While Hurricane Irene makes waves, some have been casting around for examples of the cyclone's namesake. I think of Irene Papas, the great over-the-top Greek actress.
In this scene as Helen of Troy in Michael Cacoyannis' version of The Trojan Women (1971), she cleverly advocates her way out of the shambles of the Trojan War, almost miraculously avoiding a violent end. Hers, the face that launched a thousand ships.
One of the things I like about Helen's arc is this: she acts independently in defiance of societal norms, yet she does not -- unlike Madame Bovary nor Anna Karenina, for instance -- despair, commit suicide, or receive any particular punishment in her post-war freedom. The story of Helen of Troy after the Trojan War is, in other words, refreshing for its originality.
Today's Rune: The Self.
3 comments:
They'd like to see through me,
but nothing is more opaque
than absolute transparency.
Look--my feet don't hit the marble!
Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising,
I hover six inches in the air
in my blazing swan-egg of light.
You think I'm not a goddess?
Try me.
This is a torch song.
Touch me and you'll burn.
-- A snippet of Margaret Atwood's "Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing"
So who has been the best Helen of Troy, I wonder?
Erik, as long as that beautiful woman just launches ship and not hurricanes!!! The Keys got lucky-thank the Lord.
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