Re: When was Wagner at his most suicidal?

Speaking of Wagner and suicide, I see another English professor who
fancies himself as a psychiatrist has written another long-distance
psychoanalysis of a dead genius. This time it's Wagner.

The book is called _Wagner and Sicide_ and it's by John di Gaetano.
 
The thing I think is funny about this one is that English
professor-cum-amateur-shrink John di Gaetano, who goes all Viennese
about the supposed Freudian slips in Wagner's dramas, wrote an earlier
book about Wagner.

The earlier book was called _Penetrating Wagner's Ring_.  I'll say
that again: _Penetrating Wagner's Ring_, by John diGaetano.

I mean, some things you just can't make up. 
 

Anyway, here's the publisher's blurb for _Wagner and Suicide_: 

"Composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) likely suffered from a
manic-depressive disorder but in his time very little was known about
mental illness, and suicide was not a topic for general discussion.
Wagner was often plagued by extreme mood swings; he used his operas,
especially the librettos, to express himself and his personal
difficulties.

"This investigation of the suicidal themes in Wagner's life and operas
-Die Fliegender Holländer, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde,
Die Meistersinger, the Ring cycle, and Parsifal- shows how
manic-depressive illness, particularly the depressive part of it,
affected Wagner's life and art. This book also analyzes the influence
of Giambattista Vico's theories of cycles (and how these theories
appeared in Wagner's work), suicide as a theatrical and operatic
phenomenon, and the way the theme of suicide has appeared in other
works of the literary and performing arts."


Ah... _Penetrating Wagner's Ring_, by John diGaetano.   

I know it's childish to find that so funny, but childish jokes are
some of the very best.  (Actually I read the book years ago; it's
actually not a bad book. Nothing very earth-shaking in it, but
pleasantly enthusiastic.)

Cheers!



Laon

PS: _Penetrating Wagner's Ring_, by John di Gaetano.