bLOGOS/HA HA: i m a s k i n g u 2 c

David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

15 January 2017

i m a s k i n g u 2 c

Theatre of the Actors of Regard

We read with interest Tim Keanes recent article

The Irish for Noh: The Masks of William Butler Yeats. Here's an extract :

For Yeats the personae — the Latin word for “masks” — voicing his poems are as meaningful and expressive as the poem’s words. This is why he looked back to ancient Greek models of “sung” verse and why he sought a modern literature in which form and content are indivisible, a quest he immortalized in the famous rhetorical question, “How can we know the dancer from the dance?”

And it is Yeats and dance — not Yeats and poetry — that takes center stage in the multimedia exhibition, Simon Starling: At Twilight (After W.B. Yeats’ Noh Reincarnation) at Japan Society, which explores the Irish poet’s debt to the formalism of Japanese Noh theater.

Mickey Mouse Mirror Mask House

A persona (plural personae or personas), in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask.The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον (prosōpon). Its meaning in the latter Roman period changed to indicate a "character" of a theatrical performance or court of law, when it became apparent that different individuals could assume the same role, and legal attributes such as rights, powers, and duties followed the role. The same individuals as actors could play different roles, each with its own legal attributes, sometimes even in the same court appearance. According to other sources, which also admit that the origin of the term is not completely clear, persona could possibly be related to the Latin verb per-sonare, literally: sounding through, with an obvious link to the above-mentioned theatrical mask. In the context of the social web, users create virtual persona which are also termed internet or online identities.

- wikipedia