Perdix, Meleager and the Calydonian
Boar, Althaea and Meleager Achelous and the Nymphs, Philemon and Baucis, Erysichthon and his Daughter;
• Book IX [27] — Achelous and Hercules, Hercules, Nessus, and Deianira, The Death and Apotheosis of Hercules,
The Birth of Hercules, Dryope, Iolaus and the Sons of Callirhoe, Byblis, Iphis and Ianthe[28];
• Book X [29] — Orpheus and Eurydice, Cyparissus, Ganymede, Hyacinth, Pygmalion, Myrrha, Venus and Adonis,
Atalanta;
• Book XI [30] — The Death of Orpheus, Midas, First Foundation and Destruction of Troy, Peleus and Thetis,
Daedalion, The Cattle of Peleus, Ceyx and Alcyone, Aesacus;
• Book XII [31] — The Expedition against Troy, Achilles and Cycnus, Caenis, The Battle of the Lapiths and
Centaurs, Nestor and Hercules, The Death of Achilles;
• Book XIII [32] — Ajax and Ulysses and the Arms of Achilles, The Fall of Troy, Hecuba, Polyxena, and
Polydorus, Memnon, The Pilgrimage of Aeneas, Acis and Galatea, Scylla and Glaucus;
• Book XIV [33] — Scylla and Glaucus (cont.), The Pilgrimage of Aeneas (cont.), The Island of Circe, Picus and
Canens, The Triumph and Apotheosis of Aeneas, Pomona and Vertumnus, Legends of Early Rome; The
Metamorphoses
23
Apotheosis of Romulus;
• Book XV [34] — Numa and the Foundation of Crotona, The Doctrines of Pythagoras, The Death of Numa,
Hippolytus, Cipus, Aesculapius, The Apotheosis of Julius Caesar, Epilogue.[19]
Themes
The different genres and divisions in the narrative allow the Metamorphoses to display a wide range of themes.
Scholar Stephen M. Wheeler notes that "Metamorphosis, mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power are just some
of the unifying themes that critics have proposed over the years." [20]
Metamorphosis
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas/ corpora;
“
”
—Ov., Met., Book I
[19]
, lines 1–2.
Metamorphosis or transformation is a unifying theme amongst the
episodes of the Metamorphoses. Ovid raises its significance explicitly
in the opening lines of the poem: In nova fert animus mutatas dicere
formas/ corpora; ("I intend to speak of forms changed into new
entities;"). Accompanying this theme is often violence, inflicted upon a
victim whose transformation becomes part of the natural landscape.
There is a huge variety among the types of transformations that take
place: from human to inanimate object (Nileus), constellation
(Ariadne's Crown), animal (Perdix); from animal (Ants) and fungus
(Mushrooms) to human; of sex (Hyenas); and of colour (Pebbles).
Influence
No work from classical antiquity, either Greek or Roman, has exerted such a
continuing
and
decisive
influence
on
European
literature
as
Ovid's
Metamorphoses. The emergence of French, English, and Italian national
literatures in the late Middle Ages simply cannot be fully understood without
taking into account the effect of this extraordinary poem. ... The only rival we
have in our tradition which we can find to match the pervasiveness of the literary
influence of the Metamorphoses is perhaps (and I stress perhaps) the Old
Apollo and Daphne by Antonio Pollaiuolo, one
tale of transformation in the Metamorphoses—he
lusts after her and she escapes him by turning into
a bay laurel.
Testament and the works of Shakespeare.
—Ian Johnston
The Metamorphoses has exerted a considerable influence on literature and the arts, particularly of the West; scholar
A. D. Melville says that "It may be doubted whether any poem has had so great an influence on the literature and art
of Western civilization as the Metamorphoses."[21] Although a majority of its stories do not originate with Ovid
himself, but with such writers as Hesiod and Homer, for others the poem is their sole source.
The influence of the poem on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer is extensive. In The Canterbury Tales, the story of
Coronis and Phoebus Apollo (Book II 531–632) is adapted to form the basis for The Manciple's Tale;[22] the story of
Midas (Book XI 174–193) is referred to and appears—though much altered—in The Wife of Bath's Tale.[23] The
story of Ceyx and Alcyone—from Book IX—is adapted by Chaucer in his poem The Book of the Duchess, written to
commemorate the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster and wife of John of Gaunt. The Metamorphoses was a
Metamorphoses
24
considerable influence on English playwright William Shakespeare.[24] His Romeo and Juliet is influenced by the
story of Pyramus and Thisbe (Metamorphoses Book IV), and, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a band of amateur
actors performs a play about Pyramus and Thisbe. Shakespeare's early erotic poem Venus and Adonis expands on the
myth in Book X of the Metamorphoses. In Titus Andronicus, the story of Lavinia's rape is drawn from Tereus' rape
of Philomela, and the text of The Metamorphoses is used within the play to enable Titus to interpret his daughter's
story. Most of Prospero's renunciative speech in Act V of The Tempest is taken word-for-word from a speech by
Medea in Book VII of the Metamorphoses. Among other English writers for whom the Metamorphoses was an
inspiration are John Milton—who made use of it in his masterpiece Paradise Lost and evidently knew it
well[25][26]—and Edmund Spenser. In Europe, the poem was an influence on Giovanni Boccaccio—the story of
Pyramus and Thisbe appears in his poem L'Amorosa Fiammetta—and Dante.
During the Renaissance period, mythological subjects were frequently
depicted in art. The Metamorphoses was the greatest source of these
narratives, such that the term "Ovidian" in this context is synonymous
for mythological, in spite of some frequently represented myths not
being found in the work.[27] Many of the stories from the
Metamorphoses have been the subject of paintings and sculptures,
particularly during this period. Some of the most well-known paintings
by Titian's depict scenes from the poem, including Diana and Callisto,
Diana and Actaeon and Death of Actaeon. Other famous works
inspired by it include Pieter Brueghel's painting Landscape with the
Fall of Icarus and Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture Apollo and
Daphne. The Metamorphoses also permeated the theory of art during
the Renaissance and the Baroque style, with its idea of transformation
and the relation of the myths of Pygmalion and Narcissus to the role of the artist.
Diana and Callisto by Titian
Popular for many centuries, Ovid's reputation began to wane after the Renaissance, and his influence on the
nineteenth century was minimal. However, towards the end of the twentieth century his work began to be
appreciated once more; Ted Hughes collected together and retold twenty-four passages from the Metamorphoses in
his Tales from Ovid, published in 1997. In 1998, Mary Zimmerman's stage adaptation Metamorphoses premiered at
the Lookingglass Theatre, and the following year there was an adaptation of Tales from Ovid by the Royal
Shakespeare Company. In the early twenty first century, the poem continues to inspire and be retold through books,
films, and plays.
Manuscript tradition
In spite of the Metamorphoses' enduring popularity from its first
publication—around the time of Ovid's exile in 8 AD—no manuscript
survives from this period.[28] From the ninth- and tenth centuries there
are only fragments of the poem; it is only from the eleventh century
onwards that manuscripts, of varying value, have been passed
down.[29]
Influential in the course of the poem's manuscript tradition is the
seventeenth-century Dutch scholar Nikolaes Heinsius.[30] During the
years 1640–52, Heinsius collated more than a hundred manuscripts and
was informed of many others through correspondence.
This panel, by Bartolomeo di Giovanni, relates
the second half of the story. In the upper left,
Jupiter emerges from clouds to order Mercury to
rescue Io. The Walters Art Museum.
But the poem's immense popularity in antiquity and the Middle Ages belies the struggle for survival it faced in late
antiquity. "A dangerously pagan work," the Metamorphoses was preserved through the Roman period of
Metamorphoses
Christianization, but was criticized by the voices of Augustine and Jerome, who believed the only metamorphosis
really was the transubstantiation.[citation needed] Though the Metamorphoses did not suffer the ignominious fate of the
Medea, no ancient scholia on the poem survive (although they did exist in antiquity), and the earliest manuscript is
very late, dating from the 11th century.
The poem retained its popularity throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and is represented by an extremely
high number of surviving manuscripts (more than 400);[31] the earliest of these are three fragmentary copies
containing portions of Books 1-3, dating to the 9th century.[32]
Collaborative editorial effort has been investigating the various
manuscripts of the Metamorphoses, some forty-five complete texts or
substantial fragments,[33] all deriving from a Gallic archetype. The
result of several centuries of critical reading is that the poet's meaning
is firmly established on the basis of the manuscript tradition or restored
by conjecture where the tradition is deficient. There are two modern
critical editions: William S. Anderson's, first published in 1977 in the
Teubner series, and R. J. Tarrant's, published in 2004 by the Oxford
Clarendon Press.
In English translation
The full appearance of the Metamorphoses in English
translation—sections had appeared in the works of Chaucer and
Gower[34]—coincides with the beginning of printing, and traces a path
through the history of publishing.[35] William Caxton produced the
first translation of the text on 22 April 1480; set in prose, it is actually
An illumination of the story of Pyramus and
a literal rendering of a French translation known as the Ovide
Thisbe from a manuscript of William Caxton's
translation of the Metamorphoses (1480)—the
Moralisé.[36] From 1535–7,[37] Arthur Golding produced a translation
first in the English language.
of the poem that would become highly influential, the version read by
Shakespeare and Spenser.[38] The next significant translation was by
George Sandys, produced from 1621–6,[39] which set the poem in heroic couplets, a metre that would subsequently
become dominant in vernacular English epic and in English translations.[40] In 1717, a translation appeared from
Samuel Garth bringing together work "by the most eminent hands":[41] primarily John Dryden, but several stories by
Joseph Addison, one by Alexander Pope,[42] and contributions from Tate, Gay, Congreve, and Rowe, as well as
those of eleven others including Garth himself.[43] Translation of the Metamorphoses after this period was
comparatively limited in its achievement; having "no real rivals throughout the nineteenth century", the Garth
volume continued to be printed into the 1800s.[44] Around the later half of the twentieth century, however, as literary
translation underwent a revival, a greater number of translations appeared;[45] this trend has continued into the early
twenty-first century.[46] In 2004, a collection of translations and responses to the poem, entitled After Ovid: New
Metamorphoses, was produced by numerous contributors in emulation of the process of the Garth volume.[47]
25
Metamorphoses
Notes
[1] Galinsky 1975, p. 2.
[2] Galinsky 1975, p. 1.
[3] Galinsky 1975, pp. 2–3.
[4] Galinsky 1975, p. 3.
[5] Anderson 1998, p. 14.
[6] Anderson 1998, p. 19.
[7] Farrell 1992, p. 235.
[8] Wheeler 2000, p. 1.
[9] Solodow 1988, pp. 17–8.
[10] Galinsky 1975, p. 41.
[11] Galinsky 1975, p. 4.
[12] Harrison 2006, p. 87.
[13] Solodow 1988, p. 18.
[14] Harrison 2006, p. 88.
[15] Otis 2010, p. 83.
[16] Meville 2008, p. 466.
[17] Melville 2008, p. xvi.
[18] Melville 2008, p. 379.
[19] Melville 2008, p. vii–viii.
[20] Wheeler 1999, p. 40.
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
[37]
[38]
[39]
[40]
[41]
[42]
[43]
[44]
[45]
[46]
[47]
Melville 2008, pp. xxxvi–xxxvii.
Benson 2008, p. 952.
Benson 2008, p. 873.
Melville 2008, p. xxxvii.
Meville 2008, p. xxxvii.
Meville 2008, pp. 392–3.
Allen 2006, p. 336.
Anderson 1989, p. 31.
Anderson 1989, pp. 31–2.
Tarrant 1982, p. 343.
Tarrant, R. J., P. Ouidi Nasonis Metamorphoses. Oxford. vi
Reynolds, L. D., ed., Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics, 277.
R. J. Tarrant, 2004. P. Ouidi Nasonis Metamorphoses. (Oxford Classical Texts) Oxford: Clarendon Press: praefatio.
Lyne 2006, p. 249.
Gillespie et al. 2004, p. 207.
Lyne 2006, pp. 250–1.
Gillespie et al. 2004, p. 208.
Lyne 2006, p. 252.
Gillespie et al. 2004, pp. 208–9.
Lyne 2006, p. 254.
Gillespie et al. 2004, p. 212.
Melville 2008, p. xxx.
Lyne 2006, p. 256.
Lyne 2006, p. 258.
Gillespie et al. 2004, pp. 216–18.
Gillespie et al. 2004 p. 218.
Lyne 2006, p. 259–60.
26
Metamorphoses
References
Modern translation
Metamorphoses. Translated by A. D. Melville; introduction and notes by E. J. Kenney. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. 2008. ISBN 0-19-953737-2.
Secondary sources
Allen, Christopher (2006). "Ovid and art". In Philip Hardie. The Cambridge companion to Ovid. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511998966.
William S. Anderson, ed. (1998). Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 1-5 (http:/ / books. google. co. uk/
books?id=t12AuG0q144C& lpg=PP1& pg=PP1#v=onepage& q& f=false). Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press. ISBN 9780806128948.
William S. Anderson, ed. (1989). Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books 6-10 (http:/ / books. google. co. uk/
books?id=0RUhlNVR758C& lpg=PP1& pg=PP1#v=onepage& q& f=false). University of Oklahoma Press.
ISBN 9780806114569.
Larry D. Benson, ed. (2008). The Riverside Chaucer (Third ed.). Oxford UP. ISBN 978-0-19-955209-2.
Farrell, Joseph (1992). "Dialogue of Genres in Ovid's "Lovesong of Polyphemus" (Metamorphoses
13.719-897)" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 295559). The American Journal of Philology 113 (2): 23568.
(subscription required)
Gillespie, Stuart; Robert Cummings (2004). "A Bibliography of Ovidian Translations and Imitations in
English" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 40339982). Translation and Literature 13 (2): 207–18. (subscription
required)
Galinsky, Karl (1975). Ovid's Metamorphoses: an introduction to the basic aspects (http:/ / books. google. co.
uk/ books?id=CYfUh06Ng-kC& lpg=PP1& pg=PR1#v=onepage& q& f=false). Berkeley: University of
California Press. ISBN 9780520028487.
Harrison, Stephen (2006). "Ovid and genre: evolutions of an elegist". In Philip Hardie. The Cambridge
companion to Ovid. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511998966.
Lyne, Raphael (2006). "Ovid in English translation". In Philip Hardie. The Cambridge companion to Ovid.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511998966.
Otis, Brooks (2010). Ovid as an epic poet (http:/ / books. google. co. uk/ books?id=6or5xZ_wl-YC&
lpg=PP1& pg=PP1#v=onepage& q& f=false) (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 9780521143172.
Solodow, Joseph B. (1988). The World of Ovid's Metamorphoses (http:/ / books. google. co. uk/
books?hl=en& lr=& id=n0vdulnvcvoC& oi=fnd& pg=PR9& dq=sources+ for+ ovid's+ metamorphoses&
ots=9nFm-L-j6b& sig=u0-D_k9Ytxi_hf3R6Df9WLImfw0#v=onepage& q& f=false). Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807817711.
Tarrant, R. J. (1982). "Review Article: Editing Ovid's Metamorphoses: Problems and Possibilities" (http:/ /
www.jstor.org/stable/269419). Classical Philology 77 (4): 342–260. (subscription required)
Wheeler, Stephen M. (1999). A Discourse of Wonders: Audience and Performance in Ovid's Metamorphoses
(http:/ / books. google. co. uk/ books?id=WyOcvs7HQXcC& lpg=PP1& pg=PP1#v=onepage& q& f=false).
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812234756.
Wheeler, Stephen M. (2000). Narrative dynamics in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Tübingen: Narr.
ISBN 9783823348795.
27
Metamorphoses
Further reading
Elliot, Alison Goddard (1980). "Ovid's Metamorphoses: A Bibliography 1968–1978" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/
stable/4349232). The Classical World 73 (7): 385–412. (subscription required)
Charles Martindale, ed. (1990). Ovid renewed: Ovidian influences on literature and art from the Middle Ages
to the twentieth century (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521397452.
External links
Latin versions
• Ovid Illustrated: The Renaissance Reception of Ovid in Image and Text (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/
ovid/ovidillust.html) — An elaborate environment allowing simultaneous access to Latin text, English
translations, commentary from multiple sources along with wood cut illustrations by Virgil Solis.
• Metamorphoses in Latin edition and English translations (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/
ptext?lookup=Ov.+Met.+1) from Perseus — Hyperlinked commentary, mythological, and grammatical
references)
• University of Virginia: Metamorphoses (http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/index.html) — Contains several versions
of the Latin text and tools for a side-by-side comparison.
• The Latin Library: P. OVIDI NASONIS OPERA (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid.html) — Contains the
Latin version in several separate parts.
English translations
• Ovid's Metamorphoses (http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.html) trans. by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden et
al., 1717.
• Ovid's Metamorphoses (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/sandys/contents.htm) trans. by George
Sandys, 1632.
• Ovid's Metamorphoses (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028) trans. by
Brookes More, 1922.
Analysis
• The Ovid Project: Metamorphising the Metamorphoses (http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/ovid) — Illustrations by
Johann Whilhelm Baur (1600 – 1640) and anonymous illustrations from George Sandys's edition of 1640.
• A Honeycomb for Aphrodite (http://www.tonykline.co.uk/Browsepages/Latin/AHoneycombForAphrodite.
htm) by A. S. Kline.
• Ovid's Metamorphoses, An introduction and commentary (http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.
ovid1.htm) by Larry A. Brown.
Audio reading
• Ovid ~ Metamorphoses ~ 08-2008 (http://www.archive.org/details/OvidMetamorphoses08-2008) —
Selections from Metamorphoses, read in Latin and English by Rafi Metz. Approximately 4½ hours.
Images
• In pictures: Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18770732) — A
slideshow of images from the exhibition "Metamorphosis: Titian 2012" from the BBC.
• "Neapolitan Ovid" (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4524/) — An illustrated manuscript from 1000 CE – 1200
CE, hosted by the World Digital Library/
28
The Tale of Genji
29
The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji (源 氏 物 語 Genji Monogatari) is a classic work
of Japanese literature written by the Japanese noblewoman and
lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th
century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the
world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel
or the first novel still to be considered a classic (however, Kadambari
[1]
, a Sanskrit novel composed in the first half of the 7th century A.D,
is most likely the world's first novel). Notably, the novel also illustrates
a unique depiction of the livelihoods of high courtiers during the Heian
period. While universally considered a masterpiece, its precise
classification and influence in both Western and Eastern canon has
been a matter of debate.
Written text from the earliest illustrated
handscroll (12th century) of The Tale of Genji
The first partial translation of Genji Monogatari into English was by
Suematsu Kenchō, published in 1882. Arthur Waley published a six-volume translation of all but one chapter, with
the first volume published in 1921 and the last in 1933. In 1976, Edward Seidensticker published the first complete
translation into English, made using a self-consciously "stricter" approach with regards to content if not form. The
most recent English translation was published in 2001 by Royall Tyler and aims at fidelity in content and form to the
original text.
Introduction
The Tale of Genji may have been written chapter by chapter in installments, as Murasaki delivered the tale to
aristocratic women, (the yokibito). It has many elements found in a modern novel: a central character and a very
large number of major and minor characters, well-developed characterization of all the major players, a sequence of
events covering the central character's lifetime and beyond. The work does not make use of a plot; instead, events
happen and characters evolve simply by growing older. One remarkable feature of the Genji, and of Murasaki's skill,
is its internal consistency, despite a dramatis personæ of some four hundred characters. For instance, all characters
age in step and the family and feudal relationships maintain general consistency.
One complication for readers and translators of the Genji is that almost none of the characters in the original text are
given explicit names. The characters are instead referred to by their function or role (e.g. Minister of the Left), an
honorific (e.g. His Excellency), or their relation to other characters (e.g. Heir Apparent), which changes as the novel
progresses. This lack of names stems from Heian-era court manners that would have made it unacceptably familiar
and blunt to freely mention a person's given name. Modern readers and translators have used various nicknames to
keep track of the many characters.
The Tale of Genji was written in an archaic court language that was already unreadable a century after it was
written.[1] Thus, the Japanese have been reading annotated and illustrated versions of the work since as early as the
12th century. It wasn't until the early 20th century that Genji was translated into modern Japanese, by the poet Akiko
Yosano.[2]
The Tale of Genji
30
Authorship
Murasaki Shikibu, illustration by Tosa Mitsuoki
who did a series on The Tale of Genji (17th
century)
The debate over how much of Genji was actually written by Murasaki
Shikibu has gone on for centuries and is unlikely to ever be settled
unless some major archival discovery is made. It is generally accepted
that the tale was finished in its present form by 1021, when the author
of the Sarashina Nikki wrote a diary entry about her joy at acquiring a
complete copy of the tale. She writes that there are over 50 chapters
and mentions a character introduced at the end of the work, so if other
authors besides Murasaki Shikibu did work on the tale, the work was
done very near to the time of her writing. Murasaki Shikibu's own
diary includes a reference to the tale, and indeed the application to
herself of the name 'Murasaki' in an allusion to the main female
character. That entry confirms that some if not all of the diary was
available in 1008 when internal evidence suggests convincingly that
the entry was written.[3]
Lady Murasaki is said to have written the character of Genji based on the Minister on the Left at the time she was at
court. Other translators, such as Tyler, believe the character Murasaki no Ue, whom Genji marries, is based on
Murasaki Shikibu herself.
Yosano Akiko, the first author to make a modern Japanese translation of Genji, believed that Murasaki Shikibu had
only written chapters 1 to 33, and that chapters 35 to 54 were written by her daughter Daini no Sanmi. Other scholars
have also doubted the authorship of chapters 42 to 54 (particularly 44, which contains rare examples of continuity
mistakes). According to Royall Tyler's introduction to his English translation of the work, recent computer analysis
has turned up "statistically significant" discrepancies of style between chapters 45–54 and the rest, and also among
the early chapters.
Plot
The work recounts the life of a son of the Japanese emperor, known to
readers as Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji". For political reasons,
Genji is relegated to commoner status (by being given the surname
Minamoto) and begins a career as an imperial officer. The tale
concentrates on Genji's romantic life and describes the customs of the
aristocratic society of the time. Much is made of Genji's good looks.
Ch. 15 – 蓬 生 Yomogiu ("Waste of Weeds").
Scene from the 12th century illustrated handscroll
Genji Monogatari Emaki kept at the Tokugawa
Art Museum.
Genji was the second son of a certain ancient emperor ("Emperor
Kiritsubo") and a low-ranking but beloved concubine (known to the
readers as Lady Kiritsubo). Genji's mother dies when he is three years
old, and the Emperor cannot forget her. The Emperor Kiritsubo then hears of a woman ("Lady Fujitsubo"), formerly
a princess of the preceding emperor, who resembles his deceased concubine, and later she becomes one of his wives.
Genji loves her first as a stepmother, but later as a woman. They fall in love with each other, but it is forbidden.
Genji is frustrated because of his forbidden love for the Lady Fujitsubo and is on bad terms with his wife (Aoi no
Ue). He also engages in a series of unfulfilling love affairs with other women. In most cases, his
The Tale of Genji
31
advances are rebuffed, his lover dies suddenly during the affair, or he
finds his lover to be dull and his feelings change. In one case, he sees a
beautiful young woman through an open window, enters her room
without permission, and proceeds to seduce her. Recognizing him as a
man of unchallengeable power, she makes no resistance.
Genji visits Kitayama, the northern rural hilly area of Kyoto, where he
finds a beautiful ten-year-old girl. He is fascinated by this little girl
("Murasaki"), and discovers that she is a niece of the Lady Fujitsubo.
Finally he kidnaps her, brings her to his own palace and educates her to
be his ideal lady; that is, like the Lady Fujitsubo. During this time
Genji also meets the Lady Fujitsubo secretly, and she bears his son,
Reizei. Everyone except the two lovers believes the father of the child
is the Emperor Kiritsubo. Later, the boy becomes the Crown Prince
and Lady Fujitsubo becomes the Empress, but Genji and Lady
Fujitsubo swear to keep their secret.
Genji and his wife, Lady Aoi, reconcile and she gives birth to a son but
dies soon after. Genji is sorrowful, but finds consolation in Murasaki,
whom he marries. Genji's father, the Emperor Kiritsubo, dies. He is
succeeded by his son Suzaku, whose mother ("Kokiden"), together
with Kiritsubo's political enemies (including the "Minister of the
Right") takes power in the court. Then another of Genji's secret love
affairs is exposed: Genji and a concubine of the Emperor Suzaku,
Genji's brother, are discovered when they meet in secret. The Emperor
Suzaku confides his personal amusement at Genji's exploits with the
woman ("Oborozukiyo"), but is duty-bound to punish his half-brother.
Genji is thus exiled to the town of Suma in rural Harima province (now
part of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture). There, a prosperous man known as
the Akashi Novice (because he is from Akashi in Settsu province)
entertains Genji, and Genji has a love affair with Akashi's daughter.
She gives birth to Genji's only daughter, who will later become the
Empress.
In the Capital, the Emperor Suzaku is troubled by dreams of his late
father, Kiritsubo, and something begins to affect his eyes. Meanwhile,
his mother, Kokiden, grows ill, which weakens her powerful sway over
the throne. Thus the Emperor orders Genji pardoned, and he returns to
Kyoto. His son by Lady Fujitsubo, Reizei, becomes the emperor, and
Genji finishes his imperial career. The new Emperor Reizei knows
Genji is his real father, and raises Genji's rank to the highest possible.
Ch. 16 – 関 屋 Sekiya ("At The Pass").
Tokugawa Art Museum’s Genji Monogatari
Emaki.
Ch. 37 – 横 笛 Yokobue ("Flute"). Tokugawa
Art Museum’s Genji Monogatari Emaki.
Ch. 39 – 夕 霧 Yūgiri ("Evening Mist"). 12th
century Gotoh Museum handscroll Genji
Monogatari Emaki.
Ch. 48 – 早 蕨 Sawarabi ("Bracken Shoots").
Tokugawa Art Museum’s handscroll Genji
Monogatari Emaki.
However, when Genji turns 40 years old, his life begins to decline. His
political status does not change, but his love and emotional life are slowly damaged. He marries another wife, the
"Third Princess" (known as Onna san no miya in the Seidensticker version, or Nyōsan in Waley's). Genji's nephew,
Kashiwagi,
later
forces
himself
on
the
The Tale of Genji
32
"Third Princess" and she bears Kaoru (who, in a similar situation to
that of Reizei, is legally known as the son of Genji). Genji's new
marriage changes his relationship with Murasaki, who becomes a nun
(bikuni).
Genji's beloved Murasaki dies. In the following chapter, Maboroshi
("Illusion"), Genji contemplates how fleeting life is. Immediately after
Maboroshi, there is a chapter entitled Kumogakure ("Vanished into the
Clouds") which is left blank, but implies the death of Genji.
Ch. 48 – 宿 り 木 Yadorigi ("Ivy"). Tokugawa
Art Museum’s Genji Monogatari Emaki.
The rest of the work is known as the "Uji Chapters". These chapters
follow Kaoru and his best friend, Niou. Niou is an imperial prince, the son of Genji's daughter, the current Empress
now that Reizei has abdicated the throne, while Kaoru is known to the world as Genji's son but is in fact fathered by
Genji's nephew. The chapters involve Kaoru and Niou's rivalry over several daughters of an imperial prince who
lives in Uji, a place some distance away from the capital. The tale ends abruptly, with Kaoru wondering if the lady
he loves is being hidden away by Niou. Kaoru has sometimes been called the first anti-hero in literature.[4]
Completion
The tale ends abruptly, in mid-sentence. Opinions vary on whether the ending was the intended ending of the author.
Arthur Waley, who made the first English translation of the whole of The Tale of Genji, believed that the work as we
have it was finished. Ivan Morris, author of The World of the Shining Prince, believed that it was not complete, with
later chapters missing. Edward Seidensticker, who made the second translation of the Genji, believed that it was not
finished, and that Murasaki Shikibu would not have had a planned story structure with an "ending", and would
simply have gone on writing as long as she could.
Literary context
Because it was written to entertain the Japanese court of the eleventh century, the work presents many difficulties to
modern readers. First and foremost, Murasaki's language, Heian Period court Japanese, was highly inflected and had
very complex grammar. Another problem is that naming people was considered rude in Heian court society, so none
of the characters are named within the work; instead, the narrator refers to men often by their rank or their station in
life, and to women often by the color of their clothing, or by the words used at a meeting, or by the rank of a
prominent male relative. This results in different appellations for the same character depending on the chapter.
Another aspect of the language is the importance of using poetry in conversations. Modifying or rephrasing a classic
poem according to the current situation was expected behavior in Heian court life, and often served to communicate
thinly veiled allusions. The poems in the Genji are often in the classic Japanese tanka form. Many of the poems were
well known to the intended audience, so usually only the first few lines are given and the reader is supposed to
complete the thought themselves, much like today we could say "when in Rome..." and leave the rest of the saying
("...do as the Romans do") unspoken.
As with most Heian literature, the Genji was probably written mostly (or perhaps entirely) in kana (Japanese
phonetic script) and not in Chinese characters because it was written by a woman for a female audience. Writing in
Chinese characters was at the time a masculine pursuit; women were generally discreet when using Chinese symbols,
confining themselves mostly to native Japanese words (yamato kotoba).
Outside of vocabulary related to politics and Buddhism, the Genji contains remarkably few Chinese loan words
(kango). This has the effect of giving the story a very even, smooth flow. However, it also introduces confusion:
there are a number of homophones (words with the same pronunciation but different meanings), and for modern
readers, context is not always sufficient to determine which meaning was intended.
The Tale of Genji
33
Murasaki was neither the first nor the last writer of the Heian period, nor was the Genji the earliest example of a
"monogatari". Rather, the Genji stands above other tales of the time in the same way that William Shakespeare's
plays outshine other Elizabethan drama.
Structure
The novel is traditionally divided in three parts, the first two dealing with the life of Genji, and the last dealing with
the early years of two of Genji's prominent descendants, Niou and Kaoru. There are also several short transitional
chapters which are usually grouped separately and whose authorship is sometimes questioned.
1. Genji's rise and fall
1. Youth, chapters 1–33: Love, romance, and exile
2. Success and setbacks, chapters 34–41: A taste of power and the death of his beloved wife
2. The transition (chapters 42–44): Very short episodes following Genji's death
3. Uji, chapters 45–54: Genji's official and secret descendants, Niou and Kaoru
The 54th and last chapter "The Floating Bridge of Dreams" is sometimes argued to be a separate part from the Uji
part by modern scholars. It seems to continue the story from the previous chapters, but has an unusually abstract
chapter title. It is the only chapter whose title has no clear reference within the text, but this may be because the
chapter is unfinished. (This question is more difficult because we do not know exactly when the chapters acquired
their titles.)
List of chapters
The English translations here are taken from the Arthur Waley, the Edward Seidensticker, and the Royall Tyler
translations. The first column refers to Waley's translation, the second to Seidensticker's, and the third to Tyler's. It is
not known for certain when the chapters acquired their titles. Early mentions of the Tale refer to chapter numbers, or
contain alternate titles for some of the chapters. This may suggest that the titles were added later. The titles are
largely derived from poetry that is quoted within the text, or allusions to various characters.
Ch. 5 — 若 紫 Wakamurasaki ("Young
Murasaki"). Tosa Mitsuoki, 1617–91.
Ch. 20 – 朝 顔 Asagao ("The Bluebell"). Tosa
Mitsuoki.
The Tale of Genji
34
Ch. 42 – 匂 宮 Niō no Miya ("The Perfumed
Prince"). Tosa Mitsuoki.
Chapter
Ch. 50 – 東 屋 Azumaya ("Eastern Cottage").
12th century Tokugawa Art Museum handscroll.
Japanese
Waley
Seidensticker
"Paulownia Court"
Tyler
1
Kiritsubo (桐 壺)
"Kiritsubo"
"Paulownia Pavilion"
2
Hahakigi (帚 木)
"The Broom-Tree"
3
Utsusemi (空 蝉)
"Utsusemi"
"Shell of the Locust"
"Cicada Shell"
4
Yūgao (夕 顔)
"Yugao"
"Evening Faces"
"Twilight Beauty"
5
Wakamurasaki (若 紫)
"Murasaki"
"Lavender"
"Young Murasaki"
6
Suetsumuhana (末 摘 花)
"The Saffron-Flower"
7
Momiji no Ga (紅 葉 賀)
"The Festival of Red Leaves"
"Autumn Excursion"
8
Hana no En (花 宴)
"The Flower Feast"
"Festival of the Cherry Blossoms" "Under the Cherry Blossoms"
9
Aoi (葵)
"Aoi"
"Heartvine"
"Heart-to-Heart"
10
Sakaki (榊)
"The Sacred Tree"
"Sacred Tree"
"Green Branch"
11
Hana Chiru Sato (花 散 里)
"The Village of Falling Flowers"
"Orange Blossoms"
"Falling Flowers"
12
Suma (須 磨)
"Exile at Suma"
13
Akashi (明 石)
14
Miotsukushi (澪 標)
"The Flood Gauge"
15
Yomogiu (蓬 生)
"The Palace in the Tangled Woods" "Wormwood Patch"
"Waste of Weeds"
16
Sekiya (関 屋)
"A Meeting at the Frontier"
"At The Pass"
17
E Awase (絵 合)
"The Picture Competition"
18
Matsukaze (松 風)
"The Wind in the Pine-Trees"
19
Usugumo (薄 雲)
"A Wreath of Cloud"
"Rack of Clouds"
"Wisps of Cloud"
20
Asagao (朝 顔)
"Asagao"
"Morning Glory"
"Bluebell"
21
Otome (乙 女)
"The Maiden"
"Maiden"
"Maidens"
22
Tamakazura (玉 鬘)
"Tamakatsura"
"Jeweled Chaplet"
"Tendril Wreath"
23
Hatsune (初 音)
"The First Song of the Year"
"First Warbler"
"Warbler's First Song"
24
Kochō (胡 蝶)
"The Butterflies"
25
Hotaru (螢)
"The Glow-Worm"
"Broom Tree"
"Safflower"
"Beneath the Autumn Leaves"
"Suma"
"Akashi"
"Channel Buoys"
"Gatehouse"
"Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi"
"Picture Contest"
"Wind in the Pines"
"Butterflies"
"Fireflies"
The Tale of Genji
35
26
Tokonatsu (常 夏)
"A Bed of Carnations"
"Wild Carnation"
"Pink"
27
Kagaribi (篝 火)
"The Flares"
"Flares"
"Cressets"
28
Nowaki (野 分)
"The Typhoon"
29
Miyuki (行 幸)
"The Royal Visit"
"Royal Outing"
"Imperial Progress"
30
Fujibakama (藤 袴)
"Blue Trousers"
"Purple Trousers"
"Thoroughwort Flowers"
31
Makibashira (真 木 柱)
"Makibashira"
"Cypress Pillar"
"Handsome Pillar"
32
Umegae (梅 枝)
"The Spray of Plum-Blossom"
"Branch of Plum"
"Plum Tree Branch"
33
Fuji no Uraba (藤 裏 葉)
"Fuji no Uraba"
"Wisteria Leaves"
"New Wisteria Leaves"
34
Wakana: Jō (若 菜 上)
"Wakana, Part I"
"New Herbs, Part I"
"Spring Shoots I"
35
Wakana: Ge (若 菜 下)
"Wakana, Part II"
"New Herbs, Part II"
"Spring Shoots II"
36
Kashiwagi (柏 木)
"Kashiwagi"
"Oak Tree"
37
Yokobue (横 笛)
"The Flute"
"Flute"
38
Suzumushi (鈴 虫)
39
Yūgiri (夕 霧)
"Yugiri"
40
Minori (御 法)
"The Law"
"Rites"
"Law"
41
Maboroshi (幻)
"Mirage"
"Wizard"
"Seer"
X
Kumogakure (雲 隠)
42
Niō Miya (匂 宮)
"Niou"
"His Perfumed Highness"
"Perfumed Prince"
43
Kōbai (紅 梅)
"Kobai"
"Rose Plum"
"Red Plum Blossoms"
44
Takekawa (竹 河)
45
Hashihime (橋 姫)
"The Bridge Maiden"
46
Shī ga Moto (椎 本)
"At the Foot of the Oak-Tree"
47
Agemaki (総 角)
"Agemaki"
48
Sawarabi (早 蕨)
"Fern-Shoots"
49
Yadorigi (宿 木)
"The Mistletoe"
50
Azumaya (東 屋)
"The Eastern House"
51
Ukifune (浮 舟)
"Ukifune"
"Boat upon the Waters"
"A Drifting Boat"
52
Kagerō (蜻 蛉)
"The Gossamer-Fly"
"Drake Fly"
"Mayfly"
53
Tenarai (手 習)
54
Yume no Ukihashi (夢 浮 橋)
"Typhoon"
"Bell Cricket"
"Evening Mist"
"Vanished into the Clouds"
"Bamboo River"
"Lady at the Bridge"
"Maiden of the Bridge"
"Beneath the Oak"
"Trefoil Knots"
"Early Ferns"
"Bracken Shoots"
"Ivy"
"Eastern Cottage"
"Writing Practice"
"The Bridge of Dreams"
"Floating Bridge of Dreams"
The additional chapter between 41 and 42 in some manuscripts is called 雲 隠 (Kumogakure) which means
"Vanished into the Clouds" — the chapter is a title only, and is probably intended to evoke Genji's death. Some
scholars have posited the existence of a chapter between 1 and 2 which is now lost, which would have introduced
some characters that (as it stands now) appear very abruptly.
The Waley translation completely omits the 38th chapter.
Later authors have composed additional chapters, most often either between 41 and 42, or after the end.
The Tale of Genji
36
Manuscripts
The original manuscript written by Murasaki Shikibu no longer exists. Numerous copies, totaling around 300
according to Ikeda Kikan, exist with differences between each. It is thought that Shikibu often went back and edited
early manuscripts introducing discrepancies with earlier copies.[5]
The various manuscripts are classified into three categories:[6][7]
• Kawachibon (河 内 本)
• Aobyōshibon (青 表 紙 本)
• Beppon (別 本)
In the 13th century, two major attempts by Minamoto no Chikayuki and Fujiwara Teika were made to edit and revise
the differing manuscripts. The Chikayuki manuscript is known as the Kawachibon; edits were many beginning in
1236 and completing in 1255. The Teika manuscript is known as the Aobyōshibon; its edits are more conservative
and thought to better represent the original. These two manuscripts were used as the basis for many future copies.
The Beppon category represents all other manuscripts not belonging to either Kawachibon or Aobyōshibon. This
includes older but incomplete manuscripts, mixed manuscripts derived from both Kawachibon and Aobyōshibon, and
commentaries.
On March 10, 2008, it was announced that a late Kamakura period manuscript was found in Kyōto. It is the sixth
chapter "Suetsumuhana" and is 65 pages in length. Most remaining manuscripts are based on copies of the Teika
manuscript which introduced revisions in the original. This newly discovered manuscript belongs to a different
lineage and was not influenced by Teika. Professor Yamamoto Tokurō, who examined the manuscript said, "This is
a precious discovery as Kamakura manuscripts are so rare." Professor Katō Yōsuke said, "This is an important
discovery as it asserts that non-Teika manuscripts were being read during the Kamakura period."
On October 29, 2008, Konan Women's University announced that a mid-Kamakura period manuscript was found. It
is the 32nd chapter, Umegae, and is recognized as the oldest extant copy of this chapter dating between 1240–80.
This beppon manuscript is 74 pages in length and differs from Aobyōshi manuscripts in at least four places, raising
the "possibility that the contents may be closer to the undiscovered Murasaki Shikibu original manuscript".
Illustrated scroll
Late 16th or early 17th century
hanging scroll in ink and gold leaf
illustrating a scene from Genji.
A twelfth-century scroll, the Genji Monogatari Emaki, contains illustrated scenes
from the Genji together with handwritten sōgana text. This scroll is the earliest
extant example of a Japanese "picture scroll": collected illustrations and
calligraphy of a single work. The original scroll is believed to have comprised
10-20 rolls and covered all 54 chapters. The extant pieces include only 19
illustrations and 65 pages of text, plus nine pages of fragments. This is estimated
at roughly 15% of the envisioned original. The Tokugawa Art Museum in
Nagoya has three of the scrolls handed down in the Owari branch of the
Tokugawa clan and one scroll held by the Hachisuka family is now in the Gotoh
Museum in Tokyo. The scrolls are designated National Treasures of Japan. The
scrolls are so fragile that they normally are not shown in public. The original
scrolls in the Tokugawa Museum were shown from November 21 to November
29 in 2009. Since Heisei 13, they have been displayed in the Tokugawa Museum
always for around one week in November. An oversize English
photoreproduction and translation was printed in limited edition by Kodansha
International (Tale of Genji Scroll, ISBN 0-87011-131-0).
The Tale of Genji
37
Other notable versions are by Tosa Mitsuoki, who lived from 1617 to 1691. His paintings are closely based on Heian
style from the existing scrolls from the 12th century and are fully complete. The tale was also a popular theme in
Ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period.
Modern readership
Japanese
The complexities of the style mentioned in the previous section make it
unreadable by the average Japanese person without dedicated study of
the language of the tale. Therefore translations into modern Japanese
and other languages solve these problems by modernizing the
language, unfortunately losing some of the meaning, and by giving
names to the characters, usually the traditional names used by
academics. This gives rise to anachronisms; for instance Genji's first
wife is named Aoi because she is known as the lady of the Aoi chapter,
in which she dies.
Pages from the illustrated handscroll from the
12th century
Both scholars and writers have tried translating it. The first translation into modern Japanese was made by the poet
Yosano Akiko. Other known translations were done by the novelists Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and Fumiko Enchi.
Because of the cultural difference, reading an annotated version of the Genji is quite common, even among Japanese.
There are several annotated versions by novelists, including Seiko Tanabe, Osamu Hashimoto and Jakucho
Setouchi.[8] Many works, including a manga series and different television dramas, are derived from The Tale of
Genji. There have been at least five manga adaptations of the Genji. A manga version by Waki Yamato,
Asakiyumemishi (The Tale of Genji in English), is widely read among Japanese youth, and another version, by
Miyako Maki, won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1989.
Most Japanese high-school students read selections of the Genji (the original, not a translation) in their Japanese
classes.
English translations
In 2008, WorldCat identifies 88 editions of this book. The five major translations into English are each slightly
different — mirroring the personal choices of the translator and the period in which the translation was made. Each
version has its merits, its detractors and its advocates; and each is distinguished by the name of the translator. For
example, the version translated by Arthur Waley would typically be referred to as "the Waley Genji".
The most-widely read translations are those by Suematsu Kenchō, Arthur Waley, Edward G. Seidensticker, Helen
McCullough and Royall Tyler.
Major English translations in chronological order
• The Suematsu Genji — Suematsu's Genji was the first translation into English, but is considered of poor quality
and is not often read today. Significantly, only a few chapters were completed.
• The Waley Genji—Waley's Genji is considered a great achievement for his time,[9] although some purists have
criticized Waley's changes to the original.[10] Others have criticized as overly-free the manner in which Waley
translated the original text. Regardless, it continues to be well-appreciated and widely read today.[11] When the
Waley Genji was first published, it could not have been more eagerly received. For example, Time explained that
"the reviewers' floundering tributes indicate something of its variegated appeal. In limpid prose The Tale
combines curiously modern social satire with great charm of narrative. Translator Waley has done service to
literature in salvaging to the Occident this masterpiece of the Orient."[12]
The Tale of Genji
• The Seidensticker Genji — Seidensticker's Genji is an attempt to correct what were perceived to have been
Waley's failings without necessarily making his translation obsolete. Seidensticker hews more closely to the
original text, but in the interests of readability, he takes some liberties. For example, he identifies the cast of
characters by name so that the narrative can be more easily followed by a broad-based audience of Western
readers.
• The McCullough Genji — An abridgement.
• The Tyler Genji — Tyler's Genji contains more extensive explanatory footnotes and commentary than the
previous translations, describing the numerous poetical allusions and cultural aspects of the tale. Tyler
consciously attempted to mimic the original style in ways that the previous translations did not. For example, this
version does not use names for most characters, identifying them instead by their titles in a manner which was
conventional in the context of the 11th century original text. Tyler's version "makes a special virtue of attending
to a certain ceremonial indirectness in the way the characters address one another. The great temptation for a
translator is to say the unsaid things, and Tyler never gives in to it."[13] This has been praised by critics as
"preserving more of what once seemed unfamiliar or strange to English readers," as understanding the culture of
Lady Murasaki's time is arguably a chief reason for reading Genji.
• In 2008, a 4,400 page Braille version of the Seidensticker Genji was completed. This Braille edition was the
product of five Japanese housewives from Setagaya, Tokyo working voluntarily for 5 years and was subsequently
donated to the Japan Braille Library (日 本 点 字 図 書 館) and the Library of Congress. It is also available
for download.
Reception and legacy
The Tale of Genji is an important work of Japanese literature, and modern authors have cited it as inspiration, such as
Jorge Luis Borges who said of it, "The Tale of Genji, as translated by Arthur Waley, is written with an almost
miraculous naturalness, and what interests us is not the exoticism—the horrible word—but rather the human
passions of the novel. Such interest is just: Murasaki's work is what one would quite precisely call a psychological
novel .... I dare to recommend this book to those who read me. The English translation that has inspired this brief
insufficient note is called The Tale of Genji."[citation needed] It is noted for its internal consistency, psychological
depiction, and characterization. The novelist Yasunari Kawabata said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "The
Tale of Genji in particular is the highest pinnacle of Japanese literature. Even down to our day there has not been a
piece of fiction to compare with it."
The Genji is also often referred to as "the first novel", though there is
considerable debate over this — some of the debate involving whether
Genji can even be considered a "novel". Some consider the
psychological insight, complexity and unity of the work to qualify it
for "novel" status while simultaneously disqualifying earlier works of
prose fiction.[14] Others see these arguments as subjective and
2000 yen note with The Tale of Genji and
unconvincing. Related claims, perhaps in an attempt to sidestep these
Murasaki Shikibu on the right corner
debates, are that Genji is the "first psychological novel" or "historical
novel", "the first novel still considered to be a classic" or other more
qualified terms. However, critics have almost consistently described The Tale of Genji as the oldest, first, and/or
greatest novel in Japanese literature,[15][16] though enthusiastic proponents may have later neglected the qualifying
category of in Japanese literature, leading to the debates over the book's place in world literature. Even in Japan, the
Tale of Genji is not universally embraced; the lesser known Ochikubo Monogatari has been proposed as the "world's
first full-length novel", even though its author is unknown.[17] Despite these debates, The Tale of Genji enjoys solid
respect among the works of literature, and its influence on Japanese literature has been compared to that of Philip
Sidney's Arcadia on English literature.
38
The Tale of Genji
The novel and other works by Lady Murasaki are staple reading material in the curricula of Japanese schools. The
Bank of Japan issued the 2000 Yen banknote in her honor, featuring a scene from the novel based on the 12th
century illustrated handscroll.
Film and operatic adaptations
The Tale of Genji has been translated into cinematic form several times, first in 1951 by director Kōzaburō
Yoshimura, in 1966 by director Kon Ichikawa, and an anime film in 1987 by director Gisaburo Sugii. Sugii's film is
not a complete version, and basically covers the first 12 chapters, while adding in some psychological motivation
that is not made explicit in the novel. An anime television series was made in 2009 by director Osamu Dezaki.
The Tale of Genji has also been adapted into an opera by Miki Minoru, composed during 1999 and first performed
the following year at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, with original libretto by Colin Graham (in English), later
translated into Japanese by the composer.
Notes
[1] http:/ / www. economist. com/ node/ 12811335
[2] Yosano, Akiko (http:/ / www. ndl. go. jp/ portrait/ e/ datas/ 347. html)
[3] The Diary of Lady Murasaki, ed. Richard Bowring, Penguin Classics 2005, p.31, note 41. In his introduction to the text, Bowring discusses its
dating which, in any case, is generally accepted by most authorities. Royall Tyler, in his edition of the Tale of Genji cited below, also draws
attention to the entry in Murasaki Shikibu's diary: see the Penguin Books edition, 2003, Introduction, p.xvii
[4] Seidensticker (1976: xi)
[5] Yamagishi (1958: 14)
[6] Yamagishi (1958: 14–6)
[7] Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten (1986: 621–2)
[8] Walker, James. Big in Japan: "Jakucho Setouchi: Nun re-writes The Tale of Genji", (http:/ / metropolis. co. jp/ biginjapanarchive349/ 324/
biginjapaninc. htm) Metropolis. No. 324; Spaeth, Anthony. "Old-Fashioned lover", (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ arts/ article/
0,8599,188602,00. html) Time. December 17, 2001.
[9] "Genji Finished", (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ magazine/ article/ 0,9171,745773,00. html) Time. July 3, 1933.
[10] Takatsuka, Masanori. (1970). Brief remarks on some mistranslations in Arthur Waley's Tale of Genji (http:/ / worldcat. org/ oclc/
27828038& referer=brief_results)
[11] "Coming to Terms with the Alien". (http:/ / www. lamarre-mediaken. com/ Site/ EAST_305_files/ Midorikawa Translations of Genji. pdf)
Monumenta Nipponica 58:2
[12] "In All Dignity," (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ magazine/ article/ 0,9171,928916,00. html) Time. August 27, 1928.
[13] Wood, Michael. "A Distant Mirror," (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ magazine/ article/ 0,9171,501020318-216348,00. html) Time. March
11, 2002.
[14] Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince (1964), p.277
[15] Bryan (1930), 65.
[16] Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (1970), 37.
[17] Kato (1979), p.160, 163.
• The Tale of Genji Summary (http://www.bookrags.com/The_Tale_of_Genji) Character section was used.
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• Mostow, Joshua S (April 1999). ""Picturing" in The Tale of Genji". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of
Japanese 33 (1): 1–25. doi: 10.2307/489628 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/489628). JSTOR 489628 (http://
www.jstor.org/stable/489628).
• Murase, Miyeko (1983). Iconography of the Tale of Genji : Genji monogatari ekotoba. New York: Weatherhill.
• Murase, Miyeko (2001). The Tale of Genji : Legends and Paintings. New York: G. Braziller.
• Nickerson, Peter (Winter 1993). "The Meaning of Matrilocality. Kinship, Property, and Politics in Mid-Heian".
Monumenta Nipponica 48 (4): 429–67. doi: 10.2307/2385292 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2385292). JSTOR 2385292 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2385292).
• Nihon Koten Bungaku Daijiten: Kan'yakuban. Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten. 1986. ISBN 4-00-080067-1.
• Okada, H. Richard (1991). Figures of Resistance : Language, Poetry, and Narrating in the Tale of Genji and
Other Mid-Heian Texts. Durham: Duke University Press.
• Pekarik, Andrew (1982). Ukifune : Love in the tale of genji. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Puette, William J (1983). Guide to the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle.
• Rowley, Gillian Gaye (2000). Yosano Akiko and the Tale of Genji. . Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies,
University of Michigan.
• Seidensticker, Edward G. (1976). The Tale of Genji 1. Turtle Publishing. ISBN 978-4-8053-0919-3.
• Seidensticker, Edward G. (1976). The Tale of Genji 2. Turtle Publishing. ISBN 978-4-8053-0920-9.
• Sestili Daniele (1996). Musica e danza del principe Genji. Le arti dello spettacolo nell’antico Giappone. Lucca:
LIM,
• Shirane, Haruo (December 1985). "The Aesthetics of Power: Politics in the Tale of Genji". Harvard Journal of
Asiatic Studies 45 (2): 615–47. doi: 10.2307/2718974 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2718974). JSTOR 2718974
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718974).
• Shirane, Haruo (1987). The Bridge of Dreams : A Poetics of the Tale of Genji. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford
University Press.
• Shirane, Haruo (2008). Envisioning the Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production. New York:
Columbia University Press.
• Stevenson and Ho, Barbara and Cynthia O (New York). Crossing the Bridge : Comparative Essays on Medieval
European and Heian Japanese Women Writers. 2000: Palgrave.
• Tyler, Royall (1999). ""I Am I": Genji and Murasaki". Monumenta Nipponica 54 (4): 435–480. doi:
10.2307/2668318 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2668318). JSTOR 2668318 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/
2668318).
• Tyler, Royall (2001). The Tale of Genji. New York: Viking.
• Tyler, Royall (March 2002). "Marriage, Rank and Rape in The Tale of Genji" (http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.
au/intersections/issue7/tyler.html). Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 7.
• Tyler, Royall and Susan (2002). "The Possession of Ukifune". Asiatica Venetiana 5: 177–209.
• Tyler, Royall (2003). "Rivalry, Triumph, Folly, Revenge: A Plot Line through the Tale of Genji". Journal of
Japanese Studies 29 (2): 251–87.
• Ury, Marian (1988). "A Heian Note on the Supernatural". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese
22 (2): 189–94. doi: 10.2307/488941 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/488941). JSTOR 488941 (http://www.
jstor.org/stable/488941).
• Lwarence, Hollendaisde (1958). Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 14: Genji Monogatari 1 (in Japanese). Tōkyō:
Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-060014-1.
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The Tale of Genji
• Yoda, Tomiko (December 1999). "Fractured Dialogues: Mono no aware and Poetic Communication in the Tale of
Genji". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 59 (2): 523–57. doi: 10.2307/2652721 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/
2652721). JSTOR 2652721 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2652721).
External links
• The Tale of Genji -- Oxford Text Archive (http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/headers/2245.xml) A complete English
translation of the work, free for non-commercial use.
• The Tale of Genji (http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/), Edward G. Seidensticker's translation.
• The Tale of Genji, 1654 (http://lcweb4.loc.gov/service/asian/asian0001/2005/2005html/20050415toc.html)
Library of Congress, Asian Division. The edition in the Library of Congress is a complete and well-preserved set
including the complete main text (54 volumes) of Tale of Genji, also Meyasu (3 volumes, commentary on key
words and phrases in the text, Keizu (genealogy), Yamaji no tsuyu (a sequel to the work by a later author), and
Hikiuta (index).
• Japanese Literature - Including Selections from Genji Monogatari and Classical Poetry and Drama of Japan
(http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19264) Contains the 1882 Suematsu translation of the first 17 chapters of The
Tale of Genji, with an introduction and notes.
• The Texts of Genji Monogatari (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/genji/index.html) Original text,
romanized version, and modern Japanese translation of The Tale of Genji at the University of Virginia Library.
• Tale of the Genji woodcuts (http://webworld.unesco.org/genji/en/index.shtml) Woodcut illustrations and
accompanying excerpts at the UNESCO Global Heritage Pavilion.
• The Picture Scroll of The Tale of Genji (http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/asian377/studentspring99/
asian377e/genji/) Some scans of the Genji Monogatari Emaki (Tale of Genji Scroll). Only about half of the
images are from the twelfth-century scroll; they are the darker colored, more faded images.
• The Tale of Genji (http://www.taleofgenji.org/) A photographic guide to The Tale of Genji.
• The Tale of Genji Audiobooks (http://jclab.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/the-tale-of-genji-audiobooks/)
Japanese reading of 7 of 54 chapters from the original text, mp3 files.
• Japan Finance Minister Announces Kyoto Coin Design with The Tale of Genji Theme (http://www.coinnews.
net/2008/06/25/japan-finance-minister-announces-kyoto-and-shimane-commemorative-coin-designs-4211/)
The Kyoto Prefecture commemorative coin set for release in October 2008 features a scene from The Tale of
Genji.
• Carving of Picture Scroll of Genji monogatari (http://www.isekatagami.com/en.genjil.html/) Paper carvings
by Noda Kazuko reproducing the 18 extant illustrations of the 13th-century Genji monogatari emaki.
• Ohmi Gallery (http://www.ohmigallery.com/) A nice collection of Ukiyo-e and Shin-hanga, including
illustrations of The Tale of Genji by such artists as Ebina Masao and Utagawa Kunisada.
• Tale of Genji Scroll 18th century anonymous artist (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~arth17/Genji.index.html)
Available at Darmouth College, it covers the first 16 chapters of the tale.
• The Tale of Genji by Miyata Masayuki (http://www.miyatamasayuki-kiri-e.jp/miyatamasayuki_homepage/
kiri_e_world_folder/newsite/) Paper cuts by renowned artist Miyata Masayuki.
• World Digital Library presentation of 源 氏 物 語 Genji monogatari: Volume One, Kiritsubo. (http://hdl.loc.
gov/loc.wdl/wdl.2930) Library of Congress. Primary source moveable type book. 1596-1615, first printed
edition of the world's first great novel.
42
Richard III (play)
43
Richard III (play)
Richard III is an historical play by William
Shakespeare, believed to have been written in
approximately 1592. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to
power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of
England.[1] The play is grouped among the histories in
the First Folio and is most often classified as such.
Occasionally, however, as in the quarto edition, it is
termed a tragedy. Richard III concludes Shakespeare's
first tetralogy (also containing Henry VI parts 1–3).
It is the second longest play in the canon after Hamlet,
and is the longest of the First Folio, whose version of
Hamlet is shorter than its Quarto counterpart. The play is
rarely performed unabridged; often, certain peripheral
characters are removed entirely. In such instances extra
lines are often invented or added from elsewhere in the
sequence to establish the nature of characters'
relationships. A further reason for abridgment is that
Shakespeare assumed that his audiences would be
familiar with the Henry VI plays, and frequently made
indirect references to events in them, such as Richard's
murder of Henry VI or the defeat of Henry's queen
Margaret.
Frontispage of the First Quarto Richard The Third
Richard III (play)
44
Characters
House of York
Earl of Richmond's group
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
King Edward IV – king of
England
Richard, Duke of Gloucester –
brother to Edward IV; later King
Richard III
George, Duke of Clarence –
Edward IV's brother
Duchess of York – Edward,
Richard and George's mother
Edward, Prince of Wales –
Edward IV's eldest son; later King
Edward V (never crowned)
Richard, Duke of York –
Edward IV's younger son
Boy – George's son
Girl – George's daughter
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond – Henry VI's nephew; later King Henry VII
Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby – Richmond's stepfather
[2]
Earl of Oxford
[3]
Sir Walter Herbert
[4]
Sir James Blunt
Sir William Brandon – Richmond's standard-bearer (non-speaking role)
Clergy
•
•
•
•
•
[5]
Archbishop of Canterbury
[6]
Archbishop of York
Bishop of Ely
Sir Christopher – chaplain of Stanley's household
John – priest
House of Lancaster
•
•
•
•
•
Queen Margaret – widow of
King Henry VI
Ghost of King Henry VI
Ghost of Edward of
Westminster, Prince of Wales –
Henry VI's son
Lady Anne Neville – widow of
Edward of Westminster; later
Queen to King Richard III
Tressel and Berkeley – Lady
Anne's attendants (non-speaking
roles)
Woodville family
Other Characters
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Queen Elizabeth – Queen to
King Edward IV
Earl Rivers – Elizabeth's brother
Marquis of Dorset – Elizabeth's
son (from a previous marriage)
Lord Richard Grey – Elizabeth's
son (from a previous marriage)
Sir Thomas Vaughan – ally of
Rivers and Grey
Richard III's group
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lord Hastings – Lord Chamberlain under Edward IV
Sir Robert Brackenbury – Lieutenant of the Tower
Lord Mayor of London
Scrivener
[9]
Keeper of the Tower
Three Citizens
[10]
Hastings – pursuivant
[11]
Sheriff of Wiltshire
Ghosts of Clarence, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan, Edward (Prince of Wales), Richard (Duke of York),
Hastings, Lady Anne and Buckingham
Lords, Messengers, Soldiers etc.
•
Duke of Buckingham
Other
Sir William Catesby
Duke of Norfolk
• Although they do not appear in the text of the play, many productions include as on-stage characters
[7]
Earl of Surrey – Norfolk's son
Jane Shore (Edward IV's mistress), Elizabeth of York (Edward IV's daughter, later queen consort to
Sir Richard Ratcliffe
Richmond (Henry VII)), and George Stanley (Lord Stanley's son, who is held hostage by Richard prior
Sir James Tyrrell – assassin
to the Battle of Bosworth Field)
[8]
Lord Lovel
Two Murderers
Richard's page
Richard III (play)
Synopsis
The play begins with Richard standing in "a street," describing the accession to the throne of his brother, King
Edward IV of England, eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York.
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
("sun of York" is a punning reference to the badge of the "blazing sun," which Edward IV adopted, and "son of
York", i.e., the son of the Duke of York.)
The speech reveals Richard's envy and ambition, as his brother rules the country successfully. Richard is an ugly
hunchback who is "rudely stamp'd", "deformed, unfinish'd", and cannot "strut before a wanton ambling nymph." He
responds to the anguish of his condition with an outcast's credo: "I am determined to prove a villain / And hate the
idle pleasures of these days." Richard plots to have his brother Clarence, who stands before him in the line of
succession, conducted to the Tower of London over a prophecy he bribed a soothsayer to finagle the suspicious King
with; that "G of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be", which the king interprets as referring to George of Clarence.
Richard now schemes to woo "the Lady Anne" – Anne Neville, widow of the Lancastrian Edward of Westminster,
Prince of Wales. He confides to the audience:
"I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.
What, though I kill'd her husband and her father?"
The scene then changes to reveal Lady Anne accompanying the corpse of the late king Henry VI, along with Trestle
and Berkeley, on its way to be interred at Paul's cathedral. She asks them to set down the "honourable load - if
honour may be shrouded in a hearse," and then laments the fate of the house of Lancaster. Richard suddenly appears
and demands that the "unmannerd dog" carrying the hearse set it down, at which point a brief verbal wrangling takes
place.
Despite initially hating him (and admonishing him "Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!"), Anne is won over by
his pleas of love and repentance and agrees to marry him. When she leaves, Richard exults in having won her over
despite all he has done to her, and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served her purpose.
The atmosphere at court is poisonous: The established nobles are at odds with the upwardly mobile relatives of
Queen Elizabeth, a hostility fuelled by Richard's machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns in
defiance of her banishment and warns the squabbling nobles about Richard. Queen Margaret curses Richard and the
rest who were present. The nobles, all Yorkists, reflexively unite against this last Lancastrian, and the warning falls
on deaf ears.
Richard orders two murderers to kill Clarence in the tower. Clarence, meanwhile, relates a dream to his keeper. The
dream includes vivid language describing Clarence falling from an imaginary ship as a result of Gloucester, who had
fallen from the hatches, striking him. Under the water Clarence sees the skeletons of thousands of men "that fishes
gnawed upon." He also sees "wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, inestimable stones, unvalued jewels." All
of these are "scatterd in the bottom of the sea." Clarence adds that some of the jewels were in the skulls of the dead.
He then imagines dying and being tormented by the ghosts of his father-in-law (Warwick, Anne's father) and
brother-in-law (Edward, Anne's former husband).
After Clarence falls asleep, Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, enters and observes that between the
titles of princes and the low names of commoners there is nothing different but the "outward fame", meaning that
they both have "inward toil" whether rich or poor. When the murderers arrive, he reads their warrant (issued in the
name of the King), and exits with the Keeper, who disobeys Clarence's request to stand by him, and leaves the two
murderers the keys.
45
Richard III (play)
46
Clarence wakes and pleads with the murderers, saying that men have no right to obey other men's requests for
murder, because all men are under the rule of God not to commit murder. The murderers imply Clarence is a
hypocrite because, as one says, "thou ... unripped'st the bowels of thy sovereign's son [Edward] whom thou wast
sworn to cherish and defend." Trying to win them over by tactics, he tells them to go to his brother Gloucester, who
will reward them better for his life than Edward will for his death. One murderer insists Gloucester himself sent them
to perform the bloody act, but Clarence does not believe him. He recalls the unity of Richard Duke of York blessing
his three sons with his victorious arm, bidding his brother Gloucester to "think on this and he will weep."
Sardonically, a murderer says Gloucester weeps millstones – echoing Richard's earlier comment about the
murderers' own eyes weeping millstones rather than "foolish tears" (Act I, Sc. 3).
Next, one of the murderers explains that his brother Gloucester hates him, and sent them to the Tower to kill him.
Eventually, one murderer gives in to his conscience and does not participate, but the other killer stabs Clarence and
drowns him in "the Malmsey butt within". The first act closes with the perpetrator needing to find a hole to bury
Clarence.
Richard uses the news of Clarence's unexpected death to send Edward IV, already ill, into his deathbed, all the while
insinuating that the Queen is behind the execution of Clarence. Edward IV soon dies, leaving as Protector his brother
Richard, who sets about removing the final obstacles to his accession. He has Lord Rivers murdered to further isolate
the Queen and to put down any attempts to have the Prince crowned right away. He meets his nephew, the young
Edward V, who is en route to London for his coronation accompanied by relatives of Edward's widow (Lord
Hastings, Lord Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan). These Richard arrests, and eventually beheads, and then has a
conversation with the Prince and his younger brother, the duke of York. The two princes outsmart Richard and
match his wordplay and use of language easily. Richard is nervous about them, and the potential threat they are. The
young prince and his brother are coaxed (by Richard) into an extended stay at the Tower of London. The prince and
his brother the duke of York prove themselves to be extremely intelligent and charismatic characters, boldly defying
and outsmarting Richard and openly mocking him.
Assisted by his cousin Buckingham, Richard mounts a campaign to present himself as the true heir to the throne,
pretending to be a modest, devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Lord Hastings, who objects to Richard's
accession, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge of treason. Together, Richard and Buckingham spread
the rumour that Edward's two sons are illegitimate, and therefore have no rightful claim to the throne; they are
assisted by Catesby, Ratcliffe, and Lovell. The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as king, in spite of the
continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).
Richard asks Buckingham to secure the death of the princes, but
Buckingham hesitates. Richard then recruits James Tyrrell, who kills
both children. When Richard denies Buckingham a promised land
grant, Buckingham turns against Richard and defects to the side of
Henry, Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile. Richard has his
eye on his niece, Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's next remaining heir,
and poisons Lady Anne so he can be free to woo the princess. The
Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth mourn the princes' deaths, when
Queen Margaret arrives. Queen Elizabeth, as predicted, asks Queen
Margaret's help in cursing. Later, the Duchess applies this lesson and
curses her only surviving son before leaving. Richard asks Queen
Elizabeth to help him win her daughter's hand in marriage, but she is
not taken in by his eloquence, and eventually manages to trick and stall
him by saying she will let him know her daughter's answer in due
course.
English actor David Garrick as Richard III just
before the battle of Bosworth Field. His sleep
having been haunted by the ghosts of those he has
murdered, he wakes to the realisation that he is
alone in the world and death is imminent. The
painting, David Garrick as Richard III (1745), is
by William Hogarth.
Richard III (play)
In due course, the increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had. He soon faces rebellions led first by
Buckingham and subsequently by the invading Richmond. Buckingham is captured and executed. Both sides arrive
for a final battle at Bosworth Field. Prior to the battle, Richard is visited by the ghosts of his victims, all of whom tell
him to "Despair and die!" after which they wish victory upon Richmond. He awakes screaming for "Jesu" to help
him, slowly realising that he is all alone in the world, and cannot even pity himself.
At the battle of Bosworth Field, Lord Stanley (who is also Richmond's stepfather) and his followers desert Richard's
side, whereupon Richard calls for the execution of George Stanley, Lord Stanley's son. This does not happen, as the
battle is in full swing, and Richard is left at a disadvantage. Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the
battle, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" Richmond kills Richard in the final duel.
Subsequently, Richmond succeeds to the throne as Henry VII, and marries Princess Elizabeth from the House of
York.
Date and text
Richard III is believed to be one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, preceded only by the three parts of Henry VI and
perhaps a handful of comedies. It is believed to have been written c. 1591. Although Richard III was entered into the
Register of the Stationers Company on 20 October 1597, by the bookseller Andrew Wise, who published the first
Quarto (Q1) later that year (with printing done by Valentine Simmes),[12] Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, which
cannot have been written much later than 1592 (Marlowe died in 1593) is thought to have been influenced by it. A
second Quarto (Q2) followed in 1598, printed by Thomas Creede for Andrew Wise, containing an attribution to
Shakespeare on its title page.[13] Q3 appeared in 1602, Q4 in 1605, Q5 in 1612, and Q6 in 1622; the frequency
attesting to its popularity. The First Folio version followed in 1623.
The Folio is the longer than the Quarto, and contains some fifty additional passages amounting to more than two
hundred lines. However, the Quarto contains some twenty-seven passages amounting to about thirty-seven lines
which are absent from the Folio.:p.2 The two texts also contain hundreds of other differences which include: the
transposition of words within speeches; the movement of words from one speech to another; the replacement of
words with near-synonyms; and many changes in grammar and spelling.:p.2
At one time it was thought that the Quarto represented a separate revision of the play by Shakespeare. However since
the Quarto contains many changes which can only be regarded as mistakes, it is now widely believed that the Quarto
was produced by memorial reconstruction.:p.3–10 It is thought likely that the Quarto was collectively produced by a
company of actors remembering their lines. It is unknown why the actors did this, but it may have been to replace a
missing prompt book.:p.19–21 The Folio is regarded as having much higher authority than the Quarto, but because the
Folio edition was collated by the printers against a Quarto (probably Q3), some errors from the Quarto found their
way into the Folio.:p.2 Some parts of the Folio (the beginning of Act III and much of Act V) are clearly copied, with
little change, direct from the Quarto.:p.33 The Folio also has it own corruptions and omissions, and corrections have
to be supplied, where possible, from the Quarto.:p.50
Themes
Comedic elements
The play resolutely avoids demonstrations of physical violence; only Richard dies on-stage, while the rest (Clarence,
the two princes, Hastings, Brackenbury, Grey, Vaughan, Rivers, Anne, Buckingham, and King Edward) all meet
their ends off-stage. Despite the villainous nature of the title character and the grim storyline, Shakespeare infuses
the action with comic material, as he does with most of his tragedies. Much of the humour rises from the dichotomy
between how Richard's character is known and how Richard tries to appear.
Richard himself also provides some dry remarks in evaluating the situation, as when he plans to marry Queen
Elizabeth's daughter: "Murder her brothers, then marry her; Uncertain way of gain ..." Other examples of humour in
47
Richard III (play)
48
this play include Clarence's reluctant murderers, and the Duke of Buckingham's report on his attempt to persuade the
Londoners to accept Richard ("... I bid them that did love their country's good cry, God save Richard, England's royal
king!" Richard: "And did they so?" Buckingham: "No, so God help me, they spake not a word ...") Puns, a
Shakespearean staple, are especially well represented in the scene where Richard tries to persuade Queen Elizabeth
to woo her daughter on his behalf.
Free will and fatalism
Queen Margaret: "Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive,
rooting hog!" Act 1, Scene III. The boar was
Richard's personal symbol: Bronze boar mount
thought to have been worn by a supporter of
Richard III.
One of the central themes of Richard III is the idea of fate, especially
as it is seen through the tension between free will and fatalism in
Richard's actions and speech, as well as the reactions to him by other
characters. There is no doubt that Shakespeare drew heavily on Sir
Thomas More's account of Richard III as a criminal and tyrant as
inspiration for his own rendering. This influence, especially as it
relates to the role of divine punishment in Richard's rule of England,
reaches its height in the voice of Margaret. Janis Lull suggests that
"Margaret gives voice to the belief, encouraged by the growing
Calvinism of the Elizabethan era, that individual historical events are
determined by God, who often punishes evil with (apparent) evil".:p.6–8
Thus it seems possible that Shakespeare, in conforming to the growing
"Tudor Myth" of the day, as well as taking into account new theologies
of divine action and human will becoming popular in the wake of the
Protestant Reformation, sought to paint Richard as the final curse of God on England in punishment for the
deposition of Richard II in 1399.:p.6–8 Irving Ribner argued that "the evil path of Richard is a cleansing operation
which roots evil out of society and restores the world at last to the God-ordained goodness embodied in the new rule
of Henry VII".:p.62
Marxist scholar Victor Kiernan writes that this interpretation is a perfect fit with the English social perspective of
Shakespeare's day: "An extension is in progress of a privileged class's assurance of preferential treatment in the next
world as in this, to a favoured nation's conviction of having God on its side, of Englishmen being ... the new Chosen
People".:p.111–112 As Elizabethan England was slowly colonising the world, the populace embraced the view of its
own Divine Right and Appointment to do so, much as Richard does in Shakespeare's play.
However, historical fatalism is merely one side of the argument of fate versus free will. It is also possible that
Shakespeare intended to portray Richard as "... a personification of the Machiavellian view of history as power
politics".:p.6–8 In this view, Richard is acting entirely out of his own free will in brutally taking hold of the English
throne. Kiernan also presents this side of the coin, noting that Richard "boasts to us of his finesse in dissembling and
deception with bits of Scripture to cloak his 'naked villainy' (I.iii.334–8)...Machiavelli, as Shakespeare may want us
to realise, is not a safe guide to practical politics".:p.111–112
Kiernan suggests that Richard is merely acting as if God is determining his every step in a sort of Machiavellian
manipulation of religion as an attempt to circumvent the moral conscience of those around him. Therefore, historical
determinism is merely an illusion perpetrated by Richard's assertion of his own free will. The Machiavellian reading
of the play finds evidence in Richard's interactions with the audience, as when he mentions that he is "determinèd to
prove a villain" (I.i.30). However, though it seems Richard views himself as completely in control, Lull suggests that
Shakespeare is using Richard to state "the tragic conception of the play in a joke. His primary meaning is that he
controls his own destiny. His pun also has a second, contradictory meaning—that his villainy is predestined—and
the strong providentialism of the play ultimately endorses this meaning".:p.6–8
Richard III (play)
Literary critic Paul Haeffner writes that Shakespeare had a great understanding of language and the potential of
every word he used.:p.56–60 One word that Shakespeare gave potential to was "joy". This is employed in Act I,
Scene III, where it is used to show "deliberate emotional effect".:p.56–60 Another word that Haeffner points out is
"kind", which he suggests is used with two different definitions.
The first definition is used to express a "gentle and loving" being, which Clarence uses to describe his brother
Richard to the murderers that were sent to kill him. This definition is not true, as Richard uses a gentle façade to
seize the throne. The second definition concerns "the person's true nature ... Richard will indeed use Hastings
kindly—that is, just as he is in the habit of using people—brutally".:p.56–60
Haeffner also writes about how speech is written. He compares the speeches of Richmond and Richard to their
soldiers. He describes Richmond's speech as "dignified" and formal, while Richard's speech is explained as "slangy
and impetuous".:p.56–60 Richard's casualness in speech is also noted by another writer. However, Lull does not make
the comparison between Richmond and Richard as Haeffner does, but between Richard and the women in his life.
However, it is important to the women share the formal language that Richmond uses. She makes the argument that
the difference in speech "reinforces the thematic division between the women's identification with the social group
and Richard's individualism".:p.22–23 Haeffner agrees that Richard is "an individualist, hating dignity and
formality".:p.56–60
Janis Lull also takes special notice of the mourning women. She suggests that they are associated with "figures of
repetition as anaphora—beginning each clause in a sequence with the same word—and epistrophe—repeating the
same word at the end of each clause".:p.22–23 One example of the epistrophe can be found in Margaret's speech in
Act I, Scene III. Haeffner refers to these as few of many "devices and tricks of style" that occur in the play,
showcasing Shakespeare's ability to bring out the potential of every word.:p.56–60
Richard as anti-hero
Throughout the play, Richard's character constantly changes and shifts and, in doing so, alters the dramatic structure
of the story.
Richard immediately establishes a connection with the audience with his opening monologue. In the soliloquy he
admits his amorality to the audience but at the same time treats them as if they were co-conspirators in his plotting;
one may well be enamored by his rhetoric[14] while being appalled by his scheming. Richard shows off his wit in
Act I, as seen in the interchanges with Lady Anne (Act I, Scene II) and his brother Clarence (Act I, Scene I). In his
dialogues Act I, Richard knowingly refers to thoughts he has only previously shared with the audience to keep the
audience attuned to him and his objectives. In 1.1, Richard tells the audience in a soliloquy how he plans to claw his
way to the throne—killing his brother Clarence as a necessary step to get there. However, Richard pretends to be
Clarence's friend, falsely reassures him by saying, "I will deliver you, or else lie for you" (1.1.115); which the
audience knows—and Richard tells us after Clarence's exit—is the exact opposite of what he plans to do.:p.37 Scholar
Michael E. Mooney describes Richard as occupying a "figural position"; he is able to move in and out of it by talking
with the audience on one level, and interacting with other characters on another.:p.33
Each scene in Act I is book-ended by Richard directly addressing the audience. This action on Richard's part not
only keeps him in control of the dramatic action of the play, but also of how the audience sees him: in a somewhat
positive light, or as the protagonist.:p.32–33 Richard actually embodies the dramatic character of "Vice" from
Medieval mystery plays – with which Shakespeare was very familiar from his time – with his "impish-to-fiendish
humour". Like Vice, Richard is able to render what is ugly and evil – his thoughts and aims, his view of other
characters – into what is charming and amusing for the audience.:p.38
In the earlier acts of the play, too, the role of the antagonist is filled by that of the old Lancastrian queen, Margaret,
who is reviled by the Yorkists and whom Richard manipulates and condemns in Act I, Scene III.
However, after Act I, the number and quality of Richard's asides to the audience decrease significantly, as well as
multiple scenes are interspersed that do not include Richard at all,:p.44 but average Citizens (Act II, Scene III), or the
49
Richard III (play)
Duchess of York and Clarence's children (Act II, Scene II), who are as moral as Richard is evil. Without Richard
guiding the audience through the dramatic action, the audience is left to evaluate for itself what is going on. In
Act IV, Scene IV, after the murder of the two young princes and the ruthless murder of Lady Anne, the women of
the play – Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, and even Margaret – gather to mourn their state and to curse
Richard; and it is difficult as the audience not to sympathise with them. When Richard enters to bargain with Queen
Elizabeth for her daughter's hand – a scene whose form echoes the same rhythmically quick dialogue as the Lady
Anne scene in Act I – he has lost his vivacity and playfulness for communication; it is obvious he is not the same
man.:p.32–33
By the end of Act IV everyone else in the play, including Richard's own mother, the Duchess, has turned against
him. He does not interact with the audience nearly as much, and the inspiring quality of his speech has declined into
merely giving and requiring information. As Richard gets closer to seizing the crown, he encloses himself within the
world of the play; no longer embodying his facile movement in and out of the dramatic action, he is now stuck
firmly within it.:p.47 It is from Act IV that Richard really begins his rapid decline into truly being the antagonist.
Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt notes how Richard even refers to himself as "the formal Vice, Iniquity"
(3.1.82), which informs the audience that he knows what his function is; but also like Vice in the morality plays, the
fates will turn and get Richard in the end, which Elizabethan audiences would have recognised.[15]Wikipedia:Citing
sources#What information to include
In addition, the character of Richmond enters into the play in Act V to overthrow Richard and save the state from his
tyranny, effectively being the instantaneous new protagonist. Richmond is a clear contrast to Richard's evil character,
which makes the audience see him as such.:p.32
Performance
The earliest certain performance occurred on 16 or 17 November 1633,
when Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria watched it on the Queen's
birthday.:p.81–82 The Diary of Philip Henslowe records a popular play
he calls Buckingham, performed in December 1593 and January 1594,
which might have been Shakespeare's play.
Colley Cibber produced the most successful of the Restoration
adaptations of Shakespeare with his version of Richard III, at Drury
Lane starting in 1700. Cibber himself played the role till 1739, and his
version was on stage for the next century and a half. It contained the
line "Off with his head; so much for Buckingham" – possibly the most
famous Shakespearean line that Shakespeare did not write. The
original Shakespearean version returned in a production at Sadler's
Wells Theatre in 1845.:p.102 & 414
Most film versions of Richard III feature actors who had previously
played Richard on stage. The two best-known film versions are those
with Laurence Olivier and Ian McKellen. McKellen's film is directly
C. 1884 poster advertising an American
based on an earlier stage production set in a Nazified England of the
production of the play, showing many key scenes.
1930s, which toured Europe for six years to sell-out crowds prior to
being shortly thereafter adapted to film. McKellen wrote the
screenplay for his film version, although he did not direct it. Olivier played Richard on stage for quite a few years in
the 1940s before making a film of it in 1955. His film performance, if not the production as a whole, is heavily based
on his earlier stage rendition. The Al Pacino film Looking for Richard is a documentary of rehearsals of specific
scenes from the play, and a meditation on the play's significance. Pacino had played the role on stage 15 years
50
Richard III (play)
earlier. In 2011, well-known film actor Kevin Spacey starred in an Old Vic production which subsequently toured
the United States, directed by well-known stage and film director Sam Mendes. No plans for a film version have
been announced. Spacey had played the role of Richard's henchman, the Duke of Buckingham, in the Pacino film.
Notable stage performers of Richard III
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
F. Murray Abraham
John Barrymore
Simon Russell Beale
Junius Brutus Booth
John Wilkes Booth
Kenneth Branagh
Richard Burbage
Ramaz Chkhikvadze
Ron Cook
Peter Dinklage
David Garrick
Alec Guinness
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ciarán Hinds
Ian Holm
Edmund Kean
Anton Lesser
Ian McKellen
Seana McKenna
Michael Moriarty
Laurence Olivier
Al Pacino
Ian Richardson
Mark Rylance
Antony Sher (Sher's book, The Year of the King, is a diary about his preparation for the role, which he played on
crutches, at Stratford in 1985.)
• Kevin Spacey
• Barry Sullivan
• Donald Wolfit
Adaptations and cultural references
Film
The most famous player of the part in recent times was Laurence Olivier in his 1955 film version. Olivier's film
incorporates a few scenes and speeches from Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part III and Cibber's rewrite of Shakespeare's
play, but cuts entirely the characters of Queen Margaret and the Duchess of York, and Richard's soliloquy after
seeing the ghosts of his victims. Olivier has Richard seduce Lady Anne while mourning over the corpse of her
husband rather than her father-in-law as in the play. Olivier's rendition has been parodied by many comedians,
including Peter Cook and Peter Sellers. Sellers, who had aspirations to do the role straight, appeared in a 1965 TV
special on The Beatles' music by reciting "A Hard Day's Night" in the style of Olivier's Richard III. The first episode
of the BBC television comedy Blackadder in part parodies the Olivier film, visually (as in the crown motif), Peter
Cook's performance as a benevolent Richard, and by mangling Shakespearean text ("Now is the summer of our
sweet content made o'ercast winter by these Tudor clouds ...")
51
Richard III (play)
Richard Loncraine's 1995 film, starring Ian McKellen, is set in a fictional fascist England in the 1930s, and based on
an earlier highly successful stage production. Only about half the text of the play is used. The first part of his Now is
the winter of our discontent... soliloquy is a public speech, while the second part is a private monologue. The famous
final line of Richard's A horse, my kingdom for a horse is spoken when his jeep becomes trapped in debris.
In 2002 the story of Richard III was re-told in a movie about gang culture called The Street King.
In 1996, a pristine print of Richard III (1912), starring Frederick Warde in the title role, was discovered by a private
collector and donated to the American Film Institute. The 55-minute film is considered to be the earliest surviving
American feature film.
Television
The BBC Television Shakespeare version, first broadcast in 1983, starred Ron Cook as Richard.
References in popular culture
The 2010 film, The King's Speech, features a scene where the king's speech therapist Lionel Logue, as played by
Geoffrey Rush, auditions for the role by reciting the lines, "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious
summer by this sun [or son] of York". Shakespeare critic Keith Jones believes that the film in general sets up its
main character as a kind of antithesis to Richard III.[16] The same antithesis was noted by conservative commentator
Noah Millman[17]
The film Being John Malkovich has many Shakespeare allusions, including a scene in which Malkovich is shown
rehearsing Richard III's lines "Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? / Was ever woman in this humour won?"
where Richard is boasting about using power, lies, and crime to seduce Lady Anne. As Visual Cultures professor
Lynn Turner notes, this scene anticipates a parallel scene in which Craig uses deceit to seduce Maxine through
Malkovich.[18] Mariangela Tempera has noted that the subservience of Lady Anne in the scene contrasts with the
self-assertiveness of the actress playing Lady Anne as she seduces Malkovich offstage.[19]
Adam Sandler's 2011 film Jack and Jill features Al Pacino reprising his role of Richard III, although the movie
scenes are modified as Pacino interacts with the audience in a heavily comedic way. Multiple reviewers who panned
the film regarded Pacino as the best element of the film.[20]
In Freaked, an arrogant movie star who has been transformed into a "hideous mutant freak" makes use of his
deformity by performing the opening soliloquy, condensed by a local professor in subtitles for the "culturally
illiterate" to the more succinct "I'm ugly. I never get laid." One reviewer mentioned this as the best example of how
the film seamlessly moves between highbrow and lowbrow culture.[21]
In The Goodbye Girl, an ambitious actor played by Richard Dreyfus is forced by his off-Broadway producer to play
Richard III as a caricature of a homosexual.
In the Red Dwarf episode Marooned, Rimmer objects to Lister's burning of the Complete Works of Shakespeare in
an attempt to maintain enough heat to keep him alive. When challenged, Rimmer claims he can quote from it and
embarks upon the soliloquy: "Now!...That's all I can remember. You know! That famous speech from Richard III –
'now, something something something something.'"
Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, sings "My kingdom for a horse" in the song "Lily of the Valley" on the album
Sheer Heart Attack (1974).
John Steinbeck used the opening line for the title of his novel, The Winter of Our Discontent.
The phrase "Winter of Discontent" is an expression, popularised by the British media, referring to the winter of
1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by local authority trade unions
demanding larger pay rises for their members.
52
Richard III (play)
Notes
[1] Baldwin (2000, pp 1–2)
[2] Oxford is identified by name only in the Folio text. In the quartos, he is simply "First Lord".
[3] Herbert is identified by name only in the Folio text. In the quartos, he is simply "Second Lord".
[4] Although Blunt is identified by name in 5.4 of both the Folio text and the quartos, he is also referred to as "Third Lord" in 5.2 of the quartos.
[5] Identified only in the Folio text; in the quartos, he is simply "Cardinal", and is amalgamated with the Archbishop of York.
[6] Identified only in the Folio text; in the quartos, he is simply "Cardinal", and is amalgamated with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
[7] Surrey appears only in the Folio text; his lines in 5.3 are assigned to Catesby in the quartos.
[8] Lovell appears only in the Folio text; in the quartos, his line in 3.4 is absent and his line in 3.5 is spoken by Catesby.
[9] Appears only in the Folio text; in the quartos, his lines in 1.4 are spoken by Sir Robert Brackenbury.
[10] The pursuivant is identified as Hastings only in the quartos; in the Folio text he is referred to as "sirrah".
[11] Wiltshire appears only in the Folio text; his lines in 5.1 are assigned to Ratcliffe in the quartos.
[12] (http:/ / www. s4ulanguages. com/ william. html) See title page of facsimile of the original 1st edition (1597)
[13] British Library
[14] Sila Senlen. "Chapter 3:Rhetoric in the Hands of the Machiavellian Villain: William Shakespeare's Richard III". In Words as Swords:
Verbal Violence as a Construction of Authority in Renaissance and Contemporary English Drama. Stuttgart: ibidem verlag, 2009.60-95.
[15] Greenblatt pp.33–34
[16] Shakespeare in King's Speech (http:/ / bardfilm. blogspot. com/ 2011/ 01/ shakespeare-in-kings-speech. html)
[17] "Weekly Double Feature: Richard III and The King’s Speech" in The American Conservative (http:/ / www. theamericanconservative. com/
millman/ weekly-double-feature-feature-richard-iii-and-the-kings-speech/ )
[18] "Translating John Malkovich" by Lynn Turner originally published in Translations- Performance Research 2002 – Volume 7 , No. 2, June
(http:/ / goldsmiths. academia. edu/ LynnTurner/ Papers/ 106030/ Translating_John_Malkovich)
[19] Essay: "Winter and Horses: References to Richard III on film and television"
[20] Just How Good Is Al Pacino In Jack and Jill (http:/ / www. grantland. com/ blog/ hollywood-prospectus/ post/ _/ id/ 37403/
just-how-good-is-al-pacino-in-jack-and-jill)
[21] WTF:Freaked (http:/ / spectrumculture. com/ 2011/ 02/ wtf-freaked. html/ )
Citations
Editions of Richard III
• Bate, Jonathan and Rasmussen, Eric (eds.) Richard III (The RSC Shakespeare; London: Macmillan, 2008)
• Davison, Peter (ed.) The First Quarto of King Richard III (The New Cambridge Shakespeare; Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996)
• de Somogyi, Nick (ed.) Richard III: The Tragedy of Richard the Third (The Shakespeare Folios; London: Nick
Hern Books, 2002)
• Dover Wilson, John (ed.) Richard III (The New Shakespeare; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954;
revised edition 1961)
• Eccles, Mark (ed.) The Tragedy of King Richard III (Signet Classic Shakespeare; New York: Signet, 1964;
revised edition, 1988; 2nd revised edition 1998)
• Evans, G. Blakemore (ed.) Richard III (The Pelican Shakespeare; London: Penguin, 1959; revised edition 1969)
• ———. The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974; 2nd edn., 1997)
• Greenblatt, Stephen; Cohen, Walter; Howard, Jean E. and Maus, Katharine Eisaman (eds.) The Norton
Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Shakespeare (London: Norton, 1997)
• Greg, W.W. (ed.) Richard III, 1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959)
• Hammond, Anthony (ed.) King Richard III (The Arden Shakespeare, 2nd Series; London: Arden, 1981)
• Holland, Peter (ed.) Richard III (The Pelican Shakespeare, 2nd edition; London: Penguin, 2000)
• Honigmann, E.A.J. (ed.) Richard III (The New Penguin Shakespeare; London: Penguin, 1968; revised edition,
1995)
• Jowett, John (ed.) Richard III (The Oxford Shakespeare; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
• Lull, Janis (ed.) King Richard III (The New Cambridge Shakespeare; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1999; 2nd edition 2009)
53
Richard III (play)
• Siemon, James R. (ed.) King Richard III (The Arden Shakespeare, 3rd Series; London: Arden, 2009)
• Taylor, Michael (ed.) Richard III (The New Penguin Shakespeare, 2nd edition; London: Penguin, 2005)
• Thompson, A. Hamilton (ed.) The Tragedy of King Richard the Third (The Arden Shakespeare, 1st Series;
London: Arden, 1907)
• Wells, Stanley; Taylor, Gary; Jowett, John and Montgomery, William (eds.) The Oxford Shakespeare: The
Complete Works (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986; 2nd edn., 2005)
• Werstine, Paul and Mowat, Barbara A. (eds.) Richard III (Folger Shakespeare Library; Washington: Simon &
Schuster, 2004)
External links
• Richard the Third (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1103) on Project Gutenberg
• William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the third (London: Andrew Wise, 1597) (http://www.
pierre-marteau.com/editions/1597-richard-iii.html) – HTML version of the first edition.
• Full text of Shakespeare's play (http://www.r3.org/bookcase/shaksper/) – annotated with excerpts from the
standard biography to provide comparison with the historical Richard III, from the Richard III Society, American
Branch.
• Painting of 'David Garrick as Richard III' by William Hogarth (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/
collections/18c/hogarth.asp) at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
• "Now is the winter of our discontent" Soliloquy translated into modern English (http://www.
nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/now-is-the-winter-of-our-discontent/)
• Lesson plans for Richard III (http://webenglishteacher.com/richard3.html) at Web English Teacher
• An interactive interview with Sir Ian McKellen. (http://www.stageworkmckellen.com/) He discusses the
opening speech, Richard III and Shakespeare.
54
Emma
55
Emma
Emma
Title page of first volume
Author
Jane Austen
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Genre
Novel
Publisher
John Murray
Publication date December 1815;
title page says 1816
Media type
Print
Preceded by
Mansfield Park
Followed by
Northanger Abbey
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first
published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women
living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters.
Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like."[1]
In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich."
Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own
matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and
perceptions often lead her astray.
Plot summary
Emma Woodhouse, aged 20 at the start of the novel, is a young, beautiful, witty, and privileged woman in Regency
England. She lives on the fictional estate of Hartfield in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her elderly widowed
father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones. Emma's friend and
only critic is the gentlemanly George Knightley, her neighbour from the adjacent estate of Donwell, and the brother
of her elder sister Isabella's husband, John. As the novel opens, Emma has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor,
her best friend and former governess. Having introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband, Mr. Weston, Emma
takes credit for their marriage, and decides that she rather likes matchmaking.
Against Mr. Knightley's advice, Emma forges ahead with her new interest, and tries to match her new friend Harriet
Smith, a sweet, pretty, but none-too-bright parlour boarder of seventeen —described as "the natural daughter of
somebody" i.e. the illegitimate daughter of someone — to Mr. Elton, the local vicar. Emma becomes convinced that
Emma
Mr. Elton's constant attentions are a result of his attraction and growing love for Harriet.
But before events can unfold as she plans, Emma must first persuade Harriet to refuse an advantageous marriage
proposal. Her suitor is a respectable, educated, and well-spoken young farmer, Robert Martin, but Emma snobbishly
decides he isn't good enough for Harriet. Against her own wishes, the easily-influenced Harriet rejects Mr. Martin.
Emma's schemes go awry when Mr. Elton, a social climber, fancies Emma is in love with him and proposes to her.
Emma's friends had suggested that Mr. Elton's attentions were really directed at her, but she had misread the signs.
Emma, rather shocked and a bit insulted, tells Mr. Elton that she had thought him attached to Harriet; however Elton
is outraged at the very idea of marrying the socially inferior Harriet. After Emma rejects Mr. Elton, he leaves for a
while for a sojourn in Bath, and Harriet fancies herself heartbroken. Emma feels dreadful about misleading Harriet
and resolves—briefly—to interfere less in people's lives.
Mr. Elton, as Emma's misconceptions of his character melt away, reveals himself to be arrogant, resentful, and
pompous. He soon returns from Bath with a pretentious, nouveau-riche wife who becomes part of Emma's social
circle, though the two women soon loathe each other. The Eltons treat the still lovestruck Harriet deplorably,
culminating with Mr Elton very publicly snubbing Harriet at a dance. Mr Knightley, who had until this moment
refrained from dancing, gallantly steps in to partner Harriet, much to Emma's gratification.
An interesting development is the arrival in the neighbourhood of the handsome and charming Frank Churchill, Mr.
Weston's son, who had been given to his deceased wife's wealthy brother and his wife, the Churchills, to raise.
Frank, who is now Mrs. Weston's stepson, and Emma have never met, but she has a long-standing interest in doing
so. The whole neighborhood takes a fancy to him, with the partial exception of Mr. Knightley, who becomes
uncharacteristically grumpy whenever his name is mentioned and suggests to Emma that while Frank is clever and
engaging, he is also a rather shallow character.
A third newcomer is the orphaned Jane Fairfax, the reserved, beautiful, and elegant niece of Emma's impoverished
neighbour, the talkative Miss Bates, who lives with her deaf, widowed mother. Miss Bates is an aging spinster,
well-meaning but increasingly poor; Emma strives to be polite and kind to her, but is irritated by her constant
chattering. Jane, very gifted musically, is Miss Bates' pride and joy; Emma envies her talent, and although she has
known Jane all her life has never warmed to her personally. Jane had lived with Miss Bates until she was nine, but
Colonel Campbell, a friend of her father's, welcomed her into his own home, where she became fast friends with his
daughter and received a first-rate education. But now Miss Campbell has married, and the accomplished but
penniless Jane has returned to her Bates relations, ostensibly to regain her health and to prepare to earn her living as
a governess. Emma is annoyed to find the entire neighborhood, including Mrs. Weston and Mr. Knightley, singing
Jane's praises, but when Mrs. Elton, who fancies herself the new leader of Highbury society, patronizingly takes Jane
under her wing and announces that she will find her the ideal governess post, Emma begins to feel some sympathy
for Jane's predicament.
Still, Emma sees something mysterious in Jane's sudden return to Highbury and imagines that Jane and Miss
Campbell's husband, Mr. Dixon, were mutually attracted, and that is why she has come home instead of going to
Ireland to visit them. She shares her suspicions with Frank, who had become acquainted with Jane and the
Campbells when they met at a vacation spot a year earlier, and he apparently agrees with her. Suspicions are further
fueled when a piano, sent by an anonymous benefactor, arrives for Jane.
Emma tries to make herself fall in love with Frank largely because almost everyone seems to expect it. Frank
appears to be courting Emma, and the two flirt and banter together in public, at parties, and on a day-trip to Box Hill,
a local beauty spot. However, when his demanding and ailing aunt, Mrs. Churchill, summons Frank home, Emma
discovers she does not miss her "lover" nearly as much as she expected and sets about plotting a match between him
and Harriet, who seems to have finally got over Mr. Elton. Harriet breathlessly reports that Frank has "saved" her
from a band of Gypsies, and seems to be confessing her admiration for him. Meanwhile, Mrs. Weston wonders if
Emma's old friend Mr. Knightley has taken a fancy to Jane. Emma immediately dismisses that idea and protests that
she does not want Mr. Knightley to marry anyone, and that her little nephew Henry must inherit Donwell, the
56
Emma
Knightley family property.
When Mr. Knightley scolds her for a thoughtless insult to Miss Bates, Emma is stunned and ashamed and tries to
atone by going to visit Miss Bates. Mr. Knightley is surprised and deeply impressed by Emma's recognition of her
wrongdoing, but this meaningful rapprochement is broken off when he announces he must leave for London to visit
his brother. Meanwhile, Jane reportedly becomes ill, but refuses to see Emma or accept her gifts, and it is suddenly
announced that she has accepted a governess position from one of Mrs. Elton's friends.
On the heels of this comes word that Frank Churchill's aunt has died, and with it the astonishing news that Frank and
Jane have been secretly engaged since they first met on holiday a year ago. They had been keeping the engagement
quiet because they knew that Frank's imperious aunt would disapprove and likely disinherit him if he went through
with the match. The strain of the clandestine relationship had been much harder on the conscientious Jane than the
carefree Frank, and the two had quarreled bitterly; but now that his aunt has died, his easygoing uncle has already
given his blessing. The engagement becomes public, the secrets behind Jane and Frank's behavior are revealed, and
Emma is chagrined to discover that once again she has been so wrong about so much.
Emma is certain that Harriet will be devastated by Frank's engagement, but Harriet reassures her that this is not the
case. In fact, Harriet tells Emma, it is Mr. Knightley who has captured her heart, and she believes he returns her
feelings. Emma is dumbstruck over what she at first thinks is the impropriety of the match, but as she faces her
feelings of dismay and jealousy, she realizes in a flash that she has long been in love with Mr. Knightley herself. She
is shattered to think that it may be too late and resolves to support her dear friends in whatever they do, even at the
cost of her own broken heart. However, when Mr. Knightley hurries back to Highbury to console Emma over what
he imagines to be the loss of Frank Churchill, she discovers that he is also in love with her. He proposes and she
joyfully accepts.
There is one more match to be made: With encouragement from Mr. Knightley, the farmer, Robert Martin, proposes
again to Harriet, and this time she accepts. Jane and Emma reconcile and all misunderstandings are cleared up before
Jane and Frank leave for their wedding and life with his uncle in Yorkshire. Emma and Mr. Knightley decide that
after their marriage they will live with Emma's father at Hartfield to spare Mr. Woodhouse loneliness and distress.
They seem all set for a union of "perfect happiness," to the great joy of their friends. Mrs. Weston gives birth to a
baby girl, to the great satisfaction of Emma, who looks forward to introducing little Miss Weston to her young
nephews.
Principal characters
Emma Woodhouse, the protagonist of the story, is a beautiful, high-spirited, intelligent, and 'slightly' spoiled young
woman of the age of twenty. Her mother died when she was very young, and she has been mistress of the house ever
since, certainly since her older sister got married. Although intelligent, she lacks the necessary discipline to practice
or study anything in depth. She is portrayed as very compassionate to the poor, but at the same time has a strong
sense of class. Her affection for and patience towards her hypochondriac father are also noteworthy. While she is in
many ways mature for her age, Emma makes some serious mistakes, mainly due to her conviction that she is always
right and her lack of real world experience. Although she has vowed she will never ever marry, she delights in
making matches for others. She seems unable to fall in love, until she realises at the end that she has loved Mr.
Knightley all along.
George Knightley, about thirty-seven years old, is a close friend of Emma, and her only critic, although he cares
deeply for her. Mr. Knightley is the owner of the estate of Donwell Abbey, which includes extensive grounds and a
farm. He is the elder brother of Mr. John Knightley, the husband of Emma's elder sister Isabella. Mr. Knightley is
very annoyed with Emma for persuading Harriet to turn down Mr. Martin, thinking that the advantage is all on
Harriet's side; he also warns Emma against matchmaking Harriet with Mr. Elton, correctly guessing that Mr. Elton
has a much higher opinion of himself, and will 'act rationally'. He is suspicious of Frank Churchill and his motives;
although his suspicion turns out to be based mainly on jealousy of the younger man, his instincts are proven correct
57
Emma
by the revelation that Frank Churchill is not all that he seems.
Mr. Frank Churchill, Mr. Weston's son by his previous marriage, is an amiable young man, who manages to be
liked by everyone except Mr. Knightley, who considers him quite immature, although this partially results from his
jealously of Frank's supposed 'pursuit' of Emma. After his mother's death, he was raised by his wealthy aunt and
uncle, whose last name he took. Frank enjoys dancing and music and living life to the fullest. Frank may be viewed
as a careless but less villainous version of characters from other Austen novels, such as Mr. Wickham from Pride
and Prejudice or Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility. He often manipulates and plays games with the other
characters so as to ensure his engagement to Jane remains concealed.
Jane Fairfax, an orphan whose only family consists of an aunt, Miss Bates, and a grandmother, Mrs. Bates, is
regarded as a very beautiful, clever, and elegant woman, with the best of manners, and is also very well-educated and
exceptionally talented at singing and playing the piano; in fact, she is the sole person whom Emma envies. She has
little fortune, however, and seems destined to become a governess – a prospect she dislikes.
Harriet Smith, a young friend of Emma's, is a very pretty but unsophisticated girl who is too easily led by others,
especially Emma; she has been educated at a nearby school. The illegitimate daughter of initially unknown parents,
she is revealed in the last chapter to be the daughter of a fairly rich and decent tradesman, although not a
"gentleman". Emma takes Harriet under her wing early in the novel, and she becomes the subject of some of Emma's
misguided matchmaking attempts. Harriet initially rebuffs a marriage proposal from farmer Robert Martin because
of Emma's belief that he is beneath her, despite Harriet's own doubtful origins. She then develops a passion for Mr.
Knightley, which is the catalyst for Emma realising her own feelings. Ultimately, Harriet and Mr. Martin are wed,
despite Emma's initial meddling. The now wiser Emma approves of the match.
Philip Elton is a good-looking, seemingly well mannered, and ambitious young vicar. Emma wants him to marry
Harriet; however he aspires to secure Emma's hand in marriage in order to gain her dowry. Mr. Elton displays his
mercenary nature by quickly marrying another woman of means after Emma's rejection.
Augusta Elton, formerly Miss Hawkins, is Mr. Elton's wife. She is moneyed but lacks breeding and possesses
moderately good manners, at best. She is a boasting, domineering, pretentious woman who likes to be the centre of
attention and is generally disliked by Emma and her circle. She displays many of the faults that Mr. Knightley
reprimands Emma for, however on a much larger scale. Ironically much of Emma's dislike of Mrs. Elton arises from
these faults. She patronises Jane, which earns Jane the sympathy of others.
Mrs. Anne Weston, formerly Miss Taylor, was Emma's governess for sixteen years and remains her closest friend
and confidante after she marries Mr. Weston in the opening chapter. She is a sensible woman who adores and
idolises Emma. Mrs. Weston acts as a surrogate mother to her former charge and, occasionally, as a voice of
moderation and reason, although she is the one to yield in arguments more often than not.
Mr. Weston, a recently wealthy man living in the vicinity of Hartfield, marries Emma's former governess, Miss
Taylor, and by his first marriage is father to Frank Churchill, who was adopted and raised by his late wife's brother
and sister-in-law. Mr. Weston is a sanguine, optimistic man, who enjoys socialising. His friendship is so
indiscriminate that it almost loses its value. Mr. Weston is often blind to the faults of his son, Frank.
Miss Bates is a friendly, garrulous spinster whose mother, Mrs. Bates, is a friend of Mr. Woodhouse. Her
accomplished niece, Jane Fairfax, is the light of her life. One day, Emma humiliates her on a day out in the country,
when she pointedly alludes to her tiresome prolixity. Afterward, Mr. Knightley sternly rebukes Emma. Shamed,
Emma tries to make amends.
Mr. Henry Woodhouse, Emma's father, is always concerned for his own health and comfort, and to the extent that it
does not interfere with his own, the health and comfort of his friends. He is a valetudinarian (i.e., similar to a
hypochondriac but more likely to be genuinely ill). He assumes a great many things are hazardous to one's health,
and is generally a difficult person to handle because he is always fussing about the trifling things which bother him
and which he assumes must bother everyone else just the same, to the point of trying to convince his visitors to deny
58
Emma
59
foods he considers too rich. He laments that "poor Isabella" and especially "poor Miss Taylor" have married and
been taken away from him, because since he is unhappy about their being gone, he assumes they must be miserable
as well; moreover, he dislikes change in general, and marriage is a form of change.
Isabella Knightley (née Woodhouse) is the elder sister of Emma and daughter of Henry. She is married to John
Knightley, and spends much of her time at home caring for her five children (Henry, 'little' John, Bella, 'little' Emma,
and George), often displaying concern for their health and comfort in a similar manner to her father.
John Knightley is Isabella's husband and George's younger brother. He is an old acquaintance of Jane Fairfax. He
indulges his family's desires for visits and vacations, although he would prefer to stay at home, especially if the
weather is less than perfect. He can be quite forthright, which sometimes borders on rude.
Criticism and themes
Criticism
Early reviews of Emma were generally favourable, but there were some criticisms about the lack of story. John
Murray remarked that it lacked "incident and Romance"; Maria Edgeworth, the author of Belinda, to whom Austen
had sent a complimentary copy, wrote:
there was no story in it, except that Miss Emma found that the man whom she designed for Harriet's
lover was an admirer of her own – & he was affronted at being refused by Emma & Harriet wore the
willow – and smooth, thin water-gruel is according to Emma's father's opinion a very good thing & it is
very difficult to make a cook understand what you mean by smooth, thin water-gruel!!
Themes
Emma Woodhouse is the first Austen heroine with no financial concerns, which, she declares to the naïve Miss
Smith, is the reason that she has no inducement to marry. This is a great departure from Austen's other novels, in
which the quest for marriage and financial security are often important themes in the stories. Emma's ample financial
resources put her in a much more privileged position than the heroines of Austen's earlier works, such as Sense and
Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Jane Fairfax's prospects, in contrast, are bleak.
In contrast to other Austen heroines Emma seems immune to romantic attraction. Unlike Marianne Dashwood, who
is attracted to the wrong man before she settles on the right one, Emma shows no romantic interest in the men she
meets. She is genuinely surprised (and somewhat disgusted) when Mr. Elton declares his love for her—much in the
way Elizabeth Bennet reacts to the obsequious Mr. Collins. Her fancy for Frank Churchill represents more of a
longing for a little drama in her life than a longing for romantic love. Notably too, Emma utterly fails to understand
the budding affection between Harriet Smith and Robert Martin; she interprets the prospective match solely in terms
of financial settlements and social ambition. It is only after Harriet Smith reveals her interest in Mr. Knightley that
Emma realises her own feelings for him.
While Emma differs strikingly from Austen's other heroines in these two respects, she resembles Elizabeth Bennet
and Anne Elliot, among others, in another way: she is an intelligent young woman with too little to do and no ability
to change her location or everyday routine. Though her family is loving and her economic status secure, Emma's
everyday life is dull indeed; she has few companions her own age when the novel begins. Her determined though
inept matchmaking may represent a muted protest against the narrow scope of a wealthy woman's life, especially that
of a woman who is single and childless.
Emma
60
Emma, or the banality of the real world
Populated by small "minute detail" (to borrow the term from Sir Walter Scott), very realistic but anodyne, the novel
disoriented a number of Jane Austen's contemporaries by its immersion in the daily life of a small town, and with the
corresponding absence of spectacle. We see, for example, Emma accompanying Harriet to Mr. Ford's haberdashery
and, while her friend gets on with her shopping, she posts herself at the door to observe the spectacle of the street:
[...] the butcher with his tray, a tidy old woman travelling homewards from shop with her full basket,
two curs quarrelling over a dirty bone, and a string of dawdling children round the baker's little
bow-window eyeing the gingerbread [...].[2]
We find the centre of Highbury life in Mr. Ford's shop. It is there, for example, that Harriet Smith meets her admirer,
Robert Martin (volume II, chapter III). Also, convinced of the importance of the place, Frank Churchill declares:
that I may prove myself to belong to the place, to be a true citizen of Highbury, I must buy something at
Ford's[3] (volume II, chapter VI).
Film, television and stage adaptations
Emma has been the subject of many adaptations for film, TV, radio and the stage.
• Film adaptions:
• 1995: Clueless, a loose American modern adaptation of the novel, set in Beverly Hills and starring Alicia
Silverstone as Cher Horowitz (Emma)
• 1996: Emma, an American comedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma
• 2010: Aisha, an Indian modern adaptation of the novel, starring Sonam Kapoor as Aisha (Emma)
• TV adaptions:
• 1948: Emma, live BBC TV broadcast, starring Judy Campbell (who also wrote the screenplay) as Emma, and
directed and produced by Michael Barry[4]
• 1954: Emma, live NBC TV broadcast, starring Felicia Montealegre as Emma
• 1957: Emma, another live NBC TV broadcast in their Matinee Theater series, starring Sarah Churchill as
Emma
• 1960: Emma, live BBC TV serial in six parts, starring Diana Fairfax as Emma and directed by Campbell
Logan
• 1960: Emma, live CBS TV broadcast in their Camera Three series, starring Nancy Wickwire as Emma.
• 1972: Emma, a six-part BBC miniseries, starring Doran Godwin as Emma
• 1996: Emma, an ITV TV film, starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma
• 2009: Emma, a four-part BBC miniseries, starring Romola Garai as Emma
• Recent stage adaptions:
• 1991: Emma, a stage adaption by British playwright Michael Fry, first produced by the Cloucester Stage
Company in 1991, and since then produced by a number of theatre companies in Britain and the US[5][6]
• 2000: Emma, a musical written by Stephen Karam and first showed by the Brownbrokers student theatre group
at Brown University under the direction of Darius Pierce.[7] In 2004 Karam's musical was played at the New
York Musical Theatre Festival under the direction of Patricia Birch.[8]
• A theatrical adaptation by Michael Napier Brown was performed at the Royal Theatre in Northampton in
2000[9]
• 2007: Jane Austen's Emma – A Musical Romantic Comedy, a musical written by Paul Gordon, which
premiered at TheatreWorks in Menlo Park, California.[10] This musical has since been performed at the
Cincinnati Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
• 2007: Emma, a musical written by Joel Adlen, and directed by Terry Berliner at the New York Musical
Theatre Festival[11]
Emma
61
• 2009: Emma, a stage adaption by Peter Mimmack for touring British theatre company Heartbreak
Productions[12]
• 2009: Emma, a stage adaption by Rachel Atkins for the Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle, directed by
Marcus Goodwin with Sylvie Davidson in the title role[13]
• 2010: Emma, a stage adaption by Michael Bloom at the Cleveland Play House, Ohio[14]
• 2012: Emma, a stage adaption by Dr. Vicki Ooi of the Absolutely Fabulous Theatre Connection in Sai Wan
Ho, Hong Kong
• Internet adaptions:
• 2013: Emma Approved, a web show on YouTube by the creators of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.[15]
Popular culture
• The novel Emma is featured in the 1993 film Naked by Mike Leigh, in which the character Johnny (played by
David Thewlis) confuses the title and the name of the author.
• Joan Aiken wrote a companion novel, Jane Fairfax: The Secret Story of the Second Heroine in Jane Austen's
Emma.
Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen. 1926. Ed. R. W. Chapman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967. p. 157
Quote from Adela Pinch, , "Introduction"
Quote Adela Pinch, , "Introduction"
The Emma Adaptations Pages: Other Versions (http:/ / www. strangegirl. com/ emma/ clueother. php#olderplays). Retrieved 27 December
2011
[5] "The Emma Adaptations Pages: Emma by Michael Fry" (http:/ / www. strangegirl. com/ emma/ fry. php). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[6] Culturvulture November 2004: Emma at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkley (http:/ / www. culturevulture. net/ Theater/ Emma. htm)
[7] The Providence, Phoenix, December 7, 2000: Emma Rewards (http:/ / www. providencephoenix. com/ archive/ theater/ 00/ 12/ 07/ EMMA.
html). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[8] TheaterMania 2004: Emma (NYMF) (http:/ / www. theatermania. com/ off-off-broadway/ shows/ emma-nymf_106234/ ). Retrieved 27
December 2011
[9] 'Set Play' - Emma -[[Times Educational Supplement (http:/ / www. tes. co. uk/ article. aspx?storycode=331546)] 25 February 2000]
[10] Broadway World, August 17, 2007: "World Premiere Emma Steps into TheatreWorks 8/22" (http:/ / sanfrancisco. broadwayworld. com/
article/ World_Premiere_Emma_Steps_into_TheatreWorks_822_20070817). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[11] NYMTF: Emma 2007 (http:/ / www. nymf. org/ Show-167. html). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[12] Heartbreak Productions: Emma 2009 (http:/ / www. heartbreakproductions. co. uk/ portfolio/ emma---2009). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[13] Seattle Times October 16, 2009: "Attention, Austen fans: Emma Comes to Book-It" (http:/ / seattletimes. nwsource. com/ html/ thearts/
2010073298_emma16. html). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[14] Playbill 9 Feb 2010: "World Premiere of Emma Set to Bow at Cleveland Play House (http:/ / www. playbill. com/ news/ article/
136756-World-Premiere-of-Emma-Set-to-Bow-at-Cleveland-Play-House). Retrieved 27 December 2011
[15] http:/ / www. tubefilter. com/ 2013/ 08/ 02/ emma-approved-bernie-su-jane-austen-lizzie-bennet-diaries/
External links
•
Media related to Emma at Wikimedia Commons
• Emma at Project Gutenberg
• Chronology/Calendar for Emma (http://www.jimandellen.org/austen/emma.calendar.html)
• Emma (http://www.shmoop.com/intro/literature/jane-austen/emma.html) study guide, quotes, themes,
teaching guide
• Emma audio book (http://www.archive.org/details/emma_version_5_1002_librivox), public domain solo
recording by Moira Fogarty at Internet Archive
• Emma (http://librivox.org/emma-by-jane-austen-solo/), free audio book at LibriVox (http://www.librivox.
org)
Emma
62
• Emma (http://emma-by-jane-austen.blogspot.com), Easy to read text.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
1848 "Ultima Thule" daguerreotype of Poe
Born
Edgar Poe
January 19, 1809
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Died
October 7, 1849 (aged 40)
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Nationality American
Spouse(s)
Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe
Signature
Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor, and
literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the
macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the
inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science
fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a
financially difficult life and career.
He was born as Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts; he was orphaned at a young age when his mother died shortly
after his father abandoned the family. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they
never formally adopted him. He attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money.
After enlisting in the Army and later failing as an officer's cadet at West Point, Poe parted ways with the Allans. His
publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827),
credited only to "a Bostonian".
Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals,
becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities, including
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old
cousin. In January 1845 Poe published his poem, "The Raven", to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two
years after its publication. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus),
Edgar Allan Poe
though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his
death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies,
suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.
Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields,
such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films,
and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an
annual award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre.
Life and career
Early life
He was born Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19,
1809, the second child of English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold
Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. He had an elder brother, William
Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister, Rosalie Poe. Their
grandfather, David Poe, Sr., had emigrated from Cavan, Ireland, to
America around the year 1750. Edgar may have been named after a
character in William Shakespeare's King Lear, a play the couple was
performing in 1809. His father abandoned their family in 1810, and his
mother died a year later from consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis).
This plaque marks the approximate location
Poe was then taken into the home of John Allan, a successful Scottish
where Edgar Poe was born in Boston,
merchant in Richmond, Virginia, who dealt in a variety of goods
Massachusetts.
including tobacco, cloth, wheat, tombstones, and slaves. The Allans
served as a foster family and gave him the name "Edgar Allan Poe", though they never formally adopted him.
The Allan family had Poe baptized in the Episcopal Church in 1812. John Allan alternately spoiled and aggressively
disciplined his foster son. The family, including Poe and Allan's wife, Frances Valentine Allan, sailed to Britain in
1815. Poe attended the grammar school in Irvine, Scotland (where John Allan was born) for a short period in 1815,
before rejoining the family in London in 1816. There he studied at a boarding school in Chelsea until summer 1817.
He was subsequently entered at the Reverend John Bransby's Manor House School at Stoke Newington, then a
suburb four miles (6 km) north of London.
Poe moved back with the Allans to Richmond, Virginia in 1820. In 1824 Poe served as the lieutenant of the
Richmond youth honor guard as Richmond celebrated the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette. In March 1825, John
Allan's uncle and business benefactor William Galt, said to be one of the wealthiest men in Richmond, died and left
Allan several acres of real estate. The inheritance was estimated at $750,000. By summer 1825, Allan celebrated his
expansive wealth by purchasing a two-story brick home named Moldavia.
Poe may have become engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster before he registered at the one-year-old University of
Virginia in February 1826 to study ancient and modern languages.[1] The university, in its infancy, was established
on the ideals of its founder, Thomas Jefferson. It had strict rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco and alcohol,
but these rules were generally ignored. Jefferson had enacted a system of student self-government, allowing students
to choose their own studies, make their own arrangements for boarding, and report all wrongdoing to the faculty. The
unique system was still in chaos, and there was a high dropout rate. During his time there, Poe lost touch with
Royster and also became estranged from his foster father over gambling debts. Poe claimed that Allan had not given
him sufficient money to register for classes, purchase texts, and procure and furnish a dormitory. Allan did send
additional money and clothes, but Poe's debts increased. Poe gave up on the university after a year, and, not feeling
welcome in Richmond, especially when he learned that his sweetheart Royster had married Alexander Shelton, he
traveled to Boston in April 1827, sustaining himself with odd jobs as a clerk and newspaper writer. At some point he
63
Edgar Allan Poe
started using the pseudonym Henri Le Rennet.
Military career
Unable to support himself, on May 27, 1827, Poe enlisted in the United
States Army as a private. Using the name "Edgar A. Perry", he claimed
he was 22 years old even though he was 18. He first served at Fort
Independence in Boston Harbor for five dollars a month. That same
year, he released his first book, a 40-page collection of poetry,
Tamerlane and Other Poems, attributed with the byline "by a
Bostonian". Only 50 copies were printed, and the book received
virtually no attention. Poe's regiment was posted to Fort Moultrie in
Charleston, South Carolina and traveled by ship on the brig Waltham
Poe was first stationed at Boston's Fort
on November 8, 1827. Poe was promoted to "artificer", an enlisted
Independence while in the army.
tradesman who prepared shells for artillery, and had his monthly pay
doubled. After serving for two years and attaining the rank of Sergeant
Major for Artillery (the highest rank a noncommissioned officer can achieve), Poe sought to end his five-year
enlistment early. He revealed his real name and his circumstances to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Howard.
Howard would only allow Poe to be discharged if he reconciled with John Allan and wrote a letter to Allan, who was
unsympathetic. Several months passed and pleas to Allan were ignored; Allan may not have written to Poe even to
make him aware of his foster mother's illness. Frances Allan died on February 28, 1829, and Poe visited the day after
her burial. Perhaps softened by his wife's death, John Allan agreed to support Poe's attempt to be discharged in order
to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Poe finally was discharged on April 15, 1829, after securing a replacement to finish his enlisted term for him. Before
entering West Point, Poe moved back to Baltimore for a time, to stay with his widowed aunt Maria Clemm, her
daughter, Virginia Eliza Clemm (Poe's first cousin), his brother Henry, and his invalid grandmother Elizabeth
Cairnes Poe. Meanwhile, Poe published his second book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems, in Baltimore in
1829.
Poe traveled to West Point and matriculated as a cadet on July 1, 1830. In October 1830, John Allan married his
second wife, Louisa Patterson. The marriage, and bitter quarrels with Poe over the children born to Allan out of
affairs, led to the foster father finally disowning Poe. Poe decided to leave West Point by purposely getting
court-martialed. On February 8, 1831, he was tried for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders for refusing
to attend formations, classes, or church. Poe tactically pled not guilty to induce dismissal, knowing he would be
found guilty.
He left for New York in February 1831, and released a third volume of poems, simply titled Poems. The book was
financed with help from his fellow cadets at West Point, many of whom donated 75 cents to the cause, raising a total
of $170. They may have been expecting verses similar to the satirical ones Poe had been writing about commanding
officers. Printed by Elam Bliss of New York, it was labeled as "Second Edition" and included a page saying, "To the
U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated." The book once again reprinted the long poems
"Tamerlane" and "Al Aaraaf" but also six previously unpublished poems including early versions of "To Helen",
"Israfel", and "The City in the Sea". He returned to Baltimore, to his aunt, brother and cousin, in March 1831. His
elder brother Henry, who had been in ill health in part due to problems with alcoholism, died on August 1, 1831.
64
Edgar Allan Poe
65
Publishing career
After his brother's death, Poe began more earnest attempts to start his career as a writer. He chose a difficult time in
American publishing to do so. He was the first well-known American to try to live by writing alone and was
hampered by the lack of an international copyright law. Publishers often pirated copies of British works rather than
paying for new work by Americans. The industry was also particularly hurt by the Panic of 1837. Despite a booming
growth in American periodicals around this time period, fueled in part by new technology, many did not last beyond
a few issues and publishers often refused to pay their writers or paid them much later than they promised. Poe,
throughout his attempts to live as a writer, repeatedly had to resort to humiliating pleas for money and other
assistance.
After his early attempts at poetry, Poe had turned his attention to prose.
He placed a few stories with a Philadelphia publication and began
work on his only drama, Politian. The Baltimore Saturday Visiter
awarded Poe a prize in October 1833 for his short story "MS. Found in
a Bottle". The story brought him to the attention of John P. Kennedy, a
Baltimorean of considerable means. He helped Poe place some of his
stories, and introduced him to Thomas W. White, editor of the
Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. Poe became assistant
editor of the periodical in August 1835, but was discharged within a
few weeks for having been caught drunk by his boss. Returning to
Baltimore, Poe secretly married Virginia, his cousin, on September 22,
1835. He was 26 and she was 13, though she is listed on the marriage
certificate as being 21. Reinstated by White after promising good
behavior, Poe went back to Richmond with Virginia and her mother.
He remained at the Messenger until January 1837. During this period,
Poe claimed that its circulation increased from 700 to 3,500. He
published several poems, book reviews, critiques, and stories in the
paper. On May 16, 1836, he had a second wedding ceremony in
Richmond with Virginia Clemm, this time in public.
Poe married his 13-year old cousin, Virginia
Clemm. Her early death may have inspired some
of his writing.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket was published and widely reviewed in 1838. In the summer of
1839, Poe became assistant editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. He published numerous articles, stories, and
reviews, enhancing his reputation as a trenchant critic that he had established at the Southern Literary Messenger.
Also in 1839, the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in two volumes, though he made
little money off of it and it received mixed reviews. Poe left Burton's after about a year and found a position as
assistant at Graham's Magazine.
In June 1840, Poe published a prospectus announcing his intentions to start his own journal, The Stylus. Originally,
Poe intended to call the journal The Penn, as it would have been based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the June 6,
1840 issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post, Poe bought advertising space for his prospectus: "Prospectus of
the Penn Magazine, a Monthly Literary journal to be edited and published in the city of Philadelphia by Edgar A.
Poe." The journal was never produced before Poe's death. Around this time, he attempted to secure a position with
the Tyler administration, claiming he was a member of the Whig Party. He hoped to be appointed to the Custom
House in Philadelphia with help from president Tyler's son Robert, an acquaintance of Poe's friend Frederick
Thomas. Poe failed to show up for a meeting with Thomas to discuss the appointment in mid-September 1842,
claiming to have been sick, though Thomas believed he had been drunk. Though he was promised an appointment,
all positions were filled by others.
Edgar Allan Poe
66
One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of
consumption, now known as tuberculosis, while singing and playing
the piano. Poe described it as breaking a blood vessel in her throat. She
only partially recovered. Poe began to drink more heavily under the
stress of Virginia's illness. He left Graham's and attempted to find a
new position, for a time angling for a government post. He returned to
New York, where he worked briefly at the Evening Mirror before
becoming editor of the Broadway Journal and, later, sole owner. There
he alienated himself from other writers by publicly accusing Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow of plagiarism, though Longfellow never
Poe spent the last few years of his life in this
small cottage in the Bronx, New York.
responded. On January 29, 1845, his poem "The Raven" appeared in
the Evening Mirror and became a popular sensation. Though it made
Poe a household name almost instantly, he was paid only $9 for its publication. It was concurrently published in The
American Review: A Whig Journal under the pseudonym "Quarles".
The Broadway Journal failed in 1846. Poe moved to a cottage in the Fordham section of The Bronx, New York.
That home, known today as the "Poe Cottage", is on the southeast corner of the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge
Road, where he befriended the Jesuits at St. John's College nearby (now Fordham University).[2] Virginia died there
on January 30, 1847. Biographers and critics often suggest that Poe's frequent theme of the "death of a beautiful
woman" stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife.
Increasingly unstable after his wife's death, Poe attempted to court the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, who lived in
Providence, Rhode Island. Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe's drinking and erratic behavior.
However, there is also strong evidence that Whitman's mother intervened and did much to derail their relationship.
Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster.
Death
On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, "in
great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who
found him, Joseph W. Walker. He was taken to the Washington Medical College,
where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was
never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition,
and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. Poe is said to have
repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though
it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say Poe's final words were
"Lord help my poor soul." All medical records, including his death certificate,
have been lost. Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the
brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for deaths from
disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a
mystery. Speculation has included delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy,
syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera and rabies. One theory, dating from
1872, indicates that cooping – in which unwilling citizens who were forced to
vote for a particular candidate were occasionally killed – was the cause of Poe's
death.
Edgar Allan Poe is buried in
Baltimore, Maryland. The
circumstances and cause of his death
remain uncertain.
Edgar Allan Poe
Griswold's "Memoir"
The day Edgar Allan Poe was buried, a long obituary appeared in the New York Tribune signed "Ludwig". It was
soon published throughout the country. The piece began, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day
before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it."[3] "Ludwig" was soon
identified as Rufus Wilmot Griswold, an editor, critic and anthologist who had borne a grudge against Poe since
1842. Griswold somehow became Poe's literary executor and attempted to destroy his enemy's reputation after his
death.
Rufus Griswold wrote a biographical article of Poe called "Memoir of the Author", which he included in an 1850
volume of the collected works. Griswold depicted Poe as a depraved, drunk, drug-addled madman and included Poe's
letters as evidence. Many of his claims were either lies or distorted half-truths. For example, it is now known that
Poe was not a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, but it became a popularly
accepted one. This occurred in part because it was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted and in
part because readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by an "evil" man. Letters that Griswold presented as
proof of this depiction of Poe were later revealed as forgeries.
Literary style and themes
Genres
Poe's best known fiction works are Gothic, a genre he followed to
appease the public taste. His most recurring themes deal with questions
of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition,
concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and
mourning. Many of his works are generally considered part of the dark
romanticism genre, a literary reaction to transcendentalism, which Poe
strongly disliked. He referred to followers of the latter movement as
"Frog-Pondians", after the pond on Boston Common. and ridiculed
their writings as "metaphor—run mad," lapsing into "obscurity for
obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake". Poe once wrote
in a letter to Thomas Holley Chivers that he did not dislike
Transcendentalists, "only the pretenders and sophists among them".
Beyond horror, Poe also wrote satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. For
comic effect, he used irony and ludicrous extravagance, often in an
1860s portrait by Oscar Halling after an 1849
daguerreotype
attempt to liberate the reader from cultural conformity.
"Metzengerstein", the first story that Poe is known to have published,
and his first foray into horror, was originally intended as a burlesque satirizing the popular genre. Poe also
reinvented science fiction, responding in his writing to emerging technologies such as hot air balloons in "The
Balloon-Hoax".
Poe wrote much of his work using themes aimed specifically at mass-market tastes. To that end, his fiction often
included elements of popular pseudosciences such as phrenology and physiognomy.
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Edgar Allan Poe
68
Literary theory
Poe's writing reflects his literary theories, which he presented in his criticism and also in essays such as "The Poetic
Principle". He disliked didacticism and allegory, though he believed that meaning in literature should be an
undercurrent just beneath the surface. Works with obvious meanings, he wrote, cease to be art. He believed that
work of quality should be brief and focus on a specific single effect. To that end, he believed that the writer should
carefully calculate every sentiment and idea.
In "The Philosophy of Composition", an essay in which Poe describes his method in writing "The Raven", he claims
to have strictly followed this method. It has been questioned, however, whether he really followed this system. T. S.
Eliot said: "It is difficult for us to read that essay without reflecting that if Poe plotted out his poem with such
calculation, he might have taken a little more pains over it: the result hardly does credit to the method." Biographer
Joseph Wood Krutch described the essay as "a rather highly ingenious exercise in the art of rationalization".
Legacy
Literary influence
During his lifetime, Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic.
Fellow critic James Russell Lowell called him "the most
discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative
works who has written in America", suggesting – rhetorically – that he
occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink. Poe's caustic reviews
earned him the epithet "Tomahawk Man". A favorite target of Poe's
criticism was Boston's then acclaimed poet, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, who was often defended by his literary friends in what
would later be called "The Longfellow War". Poe accused Longfellow
of "the heresy of the didactic", writing poetry that was preachy,
derivative, and thematically plagiarized. Poe correctly predicted that
Longfellow's reputation and style of poetry would decline, concluding
that "We grant him high qualities, but deny him the Future".
Poe was also known as a writer of fiction and became one of the first
American authors of the 19th century to become more popular in
Europe than in the United States. Poe is particularly respected in
France, in part due to early translations by Charles Baudelaire.
Baudelaire's translations became definitive renditions of Poe's work
throughout Europe.
Illustration by French impressionist Édouard
Manet for the Stéphane Mallarmé translation of
"The Raven", 1875. Digitally restored.
Poe's early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has
developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?" The Mystery Writers of
America have named their awards for excellence in the genre the "Edgars". Poe's work also influenced science
fiction, notably Jules Verne, who wrote a sequel to Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
called An Antarctic Mystery, also known as The Sphinx of the Ice Fields. Science fiction author H. G. Wells noted,
"Pym tells what a very intelligent mind could imagine about the south polar region a century ago."
Like many famous artists, Poe's works have spawned innumerable imitators. One interesting trend among imitators
of Poe, however, has been claims by clairvoyants or psychics to be "channeling" poems from Poe's spirit. One of the
most notable of these was Lizzie Doten, who in 1863 published Poems from the Inner Life, in which she claimed to
Edgar Allan Poe
69
have "received" new compositions by Poe's spirit. The compositions were re-workings of famous Poe poems such as
"The Bells", but which reflected a new, positive outlook.
Even so, Poe has received not only praise, but criticism as well.
This is partly because of the negative perception of his personal
character and its influence upon his reputation. William Butler
Yeats was occasionally critical of Poe and once called him
"vulgar". Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson reacted to "The
Raven" by saying, "I see nothing in it", and derisively referred to
Poe as "the jingle man". Aldous Huxley wrote that Poe's writing
"falls into vulgarity" by being "too poetical"—the equivalent of
wearing a diamond ring on every finger.
It is believed that only 12 copies of Poe's first book, Tamerlane
and Other Poems, have survived. In December 2009, one copy
sold at Christie's, New York for $662,500, a record price paid for a
work of American literature.
Physics and cosmology
Eureka: A Prose Poem, an essay written in 1848, included a
cosmological theory that presaged the Big Bang theory by 80
years, as well as the first plausible solution to Olbers' paradox. Poe
eschewed the scientific method in Eureka and instead wrote from pure intuition. For this reason, he considered it a
work of art, not science, but insisted that it was still true and considered it to be his career masterpiece. Even so,
Eureka is full of scientific errors. In particular, Poe's suggestions ignored Newtonian principles regarding the density
and rotation of planets.
Edgar Allan Poe photographed circa 1849
Cryptography
Poe had a keen interest in cryptography. He had placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper Alexander's
Weekly (Express) Messenger, inviting submissions of ciphers, which he proceeded to solve. In July 1841, Poe had
published an essay called "A Few Words on Secret Writing" in Graham's Magazine. Capitalizing on public interest
in the topic, he wrote "The Gold-Bug" incorporating ciphers as an essential part of the story. Poe's success with
cryptography relied not so much on his deep knowledge of that field (his method was limited to the simple
substitution cryptogram), as on his knowledge of the magazine and newspaper culture. His keen analytical abilities,
which were so evident in his detective stories, allowed him to see that the general public was largely ignorant of the
methods by which a simple substitution cryptogram can be solved, and he used this to his advantage. The sensation
Poe created with his cryptography stunts played a major role in popularizing cryptograms in newspapers and
magazines.
Poe had an influence on cryptography beyond increasing public interest during his lifetime. William Friedman,
America's foremost cryptologist, was heavily influenced by Poe. Friedman's initial interest in cryptography came
from reading "The Gold-Bug" as a child, an interest he later put to use in deciphering Japan's PURPLE code during
World War II.
Edgar Allan Poe
In popular culture
As a character
The historical Edgar Allan Poe has appeared as a fictionalized character, often representing the "mad genius" or
"tormented artist" and exploiting his personal struggles. Many such depictions also blend in with characters from his
stories, suggesting Poe and his characters share identities. Often, fictional depictions of Poe use his mystery-solving
skills in such novels as The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl.
Preserved homes, landmarks, and museums
No childhood home of Poe is still standing, including the Allan family's
Moldavia estate. The oldest standing home in Richmond, the Old Stone House, is
in use as the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, though Poe never lived there. The
collection includes many items Poe used during his time with the Allan family
and also features several rare first printings of Poe works. The dorm room Poe is
believed to have used while studying at the University of Virginia in 1826 is
preserved and available for visits. Its upkeep is now overseen by a group of
students and staff known as the Raven Society.
The earliest surviving home in which Poe lived is in Baltimore, preserved as the
Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum. Poe is believed to have lived in the home
at the age of 23 when he first lived with Maria Clemm and Virginia (as well as
The Edgar Allan Poe National
his grandmother and possibly his brother William Henry Leonard Poe). It is open
Historic Site in Philadelphia is one of
to the public and is also the home of the Edgar Allan Poe Society. Of the several
several preserved former residences
homes that Poe, his wife Virginia, and his mother-in-law Maria rented in
of Poe
Philadelphia, only the last house has survived. The Spring Garden home, where
the author lived in 1843–1844, is today preserved by the National Park Service as the Edgar Allan Poe National
Historic Site. Poe's final home is preserved as the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage in the Bronx, New York.
In Boston, a commemorative plaque on Boylston Street is several blocks away from the actual location of Poe's
birth. The house which was his birthplace at 62 Carver Street no longer exists; also, the street has since been
renamed "Charles Street South". A "square" at the intersection of Broadway, Fayette, and Carver Streets had once
been named in his honor, but it disappeared when the streets were rearranged. In 2009, the intersection of Charles
and Boylston Streets (two blocks north of his birthplace) was newly designated "Edgar Allan Poe Square". As of
2013[4], fundraising is proceeding to construct a permanent memorial sculpture at this location. The winning design
depicts a life-sized Poe striding against the wind, accompanied by a flying raven, and trailed by papers falling from
his open suitcase.
Other Poe landmarks include a building in the Upper West Side, where Poe temporarily lived when he first moved to
New York. A plaque suggests that Poe wrote "The Raven" here. The bar where legend says Poe was last seen
drinking before his death still stands in Fells Point in Baltimore, Maryland. The drinking establishment is now
known as "The Horse You Came In On", and local lore insists that a ghost they call "Edgar" haunts the rooms above.
Poe Toaster
Adding to the mystery surrounding Poe's death, an unknown visitor affectionately referred to as the "Poe Toaster"
paid homage at Poe's grave annually beginning in 1949. As the tradition carried on for more than 60 years, it is likely
that the "Poe Toaster" was actually several individuals, though the tribute was always the same. Every January 19, in
the early hours of the morning, the person made a toast of cognac to Poe's original grave marker and left three roses.
Members of the Edgar Allan Poe Society in Baltimore helped protect this tradition for decades.
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Edgar Allan Poe
71
On August 15, 2007, Sam Porpora, a former historian at the Westminster Church in Baltimore where Poe is buried,
claimed in the 1960s that he had started the tradition. Porpora said that the tradition began in 1949 in order to raise
money and enhance the profile of the church. His story has not been confirmed, and some details he gave to the press
have been pointed out as factually inaccurate. The Poe Toaster's last appearance was on January 19, 2009, the day of
Poe's bicentennial.
Selected list of works
Tales
Poetry
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"The Black Cat"
"The Cask of Amontillado"
"A Descent into the Maelström"
"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"
"The Fall of the House of Usher"
"The Gold-Bug"
"Hop-Frog"
"The Imp of the Perverse"
"Ligeia"
"The Masque of the Red Death"
"Morella"
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
"The Oval Portrait"
"The Pit and the Pendulum"
"The Premature Burial"
"The Purloined Letter"
"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether"
"The Tell-Tale Heart"
"Al Aaraaf"
"Annabel Lee"
"The Bells"
"The City in the Sea"
"The Conqueror Worm"
"A Dream Within a Dream"
"Eldorado"
"Eulalie"
"The Haunted Palace"
"To Helen"
"Lenore"
"Tamerlane"
"The Raven"
"Ulalume"
Other works
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Politian (1835) – Poe's only play
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) – Poe's only complete novel
"The Balloon-Hoax" (1844) – A journalistic hoax printed as a true story
"The Philosophy of Composition" (1846) – Essay
Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848) – Essay
"The Poetic Principle" (1848) – Essay
"The Light-House" (1849) – Poe's last incomplete work
References
[1] University of Virginia. A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University of Virginia. Second Session, Commencing February 1st,
1826. Charlottesville, VA: Chronicle Steam Book Printing House, 1880, p. 10
[2] Schroth, Raymond A. Fordham: A History and Memoir. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008: 22–25.
[3] To read Griswold's full obituary, see Edgar Allan Poe obituary at Wikisource.
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Marie Roget'. New York: St. Martins Minotaur. ISBN 978-0-8135-0567-1. (1968 edition printed by Rutgers
University Press)
• Weekes, Karen (2002). "Poe's feminIne ideal". In Hayes, Kevin J. The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan
Poe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 148–162. ISBN 978-0-521-79326-1.
• Whalen, Terance (2001). "Poe and the American Publishing Industry". In Kennedy, J. Gerald. A Historical Guide
to Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 63–94. ISBN 978-0-19-512150-6.
• Wilbur, Richard (1967). "The House of Poe". In Regan, Robert. Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-13-684963-6.
Further reading
•
•
•
•
Ackroyd, Peter (2008). Poe: A Life Cut Short. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-0-7011-6988-6.
Bittner, William (1962). Poe: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-09686-5.
Hutchisson, James M. (2005). Poe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-721-9.
William A. Pannapacker. " A Question of 'Character': Visual Images and the Nineteenth-Century Construction of
Edgar Allan Poe (http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/2573358?n=19816&s=8&printThumbnails=no)."
Harvard Library Bulletin, New Series Fall 1996, Volume 7, Number 3
• Poe, Harry Lee (2008). Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories. New York: Metro
Books. ISBN 978-1-4351-0469-3.
74
Edgar Allan Poe
External links
• Works by Edgar Allan Poe on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• Works by or about Edgar Allan Poe (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-29745) in libraries (WorldCat
catalog)
• Works by Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Edgar_Allan_Poe) at Project Gutenberg
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Edgar Allan Poe (http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=Edgar+Allan+Poe) public
domain audiobooks from LibriVox
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site (http://www.nps.gov/edal/index.htm)
Edgar Allan Poe Society in Baltimore (http://www.eapoe.org/)
Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia (http://www.poemuseum.org/)
Edgar Allan Poe's Personal Correspondence (http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?169898) Shapell
Manuscript Foundation
Edgar Allan Poe's Collection (http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00109.xml&
query=edgar allen poe&query-join=and) at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin
'Funeral' honours Edgar Allan Poe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8301128.stm) BBC News (with
video) 2009-10-11
• Selected Stories (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/POE/contents.html) from American Studies at the
University of Virginia
75
To the Lighthouse
76
To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse
1st edition cover
Author
Virginia Woolf
Cover artist
Vanessa Bell
Country
England
Language
English
Genre
Modernist/Stream of consciousness
Publisher
Hogarth Press
Publication date 5 May 1927
Media type
Print (hardbound with cloth)
ISBN
NA
Preceded by
Mrs Dalloway
Followed by
Orlando: A Biography
To the Lighthouse is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. A landmark novel of high modernism, the text, which centres
on the Ramsays and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920, skilfully manipulates
temporal and psychological elements.
To the Lighthouse follows and extends the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel Proust and James Joyce,
where the plot is secondary to philosophical introspection, and the prose can be winding and hard to follow. The
novel includes little dialogue and almost no action; most of it is written as thoughts and observations. The novel
recalls childhood emotions and highlights adult relationships. Among the book's many tropes and themes are those of
loss, subjectivity, and the problem of perception.
In 1998, the Modern Library named To the Lighthouse No. 15 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of
the 20th century.[1] In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best
English-language novels from 1923 to present.
Plot summary
Part I: The Window
The novel is set in the Ramsays' summer home in the Hebrides, on the Isle of Skye. The section begins with Mrs
Ramsay assuring her son James that they should be able to visit the lighthouse on the next day. This prediction is
denied by Mr Ramsay, who voices his certainty that the weather will not be clear, an opinion that forces a certain
tension between Mr and Mrs Ramsay, and also between Mr Ramsay and James. This particular incident is referred to
on various occasions throughout the chapter, especially in the context of Mr and Mrs Ramsay's relationship.
The Ramsays have been joined at the house by a number of friends and colleagues, one of them being Lily Briscoe,
who begins the novel as a young, uncertain painter attempting a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay and James. Briscoe finds
herself plagued by doubts throughout the novel, doubts largely fed by the claims of Charles Tansley, another guest,
who asserts that women can neither paint nor write. Tansley himself is an admirer of Mr Ramsay and his
philosophical treatises.
The section closes with a large dinner party. When Augustus Carmichael, a visiting poet, asks for a second serving
of soup, Mr Ramsay nearly snaps at him. Mrs Ramsay is herself out of sorts when Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle, two
To the Lighthouse
acquaintances whom she has brought together in engagement, arrive late to dinner, as Minta has lost her
grandmother's brooch on the beach.
Part II: Time Passes
The second section gives a sense of time passing, absence, and death. Ten years pass, during which the four-year
First World War begins and ends. Mrs Ramsay passes away, Prue dies from complications of childbirth, and Andrew
is killed in the war. Mr Ramsay is left adrift without his wife to praise and comfort him during his bouts of fear and
his anguish regarding the longevity of his philosophical work.
Part III: The Lighthouse
In the final section, “The Lighthouse,” some of the remaining Ramsays and other guests return to their summer home
ten years after the events of Part I. Mr Ramsay finally plans on taking the long-delayed trip to the lighthouse with his
son James and daughter Cam(illa). The trip almost does not happen, as the children are not ready, but they eventually
set off. As they travel, the children are silent in protest at their father for forcing them to come along. However,
James keeps the sailing boat steady and rather than receiving the harsh words he has come to expect from his father,
he hears praise, providing a rare moment of empathy between father and son; Cam's attitude towards her father
changes also, from resentment to eventual admiration.
They are accompanied by the sailor Macalister and his son, who catches fish during the trip. The son cuts a piece of
flesh from a fish he has caught to use for bait, throwing the injured fish back into the sea.
While they set sail for the lighthouse, Lily attempts to finally complete the painting she has held in her mind since
the start of the novel. She reconsiders her memory of Mrs and Mr Ramsay, balancing the multitude of impressions
from ten years ago in an effort to reach towards an objective truth about Mrs Ramsay and life itself. Upon finishing
the painting (just as the sailing party reaches the lighthouse) and seeing that it satisfies her, she realises that the
execution of her vision is more important to her than the idea of leaving some sort of legacy in her work.
Major themes
Complexity of experience
Large parts of Woolf's novel do not concern themselves with the objects of vision, but rather investigate the means
of perception, attempting to understand people in the act of looking.[2] To be able to understand thought, Woolf's
diaries reveal, the author would spend considerable time listening to herself think, observing how and which words
and emotions arose in her own mind in response to what she saw.[3]
Complexity of human relationships
This examination of perception is not, however, limited to isolated inner-dialogues, but also analysed in the context
of human relationships and the tumultuous emotional spaces crossed to truly reach another human being. Two
sections of the book stand out as excellent snapshots of fumbling attempts at this crossing: the silent interchange
between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey as they pass the time alone together at the end of section 1, and Lily Briscoe's
struggle to fulfill Mr. Ramsay's desire for sympathy (and attention) as the novel closes.
77
To the Lighthouse
Modernism
To The Lighthouse and its characters often display elements of the Modernist school of thought. Characters such as
Mrs Ramsay disparage Victorian ideals of society and question both the existence of God and the goodness in man.
Furthermore, the transience of man is emphasised as a central theme alongside nature as an eternal and sometimes
menacing force with the omnipresent potential to consume humanity.
Narration and perspective
The novel lacks an omniscient narrator (except in the second section: Time Passes); instead the plot unfolds through
shifting perspectives of each character's stream of consciousness. Shifts can occur even mid-sentence, and in some
sense they resemble the rotating beam of the lighthouse itself. Unlike James Joyce, however, Woolf does not tend to
use abrupt fragments to represent characters' thought processes; her method is more one of lyrical paraphrase. The
lack of an omniscient narrator means that, throughout the novel, no clear guide exists for the reader and that only
through character development can we formulate our own opinions and views because much is morally ambiguous.
Whereas in Part I the novel is concerned with illustrating the relationship between the character experiencing and the
actual experience and surroundings, the second part, 'Time Passes' having no characters to relate to, presents events
differently. Instead, Woolf wrote the section from the perspective of a displaced narrator, unrelated to any people,
intending that events be seen related to time. For that reason the narrating voice is unfocused and distorted, providing
an example of what Woolf called 'life as it is when we have no part in it.'[4][5]
Allusions to autobiography and actual geography
Woolf began writing To the Lighthouse partly as a way of
understanding and dealing with unresolved issues concerning both her
parents[6] and indeed there are many similarities between the plot and
her own life. Her visits with her parents and family to St Ives,
Cornwall, where her father rented a house, were perhaps the happiest
times of Woolf's life, but when she was thirteen her mother died and,
like Mr. Ramsay, her father Leslie Stephen plunged into gloom and
self-pity. Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell wrote that reading the sections of
Godrevy Lighthouse at sunset
the novel that describe Mrs Ramsay was like seeing her mother raised
[7]
from the dead. Their brother Adrian was not allowed to go on an
expedition to Godrevy Lighthouse, just as in the novel James looks forward to visiting the lighthouse and is
disappointed when the trip is cancelled.[8] Lily Briscoe's meditations on painting are a way for Woolf to explore her
own creative process (and also that of her painter sister), since Woolf thought of writing in the same way that Lily
thought of painting.[9]
Woolf's father began renting Talland House in St. Ives, in 1882, shortly after Woolf's own birth. The house was used
by the family as a family retreat during the summer for the next ten years. The location of the main story in To the
Lighthouse, the house on the Hebridean island, was formed by Woolf in imitation of Talland House. Many actual
features from St Ives Bay are carried into the story, including the gardens leading down to the sea, the sea itself, and
the lighthouse.[10]
Although in the novel the Ramsays are able to return to the house on Skye after the war, the Stephens had given up
Talland House by that time. After the war, Virginia Woolf visited Talland House under its new ownership with her
sister Vanessa, and Woolf repeated the journey later, long after her parents were dead.
78
To the Lighthouse
Publication history
Upon completing the draft of this, her most autobiographical novel, Woolf described it as 'easily the best of my
books' and her husband Leonard thought it a "'masterpiece' … entirely new 'a psychological poem'".[11] They
published it together at their Hogarth Press in London in 1927. The first impression of 3000 copies of 320 pages
measuring 7.5 inches by 5 inches was bound in blue cloth. The book outsold all Woolf's previous novels, and the
proceeds enabled the Woolfs to buy a car.
Bibliography
• Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, (London: Hogarth, 1927) First edition; 3000 copies initially with a second
impression in June.
• Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1927) First US edition; 4000 copies initially with
at least five reprints in the same year.
Film, TV, music, or theatrical adaptations
• To the Lighthouse, a 1983 telefilm starring Rosemary Harris, Michael Gough, Suzanne Bertish, and Kenneth
Branagh.
• To the Lighthouse [12] (play) written by Adele Edling Shank, music composed by Paul Dresher. The 2007 world
premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre was directed by Les Waters.
• Song To The Lighthouse by Patrick Wolf.
• Toby Litt's novel Finding Myself contains many references of To the Lighthouse. The fictional "author" is
inspired by the book to set up her own holiday with friends by the sea, writing her own novel, "From the
Lighthouse".
• Jayne Joso's short story, also titled To the Lighthouse is inspired by Woolf's novel.
Footnotes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
This ranking was by the Modern Library Editorial Board (http:/ / www. randomhouse. com/ modernlibrary/ about/ board. html) of authors.
Davies p13
Davies p40
Woolf, V. 'The Cinema"
Raitt pp88-90, quote referencing
Panken, Virginia Woolf and the "lust of creation", p.141 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=de4UyeBbCIwC& pg=PA141& dq="To+
the+ Lighthouse"& as_brr=3& ie=ISO-8859-1& output=html& cd=6)
[7] New York Times article (http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ gst/ fullpage. html?res=9D02E6D91231F931A2575AC0A9629C8B63& sec=travel&
spon=& pagewanted=all)
[8] The preceding paragraph is based on facts in Nigel Nicolson, Virginia Woolf, Chapter One, which is reprinted here (http:/ / www. nytimes.
com/ books/ first/ n/ nicolson-woolf. html). These facts can also be found in Phyllis Rose, Introduction to A Voyage Out, Bantam Books, 1991,
p. xvi
[9] Panken, op.cit., p.142 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=de4UyeBbCIwC& pg=PA142& lpg=PA141& dq="To+ the+ Lighthouse"&
as_brr=3& ie=ISO-8859-1& output=html)
[10] Davies p1
[11] Woolf 1980, p. 123.
79
To the Lighthouse
References
• Davies, Stevie (1989). Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse. Great Britain: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-077177-8.
• Raitt, Suzanne (1990). Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
ISBN 0-7450-0823-2.
• Dick, Susan; Virginia Woolf (1983). "Appendix A". To the Lighthouse: The Original Holograph Draft. Toronto,
Londo: University of Toronto Press.
• Woolf, Virginia (1980). Bell, Anne Olivier; McNeillie, Andrew, eds. The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Volume III:
1925–1930. London: Hogarth. ISBN 0-7012-0466-4.
External links
• Project Gutenberg Australia hosts a free eBook of To the Lighthouse; note that copyright may apply in countries
other than Australia - Zip file (http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100101.zip), Text file (http://www.
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100101.txt) (US text, slightly different from the UK text) only part I.
• Spark Notes study guide (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lighthouse/)
• Woolf Online: An Electronic Edition and Commentary of Virginia Woolf's 'Time Passes'. (http://www.
woolfonline.com/)
• To the Lighthouse (http://www.polyglotproject.com/books/English/to_the_lighthouse)
80
Things Fall Apart
81
Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart
First edition
Author
Chinua Achebe
Cover artist
C. W. Barton
Country
Nigeria
Language
English
Genre
historical fiction
Publisher
William Heinemann Ltd.
Publication date 1958
Things Fall Apart is an English-language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe published in 1958 by William
Heinemann Ltd in the UK. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, one of the first to receive
global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in
English-speaking countries around the world. The title of the novel comes from William Butler Yeats' poem "The
Second Coming".[1]
The novel depicts the life of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion in Umuofia—one of a fictional group
of nine villages in Nigeria, inhabited by the Igbo people (in the novel, "Ibo"). It describes his family and personal
history, the customs and society of the Igbo, and the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on
the Igbo community during the late nineteenth century.
Things Fall Apart was followed by a sequel, No Longer at Ease (1960), originally written as the second part of a
larger work along with Arrow of God (1964). Achebe states that his two later novels, A Man of the People (1966)
and Anthills of the Savannah (1987), while not featuring Okonkwo's descendants, are spiritual successors to the
previous novels in chronicling African history.
Plot
Set in pre-colonial Nigeria in the 1890s, Things Fall Apart highlights the clash between colonialism and traditional
culture. The protagonist Okonkwo is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. Okonkwo wants to
dispel his father Unoka’s tainted legacy of being cheap (he borrowed and lost money, and neglected his wives and
children) and cowardly (he feared the sight of blood). Okonkwo works to build his wealth entirely on his own, as
Unoka died a shameful death and left many unpaid debts. Although brusque with his three wives, children, and
neighbours, he is wealthy, courageous, and powerful among the people of his village. He is a leader of his village,
and he has attained a position in his society for which he has striven all his life.
Because of the great esteem in which the village holds him, Okonkwo is selected by the elders to be the guardian of
Ikemefuna, a boy taken by the village as a peace settlement between Umuofia and another village after Ikemefuna's
father killed an Umuofian woman. The boy lives with Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond of him. The boy
looks up to Okonkwo and considers him a second father. The Oracle of Umuofia eventually pronounces that the boy
must be killed. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo that he should have nothing to do with the
murder because it would be like killing his own child. But to avoid seeming weak and feminine to the other men of
the village, Okonkwo participates in the murder of the boy despite the warning from the old man. In fact, Okonkwo
himself strikes the killing blow even as Ikemefuna begs his "father" for protection. However, for many days after
killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo feels guilty and saddened by this.
Things Fall Apart
Shortly after Ikemefuna's death, things begin to go wrong for Okonkwo. During a gun salute at Ezeudu's funeral,
Okonkwo's gun explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He and his family are sent into exile for seven years to appease the
gods he has offended. While Okonkwo is away, white men begin to arrive in Umuofia with the intent of introducing
their religion. As the number of converts increases, the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is
introduced. The village is forced to respond with either appeasement or conflict to the imposition of the white
people's nascent society.
Returning from exile, Okonkwo finds his village a changed place because of the presence of the white men. He and
other tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on their native land by destroying a local Christian church. In return, the
leader of the white government takes them prisoner and holds them for ransom for a short while, further humiliating
and insulting the native leaders. As a result, the people of Umuofia finally gather for what could be a great uprising.
Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises any form of
cowardice and advocates for war against the white men. When messengers of the white government try to stop the
meeting, Okonkwo kills one of them. He realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to fight to
protect themselves — his society's response to such a conflict, which for so long had been predictable and dictated
by tradition, is changing.
When the local leader of the white government comes to Okonkwo's house to take him to court, he finds that
Okonkwo has hanged himself. He ultimately commits suicide rather than be tried in a colonial court. Among his own
people, Okonkwo's action has ruined his reputation and status, as it is strictly against the teachings of the Igbo to
commit suicide.
Characters
• Okonkwo is the novel's protagonist. He has three wives and eight children, and is a brave and rash Umuofian
(Nigerian) warrior and clan leader. Unlike most, he cares more for his daughter (Ezinma) than his son, Nwoye
(who is later called Isaac), who he believes is weak. Okonkwo is the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, a man
he resents for his weaknesses. Okonkwo strives to make his way in a culture that traditionally values manliness.
As a young man he defeated the village's best wrestler, earning him lasting prestige. He therefore rejects
everything for which he believes his father stood: Unoka was idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, gentle, and
interested in music and conversation. Okonkwo consciously adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive,
wealthy, brave, violent, and opposed to music and anything else that he regards as "soft," such as conversation
and emotion. He is stoic to a fault. He is also the hardest-working member of his clan. Okonkwo's life is
dominated by fear of failure and of weakness—the fear that he will resemble his father. Ironically, in all his
efforts not to end up like his father, he commits suicide, becoming in his culture an abomination to the Earth and
rebuked by the tribe as his father was (Unoka died from swelling and was likewise considered an abomination).
Okonkwo's suicide represents not only his culture's rejection of him, but his rejection of the changes in his
people's culture, as he realizes that the Igbo society that he so valued has been forever altered by the Christian
missionaries.
• Unoka is Okonkwo's father, who lived a life in contrast to typical Igbo masculinity. He loved language and
music, the flute in particular. He is lazy and miserly, neglecting to take care of his wives and children and even
dies with unpaid debts. Okonkwo spends his life trying not to become a failure like his father Unoka.
• Nwoye is Okonkwo's son, about whom Okonkwo worries, fearing that he will become like Unoka. Similar to
Unoka, Nwoye does not ascribe to the traditional Igbo view of masculinity being equated to violence; rather, he
prefers the stories of his mother. Nwoye connects to Ikemefuma, who presents an alternative to Okonkwo's rigid
masculinity. He is one of the early converts to Christianity with the arrival of the missionaries, an act which
Okonkwo views as a final betrayal.
• Ikemefuna is a boy from the Mbaino tribe. He is given to Okonkwo in a settlement when an Mbaino tribesman
murders the wife of an Umofian. Ikemefuna is ultimately murdered, an act which Okonkwo does not prevent, and
82
Things Fall Apart
even participates in, for fear of seeming not masculine.
• Ezinma is Okonkwo's favorite daughter, and the only child of his wife Ekwefi. Ezinma is very much the
antithesis of a normal woman within the culture and Okonkwo routinely remarks that she would've made a much
better boy than a girl, even wishing that this was the case of her birth. Ezinma often contradicts and challenges her
father, which wins his adoration, affection, and respect. She is very similar to her father, and this is made apparent
when she matures into a beautiful young woman who refuses to marry during her family's exile, instead choosing
to help her father regain his place of respect within society.
Background
Most of the story takes place in the village of Umuofia, located west of the actual city of Onitsha, on the east bank of
the Niger River in Nigeria. The events of the novel unfold in the 1890s. The culture depicted, that of the Igbo people,
is similar to that of Achebe's birthplace of Ogidi, where Igbo-speaking people lived together in groups of
independent villages ruled by titled elders. The customs described in the novel mirror those of the actual Onitsha
people, who lived near Ogidi, and with whom Achebe was familiar.
Within forty years of the arrival of the British, by the time Achebe was born in 1930, the missionaries were well
established. Achebe's father was among the first to be converted in Ogidi, around the turn of the century. Achebe
himself was an orphan raised by his grandfather. His grandfather, far from opposing Achebe's conversion to
Christianity, allowed Achebe's Christian marriage to be celebrated in his compound.
Language choice
Achebe writes his novels in English because written Standard Igbo was created by combining various dialects,
creating a stilted written form. In a 1994 interview with The Paris Review, Achebe said, "the novel form seems to go
with the English language. There is a problem with the Igbo language. It suffers from a very serious inheritance
which it received at the beginning of this century from the Anglican mission. They sent out a missionary by the name
of Dennis. Archdeacon Dennis. He was a scholar. He had this notion that the Igbo language—which had very many
different dialects—should somehow manufacture a uniform dialect that would be used in writing to avoid all these
different dialects. Because the missionaries were powerful, what they wanted to do they did. This became the law.
But the standard version cannot sing. There's nothing you can do with it to make it sing. It's heavy. It's wooden. It
doesn't go anywhere."[2]
Achebe's choice to write in English has caused controversy. While both African and non-African critics agree that
Achebe modeled Things Fall Apart on classic European literature, they disagree about whether his novel upholds a
Western model, or, in fact, subverts or confronts it.[3] Achebe has continued to defend his decision: "English is
something you spend your lifetime acquiring, so it would be foolish not to use it. Also, in the logic of colonization
and decolonization it is actually a very powerful weapon in the fight to regain what was yours. English was the
language of colonization itself. It is not simply something you use because you have it anyway."[4]
Achebe is noted for his inclusion of and weaving in of proverbs from Igbo oral culture into his writing.[5] This
influence was explicitly referenced by Achebe in Things Fall Apart: "Among the Igbo the art of conversation is
regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."
83
Things Fall Apart
Themes and motifs
Themes in the novel include the relationship between the individual (Okonkwo) and his culture, and the effect of one
culture visited upon another.
1. Individuals gain strength from their society or community, and societies derive strength from the individuals who
belong to them. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo builds his titles and strength with the support of his society's
customs. Likewise, Okonkwo's community profits from his hard work and willpower to remain strong.
2. In contacts between other cultures, beliefs about superiority or inferiority, due to limited and partial world view,
are invariably wrong-headed and destructive. When new cultures and religions meet the original, there is likely to
be a struggle for dominance. For example, the Christians and Okonkwo's people have a limited view of each
other, and have a very difficult time understanding and accepting one another's customs and beliefs, which result
in violence as with the destruction of a local church and Okonkwo's killing of the messenger.
3. In spite of innumerable opportunities for understanding, people must strive to communicate. For example,
Okonkwo and his son Nwoye have a difficult time understanding one another because they hold different values.
On the other hand, Okonkwo spends more time with Ikemefuna and develops a deeper relationship that seems to
go beyond cultural restraints.
4. A social value—such as individual ambition—which is constructive when balanced by other values, can become
destructive when overemphasized at the expense of other values. For example, Okonkwo values tradition so
highly that he cannot accept change. (It may be more accurate to say he values tradition because of the high price
he has paid to uphold it, i.e. killing Ikemefuna and moving to Mbanta). The Christian teachings render these
considerable sacrifices on his part meaningless. The distress over the loss of tradition, whether driven by his love
of the tradition or the meaning of his sacrifices to it, can be seen as the main reasons for his suicide.
5. Culture is not static; change is continual, and flexibility is necessary for successful adaptation. Because Okonkwo
cannot accept the change the Christians bring, he cannot adapt.[6]
6. The struggle between change and tradition is constant; however, this statement only appears to apply to
Okonkwo. Change can very well be accepted, as evidenced by how the people of Umuofia refuse to join
Okonkwo as he strikes down the white man's messenger, a kotma, at the end. Perhaps Okonkwo is not so much
bothered by change, but the idea of losing everything he has built up, such as his fortune, prestige, and title, which
will be replaced by new values. It is evidenced throughout the book that he cares deeply about these things,
exemplified in his feelings of regret that he has lacked a "respectable" father figure from whom he could have
inherited them. A second interpretation is apparent with Okonkwo's static behavior to cultural change. His suicide
can be seen as a final attempt to show to the people of Umuofia the results of a clash between cultures and as a
plea for the Igbo culture to be upheld. In the same way that his father's failure motivated Okonkwo to reach a high
standing in the Igbo society, Okonkwo's suicide leads Obierika and fellow Umuofia men to recognize the
long-held custom of refraining from burying a man who commits suicide and from performing the customary
rituals. This interpretation is further emphasized with Obierika's comment on Okonkwo as a great man driven to
kill himself as a result of the pain springing from the loss of his society's traditions. Thus, Okonkwo's killing of
the messenger and subsequent suicide embodies the internal struggle between change and tradition.
7. The role of culture in society. With the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo's expulsion due to events beyond his
control and the journey of Ezinma with Chielo, Achebe questions, particularly through Obierika, whether
adherence to culture is for the benefit of society when it brings about so many hardships and sacrifices on the part
of Okonkwo and his family.
8. Notion of success and failure. Okonkwo's personal ambition to avoid a life of "failure" similar to his father,
Unoka, leads to his high title and affluence in the community. He ardently tries to avoid failure. The notion of
failure draws a parallel with the idea of cultural alteration in Umuofia and a shift in cultural values. Failure, for
Okonkwo, is societal reform, hence Okonkwo's drastic, and at times unpredictable, exploits in opposition to
anything foreign or lacking in what he perceives to be masculine traits.
84
Things Fall Apart
9. Through Achebe's use of language, he is successful in demonstrating (and attesting to) the Igbo's rich and unique
culture. By integrating traditional Igbo words (e.g. egwugwu, or the spirits of the ancestor's of Nigerian tribes),
folktales, and songs into English sentences, the author is successful in proving that African languages aren't
incomprehensible, although they are often too complex for direct translation into English. Additionally, the author
is successful in verifying that each of the continent's languages is unique, as Mr. Brown's translator is ridiculed
after his misinterpretation of an Igbo word.
Culture
Prior to British colonization, the Igbo people as depicted in Things Fall Apart lived in a patriarchal collective
political system. Decisions were not made by a chief or by any individual but rather by a council of male elders.
Religious leaders were also called upon to settle debates reflecting the cultural focus of the Igbo people. The
Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore Nigeria. Though the Portuguese are not mentioned by Achebe, their
enduring influence can be seen in many Nigerian surnames. The British entered Nigeria first through trade and then
established The Royal Niger Colony in 1886. The success of the colony led to Nigeria's becoming a British
protectorate in 1901. The arrival of the British slowly began to destroy the traditional society. The British
government would intervene in tribal disputes rather than allow the Igbo to settle issues in a traditional manner. The
frustration caused by these shifts in power is illustrated by the struggle of the protagonist Okonkwo in the second
half of the novel.
Despite converting to Christianity himself, Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart not only in response to the then-common
misrepresentations of his native people, but to show the dignity of the Igbo to his fellow citizens. His depiction of the
Igbo people's democratic institutions and culture allow them to be tested "against the goals of modern liberal
democracy and to have set out to show how the Igbo meet those standards."[7] While the Europeans in Things Fall
Apart are depicted as intolerant of Igbo culture and religion, telling villagers that their gods are not real (pp. 135,
162) the Igbo are seen as tolerant of other cultures as a whole. For example, Uchendu is able to see that "what is
good among one people is an abomination with others" (p. 129).
However, the novel does not idealize the Igbo people; Achebe also intends to show readers what fractures existed
within their culture. He "presents its weaknesses which require change and which aid in its destruction." They fear
twins, who are to be abandoned immediately after birth and left to die of exposure.
The novel attempts to repair some of the damage done by earlier European depictions of Africans. Achebe "chooses
to ignore the evidence of what Izevbaye calls 'rich material civilization' in Africa in order to portray the Igbo as
isolated and unique, evolving their own 'humanistic civilization'."[8] This suggests that Achebe intended to show
readers the changes that the Igbo culture could have made in order to survive in future years.[9]
Achebe shows that European sentiments toward Africans are mistaken. According to Diana Akers Rhoads, "Perhaps
the most important mistake of the British is their belief that all civilization progresses, as theirs has, from the tribal
stage through monarchy to parliamentary government. On first arriving in Mbanta, the missionaries expect to find a
king (p. 138), and, discovering no functionaries to work with, the British set up their own hierarchical system which
delegates power from the queen of England through district commissioners to native court messengers — foreigners
who do not belong to the village government at all (p. 160). Since the natives from other parts of Nigeria feel no
loyalty to the villages where they enact the commands of the district commissioners, the British have superimposed a
system which leads to bribery and corruption rather than to progress."[10] By contrast, the Igbo follow a democracy
which judges each man according to his personal merit.
85
Things Fall Apart
Gender
Definitions of masculinity vary in different societies. Gender differentiation is seen in Igbo classification of crimes.
The narrator of Things Fall Apart states that "the crime [of murder] was of two kinds, male and female. Okonkwo
had committed the female because it was an accident. He would be allowed to return to the clan after seven
years."[11] Okonkwo flees to the land of his mother, Mbanta, because a man finds refuge with his mother. In fact,
Achebe makes an insightful comment on the nature of masculinity through his representation of the tribal leaders.
Basically, this is conducive to creating exactly four alter egos of Okonkwo: one — his masculinity; two — his
fatherly abilities; three — his family progress; and four — his likelihood of success. The creation of these egos of
Okonkwo further develop Achebe's theme of masculinity. Uchendu explains this to Okonkwo:
"It is true that a child belongs to his father. But when the father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its
mother's hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is
sorrow and bitterness, he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is
buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme."[12]
Religion, myth and history
The analysis of cultural history involves myths, religion, totems, superstitions, rituals, festivals, and icons. In Things
Fall Apart, the mask, the earth, the legends and the rituals all have significance in the story as well as in the history
of the Igbo culture. According to Gordon Baldwin: "Religion looms large in the life of primitive man. It is not a
one-a-day-a-week affair as it generally is with us. Seven days a week, 365 days a year, primitive peoples eat and
work and play and sleep with religion. Nearly everything in primitive society — hunting, fishing, planting crops,
harvesting, head hunting, war, marriage, birth, coming of age, illness, death, building a house, making a canoe or an
ax — is associated with ritual or magic or ceremony or some other form of religious activity."[13]
First, there is the use of the mask to draw the spirit of the gods into the body of a person. A great crime in Ibo culture
is to unmask or show disrespect to the immortality of an egwugwu, which represents an ancestral spirit. Toward the
end of the novel, a warrior converted into a Christian unmasks and kills one of his own ancestral spirits. The clan
weeps, for "it seemed as if the very soul of the tribe wept for a great evil that was coming — its own death."[14]
In the cultural history of Nigeria complex rituals also played a large part in the daily life of the people. Achebe's
story reflects this strict attention to rituals and taboos. Okonkwo upholds his traditions by helping to kill the boy
sacrificed to settle a dispute with another tribe, despite his paternal feelings towards the boy. Okonkwo kills
Ikemefuna because "he was afraid of being thought weak."[15] Yet, afterwards he cannot eat or sleep, "he felt like a
drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito."[16] The space between an individual identity and his ancestors
is narrow. In fact, Achebe goes so far as to say: "The land of the living was not far removed from the domain of the
ancestors. There was coming and going between them, especially at festivals and also when an old man died,
because an old man was very close to the ancestors. A man's life from birth to death was a series of transition rites
which brought him nearer and nearer to his ancestors."[17]
There are several legends and myths told in Things Fall Apart: the earth and the sky;[18] the mosquito and the ear;[19]
the tortoise and the birds.[20] According to Rosenberg, "myths symbolize human experience and embody the spiritual
values of a culture."[21] The values and views of the world spread through mythology are important to the survival of
every society's culture.[22] Myths are instructional as well as entertaining. Myths "explain the nature of the universe
(creation and fertility myths)... or instruct members of the community in the attitudes and behavior necessary to
function successfully in that particular culture (hero myths and epics)."[23] In Things Fall Apart, the use of language
shares the functions of myths; "Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the
palm oil with which words are eaten."[24] Proverbs and myths are both ways of conveying a meaning without
directly force-feeding the words to the listener. Achebe is showing the importance of stories even within the story he
is telling.
86
Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart has been called a modern Greek tragedy. It has the same plot elements as a Greek tragedy,
including the use of a tragic hero, the following of the string model, etc. Okonkwo is a classic tragic hero, even
though the story is set in more modern times. He shows multiple hamartia, including hubris (pride) and ate
(rashness), and these character traits do lead to his peripeteia, or reversal of fortune, and to his downfall at the end of
the novel. He is distressed by social changes brought on by the white men because he has worked so hard to move up
in the traditional society. Okonkwo's position is at risk due to the arrival of a new value system. Those who commit
suicide lose their place in the ancestor-worshipping traditional society, to the extent that they may not even be
touched in order to receive a proper burial. The irony is that Okonkwo completely loses his standing in both value
systems. Okonkwo truly has good intentions, but his need to be in control and his fear that other men will sense
weakness in him drive him to make decisions, whether consciously or subconsciously, that he regrets as he
progresses through his life.[25]
Literary significance and reception
Things Fall Apart is a milestone in African literature. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel
in English,[] and is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa. Of all of Achebe's works, Things Fall Apart is the one
read most often, and has generated the most critical response, examination, and literary criticism. It is studied widely
in Europe and North America, where it has spawned numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works. It has
achieved similar status and repute in India, Australia and Oceania. Considered Achebe's magnum opus, it has sold
more than 8 million copies worldwide.[26] Time Magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language
Novels from 1923 to 2005.[27] The novel has been translated into more than fifty languages, and is often used in
literature, world history, and African studies courses across the world.
Achebe is now considered to be the essential novelist on African identity, nationalism, and decolonization. Achebe's
main focus has been cultural ambiguity and contestation. The complexity of novels such as Things Fall Apart
depends on Achebe's ability to bring competing cultural systems and their languages to the same level of
representation, dialogue, and contestation.
Reviewers have praised Achebe's neutral narration and have described Things Fall Apart as a realistic novel. Much
of the critical discussion about Things Fall Apart concentrates on the socio-political aspects of the novel, including
the friction between the members of Igbo society as they confront the intrusive and overpowering presence of
Western government and beliefs. Ernest N. Emenyonu commented that "Things Fall Apart is indeed a classic study
of cross-cultural misunderstanding and the consequences to the rest of humanity, when a belligerent culture or
civilization, out of sheer arrogance and ethnocentrism, takes it upon itself to invade another culture, another
civilization."[28]
Achebe's writing about African society, in telling from an African point of view the story of the colonization of the
Igbo, tends to extinguish the misconception that African culture had been savage and primitive. In Things Fall Apart,
western culture is portrayed as being "arrogant and ethnocentric," insisting that the African culture needed a leader.
As it had no kings or chiefs, Umofian culture was vulnerable to invasion by western civilization. It is felt that the
repression of the Igbo language at the end of the novel contributes greatly to the destruction of the culture. Although
Achebe favors the African culture of the pre-western society, the author attributes its destruction to the "weaknesses
within the native structure." Achebe portrays the culture as having a religion, a government, a system of money, and
an artistic tradition, as well as a judicial system.
87
Things Fall Apart
Influence
The achievement of Things Fall Apart set the foreground for numerous African novelists. Because of Things Fall
Apart, novelists after Achebe have been able to find an eloquent and effective mode for the expression of the
particular social, historical, and cultural situation of modern Africa. Before Things Fall Apart was published,
Europeans had written most novels about Africa, and they largely portrayed Africans as savages who needed to be
enlightened by Europeans. Achebe broke apart this view by portraying Igbo society in a sympathetic light, which
allows the reader to examine the effects of European colonialism from a different perspective. He commented, "The
popularity of Things Fall Apart in my own society can be explained simply... this was the first time we were seeing
ourselves, as autonomous individuals, rather than half-people, or as Conrad would say, 'rudimentary souls'."
The language of the novel has not only intrigued critics but has also been a major factor in the emergence of the
modern African novel. Because Achebe wrote in English, portrayed Igbo life from the point of view of an African
man, and used the language of his people, he was able to greatly influence African novelists, who viewed him as a
mentor.
Achebe's fiction and criticism continue to inspire and influence writers around the world. Hilary Mantel, the Booker
Prize-winning novelist in a May 7, 2012 article in Newsweek, "Hilary Mantel's Favorite Historical Fictions", lists
Things Fall Apart as one of her five favorite novels in this genre. A whole new generation of African writers – Caine
prize winners Binyavanga Wainaina (current director of the Chinua Achebe Center at Bard College) and Helon
Habila (Waiting for an Angel [2004] and Measuring Tme [2007]); as well as Uzodinma Iweala (Beasts of No Nation
[2005]); and Professor Okey Ndibe (Arrows of Rain [2000]) count Chinua Achebe as a significant influence.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of the popular and critically acclaimed novels Purple Hibiscus (2003) and
Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), commented in a 2006 interview, "Chinua Achebe will always be important to me
because his work influenced not so much my style as my writing philosophy: reading him emboldened me, gave me
permission to write about the things I knew well."
Film, television, and theatrical adaptations
A dramatic radio program called Okonkwo was made of the novel in April 1961 by the Nigerian Broadcasting
Corporation. It featured Wole Soyinka in a supporting role.[29]
In 1987, the book was made into a very successful miniseries directed by David Orere and broadcast on Nigerian
television by the Nigerian Television Authority. It starred several established film actors, including Pete Edochie,
Nkem Owoh and Sam Loco.
Footnotes
[1] Washington State University study guide (http:/ / wsu. edu/ ~brians/ anglophone/ achebe. html)
[2] Jerome Brooks, "Chinua Achebe, The Art of Fiction No. 139" (Winter 1994) The Paris Review No. 133 (http:/ / www. theparisreview. org/
interviews/ 1720/ the-art-of-fiction-no-139-chinua-achebe)
[3] Booker (2003), p 7.
[4] Sickels, Amy. "The Critical Reception of Things Fall Apart", in Booker (2011)
[5] http:/ / www. postcolonialweb. org/ achebe/ jvrao1. html
[6] "Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe: Introduction." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 152. Gale Cengage, 2002.
eNotes.com. 2006. 12 Jan, 2009 < (http:/ / www. enotes. com/ contemporary-literary-criticism/ things-fall-apart-chinua-achebe)>
[7] Rhoads, p. 61
[8] Lindfors, Bernth ed. Approaches to Teaching Achebe's Things Fall Apart. New York. 1991
[9] Rhoads, p. 62
[10] Rhoads, p. 63
[11] Achebe
[12] Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. EMC Corporation. 2003.
[13] Baldwin pp. 196–197.
[14] Achebe, pp. 186–187
[15] Achebe p. 61.
88
Things Fall Apart
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
Achebe p. 63.
Achebe p. 122.
Achebe p. 53
Achebe p. 75
Achebe pp. 99–96
Rosenberg p. xv
Rosenberg p. xv.
Rosenberg p. xvi.
Achebe p. 7.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. EMC Corporation. 2004. Noodle
Random House Teacher's Guide (http:/ / www. randomhouse. com/ highschool/ catalog/ display. pperl?isbn=9780385474542& view=tg)
ALL TIME 100 Novels (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ 2005/ 100books/ the_complete_list. html), Time magazine
Whittaker, David. "Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart" pp 59. New York 2007
Ezenwa-Ohaeto (1997). Chinua Achebe: A Biography Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33342-3. P. 81.
References
• Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994. ISBN 0385474547
• Baldwin, Gordon. Strange Peoples and Stranger Customs. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc, 1967.
• Booker, M. Keith. The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003. ISBN
978-0-325-07063-6
• Booker, M. Keith. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe [Critical Insights]. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press, 2011.
ISBN 978-1-58765-711-5
• Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1942.
• Girard, Rene. Violence and the Sacred. Trans. Patrick Gregory. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.
ISBN 0-8018-1963-6
• Rhoads, Diana Akers (September 1993). " Culture in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (http://www.jstor.org/
stable/524733)". African Studies Review. 36(2): 61–72.
• Roberts, J.M. A Short History of the World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC
Publishing Group, 1994. ISBN 978-0-8442-5765-5
External links
• Chinua Achebe discusses Things Fall Apart (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/
133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml) on the BBC World Book Club
• Teacher's Guide (http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385474542&
amp;view=tg) at Random House
• Study Resource for writing about Things Fall Apart (http://www.paperstarter.com/thingsfallapart.htm)
• Study guide (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/things/)
• Words present in the novel used in past SATs (https://secure.layingthefoundation.org/english/vocab/novels/
Things Fall Apart.pdf) Includes definitions, words in order from the book, and three different tests.
• Things Fall Apart Reviews (http://www.shvoong.com/tags/things-fall-apart/)
• Things Fall Apart on Wiki Summaries (http://wikisummaries.org/Things_Fall_Apart)
• Things Fall Apart (http://www.shmoop.com/intro/literature/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart.html) study
guide, themes, analysis, teacher resources]
• Things Fall Apart (http://www.igboguide.org) Igbo Culture Guide, Igbo Proverbs]
89
José Saramago
90
José Saramago
José Saramago
Born
José de Sousa Saramago
16 November 1922
Azinhaga, Santarém, Portugal
Died
18 June 2010 (aged 87)
Tías, Lanzarote Island, Spain
Occupation
Writer
Language
Portuguese
Period
1947 – 2010
Notable work(s)
The Gospel According to Jesus
Christ,
Blindness,
Seeing,
Death with Interruptions,
Cain
Notable award(s)
Camões Prize
1995
Nobel Prize in Literature
1998
Spouse(s)
Pilar del Rio (1988 - 2010)
www.josesaramago.org
[1]
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE (Portuguese: [ʒuˈzɛ ðɨ ˈsozɐ sɐɾɐˈmaɣu]; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a
Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works, some of which can be seen as
allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold
Bloom described Saramago as "the greatest living novelist" and considers him to be "a permanent part of the
Western canon", while James Wood praises "the distinctive tone to his fiction [...] because he narrates his novels as
if he were someone both wise and ignorant."
More than two million copies of Saramago's books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated
into 25 languages. A proponent of libertarian communism, Saramago was targeted by institutions such as Israel, the
Catholic Church, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, with whom he disagreed on various
issues. An atheist, he defended love as an instrument to improve the human condition. In 1992, the Government of
Portugal under Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva ordered the removal of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
José Saramago
from the Aristeion Prize's shortlist, claiming the work was religiously offensive. Disheartened by this political
censorship of his work, Saramago went into exile on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, upon which he resided until his
death in 2010.[1]
Saramago was a founding member of the National Front for the Defence of Culture in Lisbon in 1992, and
co-founder with Orhan Pamuk, of the European Writers' Parliament (EWP).
Early and middle life
Saramago was born in 1922 into a family of landless peasants in Azinhaga, Portugal, a small village in Ribatejo
Province some one hundred kilometers northeast of Lisbon. His parents were José de Sousa and Maria de Piedade.
"Saramago", the Portuguese word for wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum), was his father's family's nickname, and
was accidentally incorporated into his name upon registration of his birth. In 1924, Saramago's family moved to
Lisbon, where his father started working as a policeman. A few months after the family moved to the capital, his
brother Francisco, older by two years, died. He spent vacations with his grandparents in Azinhaga. When his
grandfather suffered a stroke and was to be taken to Lisbon for treatment, Saramago recalled, "He went into the yard
of his house, where there were a few trees, fig trees, olive trees. And he went one by one, embracing the trees and
crying, saying good-bye to them because he knew he would not return. To see this, to live this, if that doesn't mark
you for the rest of your life," Saramago said, "you have no feeling." Although Saramago was a good pupil, his
parents were unable to afford to keep him in grammar school, and instead moved him to a technical school at age 12.
After graduating, he worked as a car mechanic for two years. Later he worked as a translator, then as a journalist. He
was assistant editor of the newspaper Diário de Notícias, a position he had to leave after the democratic revolution in
1974. After a period of working as a translator he was able to support himself solely as a writer.
Saramago married Ilda Reis in 1944. Their only daughter, Violante, was born in 1947. In 1986 he met Spanish
journalist Pilar del Rio. They married in 1988 and remained together until his death in June 2010. Del Río is the
official translator of Saramago's books into Spanish.
Later life and international acclaim
Saramago did not achieve widespread recognition and acclaim until he was sixty, with the publication of his fourth
novel, Memorial do Convento. A baroque tale set during the Inquisition in 18th-century Lisbon, it tells of the love
between a maimed soldier and a young clairvoyant, and of a renegade priest's heretical dream of flight. The novel's
translation in 1988 as Baltasar and Blimunda (by Giovanni Pontiero) brought Saramago to the attention of an
international readership. This novel won the Portuguese PEN Club Award.
Saramago joined the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969 and remained a member until the end of his life. He was a
self-described pessimist. His views aroused considerable controversy in Portugal, especially after the publication of
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. Members of the country's Catholic community were outraged by Saramago's
representation of Jesus and particularly God as fallible, even cruel human beings. Portugal's conservative
government, led by then-prime minister Cavaco Silva, did not allow Saramago's work to compete for the Aristeion
Prize, arguing that it offended the Catholic community. As a result, Saramago and his wife moved to Lanzarote, an
island in the Spanish Canaries.
The European Writers' Parliament (EWP) came about as a result of a joint proposal by Saramago and fellow Nobel
laureate Orhan Pamuk. Saramago was expected to speak as the guest of honour at the EWP, but he died before the
opening ceremony in 2010.
91
José Saramago
Death and funeral
Saramago suffered from leukemia. He died on 18 June 2010, aged 87,
having spent the last few years of his life in Lanzarote, Spain. His
family said that he had breakfast and chatted with his wife and
translator Pilar del Rio on Friday morning, after which he started
feeling unwell and passed away. The Guardian described him as "the
finest Portuguese writer of his generation", while Fernanda Eberstadt
of The New York Times said he was "known almost as much for his
unfaltering Communism as for his fiction". Saramago's translator,
"Thank you José Saramago", Lisbon, October
Margaret Jull Costa, paid tribute to him, describing his "wonderful
2010
imagination" and calling him "the greatest contemporary Portuguese
writer". Saramago had continued his writing until his death. His most
recent publication, Cain, was published in 2009, with an English translation made available in August 2010.
Saramago had suffered from pneumonia a year before his death. Having been thought to have made a full recovery,
he had been scheduled to attend the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2010.
Portugal declared two days of mourning. There were verbal tributes from senior international politicians: Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva (Brazil), Bernard Kouchner (France) and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain), while Cuba's Raúl and
Fidel Castro sent floral tributes.
Saramago's funeral was held in Lisbon on 20 June 2010, in the presence of more than 20,000 people, many of whom
had travelled hundreds of kilometres, but also notably in the absence of right-wing President of Portugal Aníbal
Cavaco Silva was holidaying in the Azores as the ceremony took place. Silva, the Prime Minister who removed
Saramago's work from the shortlist of the Aristeion Prize, said he did not attend Saramago's funeral because he "had
never had the privilege to know him". Mourners, who questioned Silva's absence in the presence of reporters, held
copies of the red carnation, symbolic of Portugal's democratic revolution. Saramago's cremation took place in
Lisbon, with his ashes being scattered in his birthplace of Azinhaga and in Tias in Lanzarote, his home until his
death.
Lost novel
The José Saramago Foundation announced in October 2011 the publication of a so-called "lost novel" published as
The Clairvoyant (Claraboia in Portuguese). It was written in the 1950s and remained buried in the archive of a
publisher to whom the manuscript had been sent. Saramago remained silent about the work up to his death. The book
has been translated to several languages.
Style and themes
92
José Saramago
Saramago's experimental style often features long sentences, at times
more than a page long. He used periods sparingly, choosing instead a
loose flow of clauses joined by commas. Many of his paragraphs
extend for pages without pausing for dialogue, (which Saramago
chooses not to delimit by quotation marks); when the speaker changes,
Saramago capitalizes the first letter of the new speaker's clause. His
works often refer to his other works. In his novel Blindness, Saramago
completely abandons the use of proper nouns, instead referring to
characters simply by some unique characteristic, an example of his
style reflecting the recurring themes of identity and meaning found
throughout his work.
93
Saramago at Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in
Bogotá in 2007
Saramago's novels often deal with fantastic scenarios. In his 1986 novel The Stone Raft, the Iberian Peninsula breaks
off from the rest of Europe and sails around the Atlantic Ocean. In his 1995 novel Blindness, an entire unnamed
country is stricken with a mysterious plague of "white blindness". In his 1984 novel The Year of the Death of
Ricardo Reis (which won the PEN Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Award), Fernando Pessoa's
heteronym survives for a year after the poet himself dies. Additionally, his novel Death with Interruptions (also
translated as Death at Intervals) takes place in a country in which, suddenly, nobody dies, and concerns, in part, the
spiritual and political implications of the event, although the book ultimately moves from a synoptic to a more
personal perspective.
Saramago addresses serious matters with empathy for the human condition and for the isolation of contemporary
urban life. His characters struggle with their need to connect with one another, form relations and bond as a
community, and also with their need for individuality, and to find meaning and dignity outside of political and
economic structures.
When asked to describe his daily writing routine in 2009, Saramago responded, "I write two pages. And then I read
and read and read."
Personal life
Saramago was an atheist. The Catholic Church criticised him on
numerous occasions due to the content of some of his novels,
mainly The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and Cain, in which
he uses satire and bible quotes to present the figure of God in a
comical and distorted way. The Portuguese government lambasted
his 1991 novel O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (The Gospel
according to Jesus Christ) and struck the writer's name from
nominees for the European Literature Prize, saying the atheist
work offended Portuguese Catholic convictions. The book
portrays a Christ who, subject to human desires, lives with Mary
Saramago by Portuguese painter Carlos Botelho
Magdalene and tries to back out of the crucifixion. Following the
Swedish Academy's decision to present Saramago with the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Vatican questioned the
decision on political grounds, though gave no comment on the aesthetic or literary components of Saramago's work.
Saramago responded: "The Vatican is easily scandalized, especially by people from outside. They should just focus
on their prayers and leave people in peace. I respect those who believe, but I have no respect for the institution."
Saramago was a proponent of anarcho-communism, and a member of the Communist Party of Portugal. As a
member of his PCP he stood for the 1989 Lisbon local election in the list of the Coalition "For Lisbon" and was
elected alderman and presiding officer of the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon. Saramago was also a candidate of the
José Saramago
Democratic Unity Coalition in all elections to the European Parliament from 1989 to 2009, though was often in
positions thought to have no possibility of being elected. He was a critic of European Union (EU) and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) policies.
Although many of his novels are acknowledged political satire of a subtle kind, it is in The Notebook that Saramago
made his political convictions most clear. The book, written from a Marxist perspective, is a collection of his blog
articles for the year September 2008 to August 2009. According to The Independent, "Saramago aims to cut through
the web of 'organized lies' surrounding humanity, and to convince readers by delivering his opinions in a relentless
series of unadorned, knock-down prose blows." His political engagement led to comparisons with George Orwell:
"Orwell's hostility to the British Empire runs parallel to Saramago's latter-day crusade against empire in the shape of
globalisation." When speaking to The Observer in 2006 he said "The painter paints, the musician makes music, the
novelist writes novels. But I believe that we all have some influence, not because of the fact that one is an artist, but
because we are citizens. As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved, it's the citizen who
changes things. I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement."
During the Second Intifada, while visiting Ramallah in March 2002, Saramago said: "What is happening in Palestine
is a crime we can put on the same plane as what happened at Auschwitz ... A sense of impunity characterises the
Israeli people and its army. They have turned into rentiers of the Holocaust." Some critics of these words contended
that they were antisemitic.[][2][3] Six months later, Saramago clarified. "To have said that Israel's action is to be
condemned, that war crimes are being perpetrated - really the Israelis are used to that. It doesn't bother them. But
there are certain words they can't stand. And to say 'Auschwitz' there ... note well, I didn't say that Ramallah was the
same as Auschwitz, that would be stupid. What I said was that the spirit of Auschwitz was present in Ramallah. We
were eight writers. They all made condemning statements, Wole Soyinka, Breyten Breytenbach, Vincenzo Consolo
and others. But the Israelis weren't bothered about those. It was the fact that I put my finger in the Auschwitz wound
that made them jump."
During the 2006 Lebanon War, Saramago joined Tariq Ali, John Berger, Noam Chomsky, and others in condemning
what they characterized as "a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing
less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation".
He was also a supporter of Iberian Federalism. In his novel Blindness, the communist principle of from each
according to his ability, to each according to his need is stated in a positive light.[4] In a 2008 press conference for
the filming of Blindness he asked, in reference to the Great Recession, "Where was all that money poured on
markets? Very tight and well kept; then suddenly it appears to save what? lives? no, banks." He added, "Marx was
never so right as now", and predicted "the worst is still to come."
Awards and accolades
• 1995 - Camões Prize
• 1998 - Nobel Prize in Literature
• 2009 - São Paulo Prize for Literature — Shortlisted in the Best Book of the Year category for A Viagem do
Elefante
Nobel Prize in Literature, 1998
The Swedish Academy selected Saramago as 1998 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. The announcement
came when he was about to fly to Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair, and caught both him and his editor by
surprise. The Nobel committee praised his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony", and his
"modern skepticism" about official truths.
94
José Saramago
95
List of works
Title
Year
English title
Year
ISBN
Terra do Pecado
1947 Land of Sin
ISBN 972-21-1145-0
Os Poemas Possíveis
1966 Possible Poems
Provavelmente Alegria
1970 Probably Joy
Deste Mundo e do Outro
1971 This World and the Other
A Bagagem do Viajante
1973 The Traveller's Baggage
As Opiniões que o DL teve
1974 Opinions that DL had
O Ano de 1993
1975 The Year of 1993
Os Apontamentos
1976 The Notes
Manual de Pintura e Caligrafia
1977 Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
1993 ISBN 1-85754-043-3
Objecto Quase
1978 The Lives of Things
2012
Levantado do Chão
1980 Raised from the Ground
2012
Viagem a Portugal
1981 Journey to Portugal
2000 ISBN 0-15-100587-7
Memorial do Convento
1982 Baltasar and Blimunda
1987 ISBN 0-15-110555-3
O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis
1986 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
1991 ISBN 0-15-199735-7
A Jangada de Pedra
1986 The Stone Raft
1994 ISBN 0-15-185198-0
História do Cerco de Lisboa
1989 The History of the Siege of Lisbon
1996 ISBN 0-15-100238-X
O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo
1991 The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
1993 ISBN 0-15-136700-0
Ensaio sobre a Cegueira
1995 Blindness
1997 ISBN 0-15-100251-7
Todos os Nomes
1997 All the Names
1999 ISBN 0-15-100421-8
O Conto da Ilha Desconhecida
1997 The Tale of the Unknown Island
1999 ISBN 0-15-100595-8
A Caverna
2000 The Cave
2002 ISBN 0-15-100414-5
A Maior Flor do Mundo
2001 Children's Picture Book
O Homem Duplicado
2002 The Double
2004 ISBN 0-15-101040-4
Ensaio sobre a Lucidez
2004 Seeing
2006 ISBN 0-15-101238-5
Don Giovanni ou O Dissoluto Absolvido 2005 Don Giovanni, or, Dissolute Acquitted
As Intermitências da Morte
2005 Death with Interruptions
2008 ISBN 1-84655-020-3
As Pequenas Memórias
2006 Small Memories
2010 ISBN 978-0-15-101508-5
A Viagem do Elefante
2008 The Elephant's Journey
2010 ISBN 978-972-21-2017-3
Caim
2009 Cain
2011 ISBN 978-607-11-0316-1
Claraboia
1953 The clairvoyant (not yet translated to English) 2011
José Saramago
Further reading
• Baptista Bastos, José Saramago: Aproximação a um retrato, Dom Quixote, 1996
• T.C. Cerdeira da Silva, Entre a história e aficção: Uma saga de portugueses, Dom Quixote, 1989
• Maria da Conceição Madruga, A paixão segundo José Saramago: a paixão do verbo e o verbo da paixão, Campos
das Letras, Porto, 1998
• Horácio Costa, José Saramago: O Período Formativo, Ed. Caminho, 1998
• Helena I. Kaufman, Ficção histórica portuguesa da pós-revolução, Madison, 1991
• O. Lopes, Os sinais e os sentidos: Literatura portuguesa do século XX, Lisboa, 1986
• B. Losada, Eine iberische Stimme, Liber, 2, 1, 1990, 3
• Carlos Reis, Diálogos com José Saramago, Ed. Caminho, Lisboa, 1998
• M. Maria Seixo, O essential sobre José Saramago, Imprensa Nacional, 1987
• "Saramago, José (1922–2010)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Tracie Ratiner. Vol. 25. 2nd ed. Detroit:
Thomson Gale, 2005. Discovering Collection. Thomson Gale. University of Guelph. 25 Sep. 2007.
References
[1] Quoted in:
[2] De las piedras de David a los tanques de Goliat (http:/ / www. adl. org/ presrele/ asint_13/ 4370_13. htm) by José Saramago, El País
21/Abril/2002 (in Spanish).
[3] "Bigotry in Print. Crowds Chant Murder. Something's Changed" (http:/ / www. travelbrochuregraphics. com/ extra/ bigotry_in_print. htm) by
Paul Berman, The Forward (available online here) May 24, 2002.
[4] Blindness (http:/ / books. google. ca/ books?id=tQN9H18D7DEC& pg=PA141& lpg=PA141& dq=From+ each+ according+ to+ his+
ability,+ to+ each+ according+ to+ his+ need+ blindness+ saramago& source=bl& ots=0neUjrrfA2&
sig=ud4LA7aqJAoH4Kz92oRDy9HdUgw& hl=en& ei=fwFzTNu5OIWCsQPohLiQDQ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1&
ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q& f=false), Harvest Book Series, José Saramago, translated by Giovanni Pontiero, Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 1999
External links
• Donzelina Barroso (Winter 1998). "Jose Saramago, The Art of Fiction No. 155" (http://www.theparisreview.
org/interviews/1032/the-art-of-fiction-no-155-jose-saramago). The Paris Review.
• Saramago: Prophet of our Times (http://www.thebhopalpost.com/index.php/2010/07/
saramago-prophet-of-our-times/)
• José Saramago Foundation (http://www.josesaramago.org/) (Portuguese)
• José Saramago (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0764832/) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Unexpected Fantasist (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/magazine/26saramago-t.html), a portrait of
José Saramago, written by Fernanda Eberstadt and published August 26, 2007, in The New York Times Magazine
• Introduction and video of Saramago from "Heroes de los dos bandos" – Spanish Civil War – (http://www.
radiocable.com/heroes)
• Interviews with Saramago in video (http://www.xpress.es/radiocable/entre-saramago.htm)
• José Saramago from Pegasos (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/saramago.htm)
• Translation of interview with Saramago in El País – 12-Nov-2005 (http://zenitservices.com/Translations/2005/
Saramago.html)
• Saramago's Nobel Lecture (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1998/
saramago-lecture.html)
• Societies of Mutual Isolation (http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=927), an essay on Saramago by
Benjamin Kunkel from Dissent
• "The Year of the Death of Jose Saramago" (http://nplusonemag.com/on-jose-saramago) in memoriam from n+1
• Jose Saramago's blog (http://caderno.josesaramago.org/)
96
José Saramago
• Video Saramago - Where's the democracy? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aWFQRcdChk) (English
subtitles)
• "Raised from the Ground by José Saramago – review" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/26/
raised-from-ground-jose-saramago-review), Ursula K. Le Guin, The Guardian, 26 December 2012
97
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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
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