Brain Pain discussion

Welcome to our second Cluster Headache: The Writing World.

With James Michener’s book The Novel as a jumping off point, these four books represent a few of the ideas his characters explore and some of the literary controversies found throughout GoodReads and in the world of writing at large.

The Oresteia: Agamemnon / The Libation Bearers / The Eumenides, by Aeschylus

Inspired by Professor Streibert’s mural/teaching tool, “The Doomed House of Atreus” (Part 3, p. 182), we will read The Oresteia by Aeschylus. This is the only known surviving trilogy from classical Greek drama. It begins with Agamemnon, then The Libation Bearers, and concludes with the Eumenides. (The Penguin Classics edition translated by Robert Fagles includes an excellent essay “The Serpent and the Eagle” by Robert Fagles and W.B. Stanford.) As fictional Professor Streibert points out,

“The sons of Pelops, Atreus and Thyestes, were bitterly estranged, and their actions and feelings feuled the brooding tragedies that preoccupied Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and laid the groundwork for all subsequent literature.”

The Oresteia brings us into the middle of the Atreides sagas with Agamemnon’s return home from Troy and the bloodbath that followed.

Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, by Erich Auerbach

Auerbach’s classic work of literary criticism is mentioned in Part Two and Three of Michener’s novel. Written while in exile in Istanbul during WWII, Mimesis is a classic of 20th century historicist criticism. For our purposes, we will only be reading the first chapter* “Odysseus’ Scar” since I’m sure most of you are familiar with Homer’s The Odyssey.
[*For those members who like Auerbach’s critical style, we can discuss additional chapters as well.]

Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner

Michener’s fictional author, Lukas Yoder, created a fictional universe, “The Grenzler Region”, which is similar to Faulkner’s own Yoknapatawpha County. Yoder is presented as a “safe” and steady writer, churning out his respectable, but predictable sagas of his fictitious Mennonite world. Likewise, Faulkner devoted a large part of his career to exploring the saga of Yoknapatawpha County. In Absalom, Absalom!, we again meet Quentin Compson from Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury as he listens to the tales of his ancestors as told by old Miss Coldfield in her hot and dusty office.

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

In contrast to best-selling author Lukas Yoder, Michener presents the character Timothy Tull who’s debut experimental novel Kaleidoscope becomes a big sensation, posing the question “What exactly is a novel?” Danielewki’s debut novel also brings us into similar critical territory with its meta-fictional and formal elements.

And so, that’s our Cluster Headache Number Two. A great excuse to read some great literature…

Reading Schedule

July 30 – August 19 The Oresteia by Aeschylus
August 20 – August 26 Mimesis by Erich Auerbach
August 27 – September 23 Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
September 24 – October 28 House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
October 29 – November 4 Conclusions/Summing up Cluster Headache Two

A detailed schedule is posted for each book.