RSSS 315 Thirteenth Week

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RSSS 315 (Thirteenth Week)

• Slavic Folklore Vampires and Werewolves

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Basic information

• Instructor George Gutsche
• Teaching assistants Kenny Cargill
• gutscheg_at_u.arizona.edu
• D2L http//russian.arizona.edu/courses/vampires
• Office hours T 11-1230 or by appointment

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Assignments and Exams

• Writing 6 due today
• Exam II problems
• Recoup of points (27) possible (take-home)
• Two full hours for final (but exam will not be
  twice as long)

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Restoration of Conventional Family

• Major theme in werewolf and vampire (folk)
  literature and film
• Is Wolfland any different?
• What about Company of Wolves?
• What about Pelevins story?

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Viktor Pelevin, 1962-
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Werewolf Problem

• Werewolves are realits humans who are the
  problem

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Features

• Genre science fiction, allegory, fairytale
• Straightforward narrative diary-like? Narrator?
• Postmodern you create meaning
• Narrator doesnt sum it up for you
• Tantalizing hints

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Puzzles

• Terms oboroten (shape-shifter) vervolk
• Nikolais speech on itwhats the point?
• Friends and enemies who is who?
• Reality (Soviet) allegory? No simple answer.

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Folklore elements?

• Moonlight
• Changing
• Violence
• Magic circle
• Magic potion (joke here)
• Rules

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What does the wolf symbolize?

• Special vision, way of relating to the world
• Special relation to natural world
• Honesty, courage
• Dedication to social network

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Positive Features

• Seeing the world differently
• Soaring above the earth
• Harmonizing with nature
• Elitist? Not everyone can belong
• Requirements for membership?
• Rejection of conventional values
• Having courage in the face of insurmountable odds

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Similarities with Wolfland Werewolves

• Subversive, new LRRH
• Sympathy with the werewolf
• Werewolfism can be intoxicating, empowering, in
  tune with nature

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Return to LRRH
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Approach, purpose

• Stories in general reflect social concerns,
  moralities of the tellers
• Cautionary tales dominate

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Red Riding Hood Issues

• Demonic? Evil? Dangerous forces within?
• Nature of sexuality, seduction, and reproduction
• Nature of violence
• Dangers of curiosity
• Relations between generations
• Family secrets trust, hostility and incest
• Stages to maturity

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Neil Jordan, 1950-
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Filmography

• Company of Wolves, 1984
• Interview with a Vampire, 1994
• Crying Game, 1992
• In Dreams, 1999
• Good Thief, 2002
• The Brave One 2007

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In Dreams

• Snow White fairy tale
• Monsters absurdity

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The film.
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Angela Carter, 1940-

• Feminist science fiction, stories, novels
• Co-author of screenplay
• Short story

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The film.
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Whats the role of the cautionary tale?
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What happens in the film?

• Dream frame, dream logic
• Death of sister
• Trip to grandmothers
• Stories about wolves
• Fairy tale atmosphere, but something else more
  ominous

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Dream Sequences

• Occasional flashback to sleeping Rosalie
  reminder?
• Potential boyfriend and risky walk
• Dangerous transition dependence to independence

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Family responses

• Grandmother advice and envy?
• Father let her go on her own, trust her
• Kill the threats intrusion of the life-saving
  male
• Mother helps Rosalie in passage
• Explanations women can hold their own
• Men not uniformly wolves
• Bath scene symbolic cleansing?

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Rosaleens story

• Once upon a time.
• Status issues
• Danger of liaisons with men pregnancy
• Rosalies egg-little human (after she applies
  lipstick)
• Revenge breaking a mirror
• People revert to true selves
• Wolves grotesque scene

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MESSAGE

• She is aware of realitys dangers, she chooses
  what she wants. Maturity? Or something more
  threatening? Chaos of life?

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(No Transcript)
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Vampire Chronicles

• Interview with the Vampire 1976
• The Vampire Lestat 1985
• Queen of the Damned 1988
• Tale of the Body Thief 1992
• Memnoch the Devil 1995
• The Vampire Armand 1998
• Merrick 2000
• Blood and Gold 2001
• Blackwood Farm 2002
• Blood Canticle 2003

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New Tales

• Pandora 1998
• Vittorio the Vampire 1999

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First Three Chapters of Armand

• Links with Gospels-Christianity
• Veronicas Veil
• Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
• Clash of Empires (and religions Orthodoxy,
  Catholicism, Islam)
• Byzantine (dying)
• Ottoman (growing stronger)
• Venetian

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Venice
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Grand Canal
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Distinctive Features

• Historical-cultural background
• Use of sex and violence
• Implied philosophy
• Narrative devices (plot)
• Character and psychology

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Journey
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Armands Quest (Torcello)
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Iconostasis
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Kievan Rus
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Monastery of the Caves
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History

• Not Russia, but Rus
• Height of power 10th-12th
• Invasion, destruction in 13th
• Bare survival next centuries Mongol Occupation
• Under rule of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 16th

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Hagia Sophia (Istanbul)
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Early East Slavic Territory (Kiev)
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Eastern Mediterraneum
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Iconography

• Holy activity purity
• Iconographers role
• Holy image follow the model
• Not made by human hands
• Two-dimensions, unusual perspective
• Prominent in Orthodoxy

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Christ With the Fiery Eyes
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From the 15th Century
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Our Lady of Tenderness
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Orthodoxy and Amadeo

• Trauma of his captivity amnesia
• Gradually remembers
• Torcello trip
• Recovery from poisoning

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Armand Chapters 14-20

• Amazing developments
• Breathless pace
• Centuries pass by
• New homes

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Leading characters converge

• Lestat and Akasha
• Santino and Allesandra
• New stories

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Louis and Lestat (1992)