Not Mel Tormé - 14 January 2021 - Plague Journal Day 308

Micah 6:8
Genesis 2:5-9
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I've been thinking about tragedy lately. Greek tragedy and its descendants, generally. A lot of my literary background comes from studying French in high school, using the spectacular two-volume Survey of French literature by Morris Bishop. (In fact, I managed to track down a used copy in the past few years, and I'm a bit impressed with myself that I'm still able to read much of that, lo these many years later.)
At any rate, one of the classic tragedies was about Hippolytus and Phaedra which was given a reboot by Jean Racine in 1677.
I've been a frequent critic of the current spate of reboots, citing them as evidence that there are no new ideas in Hollywood, and it looks as though there are no new ideas, even when it comes to recycling others' ideas!
At any rate, not only did Hippolytus and Phaedra get recast into Phèdre and Hippolyte by Racine, there's a later and even more outré version from the 20th century. More bizarre, certainly, but no less tragic and moving.
Enjoy!


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.