Sunday, September 20, 2020
Storybook Topic Research: Tolkien and the Greek Underworld
- Story 1: The Underworld
- The Greek underworld is wide and sprawling with several different sections that make up its geography. I think using a loose map of the Greek underworld will be extremely helpful in developing the Tolkien underworld. The six rivers that represent emotions are something that strike me as Tolkien-ish, and I think I will use them in my own creation story.
- Story 2: Erebus
- Throughout The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books/movies, there is a darkness throughout Middle Earth that is not necessarily a person or being. I think a good counterpart to this is the Greek deity of Erebus. He is described as not a person but a place and state of being, although he does physically appear as a man. I think using him as inspiration to describe the darkness of Middle Earth will be very helpful.
- Story 3: Thanatos
- One thing I believe it is critical to recognize about Tolkien's view of death is that it is not necessarily negative. Like Gandalf says when comforting Pippin in The Lord of the Rings, "Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it."
- The thing I like about Thanatos, and something I will draw inspiration from when designing the Tolkien underworld, is that he is described as a gentle and non-violent god of death. His twin brother is Hypnos, the god of Sleep, which I think is very beautiful and a nice touch to add to the storybook. The story linked is a good depiction of the god.
Friday, September 18, 2020
Week 4 Story: Damon and Samantha
*An updated version of this story can be found in my portfolio, which is located here!*
Authors Note: The original story comes from the Bible Women's unit and is the story of Delilah and Samson. I wanted to swap the genders and do a more Medieval re-telling of the story, so that's what you read here.
Extra Credit Reading Notes: Biblical Women, Part A
The Story of Delilah and Samson
Summary:
Text Notes: Delilah
- From the valley of Sorek
- Author gives insights into her character with the entire premise of the story
- Easily swayed
- Manipulative
- Untrue to her word
- Deceptive
- Greedy
- Smart
- Author is good at creating tension with dialogue and description
- Each time Samson lies about where his strength comes from, Delilah manipulates him because she has been "mocked"
- "Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound."
- Delilah continuously grates on Samson's nerves with her begging
- "And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart..."
- She is manipulative in saying "How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth."
- New International Version Translation: "How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength."
- This is textbook manipulation and gaslighting
Outside Research
- Delilah = "delicate" in Hebrew
- Has been compared to Judas for his betrayal of Jesus and her betrayal of Samson
- Was the only woman to be named in Samson's story
- there were sex workers and other women
Bibliography
- Author of Judges: Unknown
- Delilah
- Link to story
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Topic Brainstorm Session
The first topic I am interested in should come as no surprise to anyone if they have read the post of my favorite places for The Lord of the Rings, and the mythology in the legendarium of the Tolkien universe, is something that greatly intrigues me. When it comes to background knowledge on this topic, I have a general idea of the mythology surrounding the world that Tolkien created over his lifetime, but there is still a lot that I do not know. I think one could spend years studying his world and never truly know all the ins and outs of all the lore. There are some things that are considered pre or post canon, but I think narrowing it down to the canonical lore would be helpful. More specifically, I would love to examine the lore of what happened to the other Rings of Power from the time Sauron gained control over the One Ring to the time it was destroyed. Neither the Lord of the Rings books nor the films give any real indication into what happened to them, other than the division of them among the inhabitants of Middle Earth and that some of them lost power after the destruction of the One Ring. This is the topic I am leaning toward for my project, but it is still to be determined. This Wikipedia page seems like a promising resource in doing this project.
The second topic I am potentially interested in is the stories surrounding women pirates. As far as background knowledge on this topic is concerned, I am severely lacking. I definitely do not have a grasp on really any of the stories surrounding famous female pirates, but they have always been intriguing to me. Stories of powerful women are always a good time, but powerful women pirates? Now that seems really fun. I would like to learn general knowledge of the famous female pirates, such as Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and Rachel Wall, who were all mentioned in the UnTextbook. Furthermore, I think it would be very interesting, and make for a cool project, to study the ways these women lead their ships that were different than their male counterparts. Perhaps studying three or four different women who crossed paths in their time might be interesting as well. This website seems like a good place to start researching.
The third topic I could see myself doing a project over would be over the Greek Underworld. I tend to enjoy dark/spooky things in life, and the underworld has always intrigued me. All I really know about the underworld of Greek mythology is the major characters like Hades, Persephone, and Cerberus. I know a bit about how Persephone was taken to be with Hades and her story, but I do not know any of the lore about the way the underworld was formed, how it works, or any of the other rulers of it. I would like to gain knowledge on all the different rulers of the underworld and their roles in the way it works. Specifically, I think it would be interesting to write about a few of the goddesses, like Nyx, Styx, or Keres, and the ways they work together in the underworld. This Wikipedia page will be useful in researching this topic.
The last topic I am interested in for the project is the tales of the Brothers Grimm. As I said, I like the dark/spooky things in life, and I think I have talked about my love for the origins of popular fairytales before, but I genuinely do enjoy the horrific or twisted endings to classics (I am not sure what that says about me as a person, but that's a thought for another time). One of my favorite shows I sued to watch was simply titled "Grimm" and was about the truth behind modern fairytales, so I have a decent background on this topic, but there are so many tales that I haven't read or watched. I think I would love to do a project on the ways we have taken the original text and made it so it is palatable for young audiences. Perhaps a Disney themed project would be cool. I would potentially examine a few common tales, like Cinderella, Rapunzel, or Sleeping Beauty, and work with the origins of them. Perhaps I could do something where I take stories written in the same time periods and weave them together, but that is to be determined. This Wikipedia page will be helpful for this topic.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Week 2 Reading Overview
A Tentative Reading Plan
THE PLAN
- Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.
- Week 3: Ovid's Metamorphoses
- Week 4: Women Saints
- Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.
- Week 5: Folklore of the Holy Land
- Week 6: Bengali
- Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]
- Week 7: Ozaki
- Week 9: Brer Rabbit
- Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.
- Week 10: Pacific Northwest
- Week 11: Inuit (Eskimo)
- Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.
- Week 12: Celtic Tales
- Week 13: Canterbury Tales
- Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.
- Week 14: Russian
- Week 15: Hunt
My Interests
Microfiction Revisions: Two Spooky Little Stories
Original Texts: Got Ya I ran. I ran as fast as I possibly could, the branches whipping at face, grabbing at my hair. It was almost as though...
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Who Am I? Hello all! If you aren't already aware, my name is Rachel Goldin (yes that is golden with an "i") and I am a se...
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*An updated version of this story can be found in my portfolio, which is located here !* Samson and Delilah by Lucas Cranach, 1537 ( Wikim...
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My portfolio project is located here ! Please enjoy! Here's a lovely meme to kick things off. ( Photo by Mediaaa )