MUSE of SENSUAL INNOCENCE: "Maria Nefeli" (of ODYSSEUS ELYTIS)
Winter Swimmer
"Maria Nephele" (of Odysseas Elytis): A neo-pagan poetic perspective
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In contrast to much of the Western Christian ideas of innocence, often
linked with "renunciation", the Muse of the Greek poet ODYSSEAS ELYTIS
(expressed in his book "Maria Nephele") is a Priestess of Ecstasy that
goes beyond Hedonism, into the Innocence of Sensuality BEFORE the FALL
(from Paradise). There is no 'split' between the Mind and the Body, no
restriction to erotic imagination, and absolutely no alienation, in her
Being. (Maria was also a real person, who inspired Elytis as a 'muse').
Extracts of quotations with _notes_, follow. Corrections and other
points (as regards these imperfect translations of mine) are welcome.
Winter Swimmer
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| Children and grand-children of Renunciation
| are all of them _bastards_. (page 38).
(paidiA ki engOnia tis apArnisis
EInai Ola tous bAstarda").
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| Maria Nephele lives in the antipodes of Morality
| she is full of Ethos.
| When she says 'I will sleep with so-and-so'
| she means the will murder History once more...
(i MarIa nefEli zei stous antIpodes tis eethikEEs
EInai Olo EEthos.
Otan lEei 'tha koimoithO m'aftOn,
ennoEI oti tha skotOsei akOmi mia forA tin istorIa...)
[NOTE: Instead of the Christian/monogamous 'ideals', the nature of
Maria Nefeli is _polyamorous_, like the Goddess Aphroditee
(Venus) who had countless lovers. However, her polyamorous
nature is not 'greedy hedonism' but profoundly revolutionary
& capable of changing History. Her erotic ecstasy '_murders_
History', i.e. changes the 'established order' of the World.]
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[...]
|Maria Nephele is undoubtedly
| a sharp(-cutting) girl
| a true menace of the future (p. 45)
(I marIa nefEli anamfisvItita
EInai korItsi oksY
alethinEE apeilEE tou mEllondos)
[...]
| Maria Nephele goes forward
| redeemed from the despicable concept of the Eternal Cycle
(i marIa nefEli pAei brostA
lytromEni apo tin apechthEE Ennoia tou aiOniou kYklou)
[NOTE: The 'Eternal Cycle' is (probably) what the 'traditional'
Occult Theories teach. There is no escape from this Cycle
as long as 'Occult Theories' are used 'conservatively'.]
| and through her mere existence
| finishes-off half-human people.
(kai mOno me tin YparksEE tis
apoteleiOnei tous misOUs anthrOpous).
[NOTE: The "half-human" people here, refers to _alienated_ people
who have lost their humanity (or half of it). Maria Nephele
'finishes them off' meaning that her Glow annihilates them.]
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("The Song of Maria Nefeli")
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|"This girl is a shame"
| shaking their heads, they say
| Supposedly crying for me
| don't they let go, of me
[NOTE: Everybody thinks she's 'lost' or irredeemable.
Yet her Purity is Transcendent, Divine Sensuality.
Like all muses, she 'cant be understood, nor caught'.
The way to deal with her is to 'let her be'. The Poet
knows this, becoming enchanted by her, as his MUSE.]
| In the clouds I take strolls
| like beautiful thunder
| whatever I give or take
| becomes _rain_
[NOTE: The 'gratuitousness' of Maria's _Grace_ refuses to
comply with the narrow-minded 'give and take' ideals
of alienated Love: The equation of Love to Ecomonics.
She gives herself completely, and demands everything.
Ecstasy knows no bounds, and benefits all, like rain.]
| Hey you guys, watch me close
| I cut from both sides now
| in the mornings I hardly speak (*)
| and swear upon 'Virgin Maries'
| and the evenings wherever I crawl
| in the grass of anyone's (garden)
| you may think I'm 'lance-fighting'
| droungou-droungou-drou
[NOTE: She 'hardly speaks' meaning 'you can't even talk to her'.
It's not her 'obligation' to be 'polite' or 'communicative'.
If you talk to her when she doesn't want to talk, she'll
just tell you to 'fuck off', or 'insult the Virgin Mary',
(as Greek insults sometimes do, "...tin Panagia sou").]
| I know nothing of 'joy'
| and I step over sadness too
| Like the angel I turn and swirl
| swirl over the edge of the cliff
[NOTE: Alienated dualities of 'positive' and 'negative', such
as good/bad, joy/sadness have no ultimate value for her.
She attempts to live dangerously through _love_, like an
'angel at the edge of the cliff'. Yet... she falls not!]
(Greek originals omitted here for brevity. See page 49).
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"A naked body is the only (possible) extension
of the imaginary line that unites us with mystery"
(Ena sOma gymnO EInai i monadikEE proEktasi
tis noitEEs gramEEs pou mas enOnei me to mystEErio).
(aforism, at end of page 104).
[...]
"When you hear 'ORDER', it smells of human meat!'
(aforism, at end of page 108).
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"SPEECH on PURITY" (p. 65)
******************
And I add: Your shadow
is a very bad counsel
Always walk
under the vertical Sun
"Without boundaries, without bounds (or terms)"
Because... MesDammes et Monsieurs,
what the swallow-birds attribute to us
-the Spring we did not Bring-
is _precisely_ our 'Purity'.
NOTE: The liberation of the senses is useless and alienated,
if it is restricted only to closed dark rooms, or bound
by rules, terms, regulations, restrictions of any kind.
Innocent Sensuality needs no such things, and fears not
the light of the Sun. One's 'shadow' is very bad advice;
Dark Gods are obsolete; The Sensual Maiden is _light_.]
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Advice to... Christians and Saints, can also be found:
(p.77)
[....]
It would be supreme Wisdom if Saints were to reconcile
themselves with their bodies
and hear again the Speech of the Angels falling
like thin drizzling rain of the Spring
at a time when all kinds of Knowledge is _burning_...
[....]
With my BEAUTY
I shall make _obsolete_ the Concept of a 'Book'!
I shall invent the New Flowers
and I shall give birth from my guts
and I shall crown as 'king' in the crutch of my legs
the PUBLIC ROSE.
From THIS shall flow the Wind
of True Innocence
where FEW humans shall survive
however all the birds will
be picking on the nipples of my breasts
[....]
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"THE ETERNAL BET" (p. 112) -the books' last poem (& conclusion)
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(the bet is...)
(1)
THAT one day you shall bite unto the New Lemon
liberating vast quantities of Sun from within it
(2)
THAT all the currents of the Seas
suddenly enlightened will demonstrate
that you elevate the Sea to the Ethical Level
(3)
THAT even in your death, you will again be
like Water in the Sun
becoming cold by instinct.
[....]
(6)
THAT all the world's callousness shall become stone
hegemonically on which you shall sit
holding an obedient bird in your palm
THAT you alone, in the end, will be assigned
(a throne) slowly into the Majesty
of the Dawn and the Sunset.
(END of BOOK)
[NOTE: This powerful, yet simple poem indicates the Vision
of the Revolutionary Muse, NOT the 'christian maiden',
but the Pagan Priestess of Joy and Justice _united_.
There is no doubt that her Compassion will one day win
over callousness and un-compassionate cruelty. The
liberation of the senses is also the liberation of Man.]
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Source of quotes: "Maria Nephele" (in Greek) by ODYSSEAS ELYTIS.
(Ikarus Publishers, Athens).
Translations and Notes: George A. Stathis -<hype...@hol.gr>.
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The book also exists in another English translation (which I
don't have) located by Mr. Phokion Kollaites as follows:
1. Elytes, Odysseas, 1911-1996
Maria Nephele : a poem in two voices / Odysseus Elytis ; translated from
the Greek by Athan Anagnostopoulos. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981.
UCB Main PA5610.E43 M313
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UCLA URL PA 5610 E522M3
UCR Rivera PA5610.E4 M313x
UCSB Main Lib PA5610.E43 M313
UCSC McHenry PA5610.E43M313
UCSD Central PA5610.E43 M313
*************** (to be continued in next postings) **************
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