June 05, 2023

51. Looking Kinda Gross.

52 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared’s choice of topic: Sir Orfeo. The

Orpheus myth is one of the most mysterious ones in the open-ended collection

of tales that make up what is termed ‘Greek mythology,’ something that Tolkien

would have learned about by default as part of his standard late

Victorian/Edwardian education. But his particular exploration of that myth

wasn’t via one of those texts, but a translation of a Middle English poem by

an anonymous author, itself based on a Breton source, that fused elements of

the most famous Orpheus story – trying to win back the love of his life from

the land of the dead – with elements of Celtic faery and myth as well as

recent English history. Yet Tolkien’s work is one of his most mysterious

efforts in turn, first presented by Christopher Tolkien along with the

translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl, but, as the younger

Tolkien explained, unaccompanied by any notes, introductory paragraphs or even

an exact date of creation to determine what inspired him to make the

translation or for what purpose it might have been intended. Can more be said

about how old and familiar myths get reset and recontextualized across human

history, reflecting the situations and biases of their times? Is there

anything about the poem or the translation that stands out as uniquely or

distinctly Tolkienian based on his other work? What about the land of the dead

makes it such an unusual place all around, especially considering the fates of

those who are there? And drawing on our separate news discussion about the

continuing WGA strike and its impact on The Rings of Power season 2, how

complicated is it to shoot a TV show anyway? (It’s very complicated.)

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle. Harps

do have power in the right hands.

Support the WGA strike! It’ll help Oriana among many others. Lots of good pieces out

there, including interviews with Michael

Schur, David

Simon and Hollywood Teamster leader

Lindsay Dougherty,

plus this barnburner of a

piece from one of the

striking writers, Ron Currie.

The Rings of Power cast talk about

things. Kinda vaguely, but anyway.

So the WGA strike didn’t deter Amazon from getting the second season of The

Rings of Power done, apparently.

Check out the Annecy International Animation Film

Festival. Here’s the page for The War

of the Rohirrim.

Sir Orfeo! Want to try and read

along in the original? Here’s one of the

texts with some guidance as needed.

The Orpheus myth is indeed pretty

darned complex!

David Graeber’s Debt: The First 5000

Years? Well worth your time.

The history of Winchester

is a little involved…

There’s a fair amount out there about ‘the Greek tradition’ and Victorians –

have a read here for some more of

that.

As for the fairies/faery in Celtic tradition and the dead, there’s a lot there

too. Here’s a starting

point.

Hadestown! It was and is a hit indeed. (And if

you’d like to hear the original version.)

Support By-The-Bywater and our network,

Megaphonic. If you do, you can hang out with

us in a members-only Discord and hear an exclusive interview with Jared.

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By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

4.8

2929 ratings