Re: And why. . .?

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nora Renka) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Canyon Rick) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > And why do women not post to this group?  Are we all sexist pigs here?
> > 
> > Truthfully though, I do think we miss some important perspectives on
> > Wagner because of the lack of women posting.
> 
> Well, there are *some* of us out here, even if mainly
> lurking...ironically enough, in my case, because far too busy with a
> class involving Wagner...
> 
> But, hey! I'll be the token woman of h.m.c.w; ask me any of your
> questions about the feminine perspective on Wagner, and I promise you
> an idiosyncratic response.
> 
> (And I think Fricka has a lot of good points, by the way; poor Wotan
> really has caught himself in the wringer by Walkure Act II...)
> 
> -Nora

As I said on another thread here on the male/female approaches to
Wagner, I think a lot of the ostensible psychological differences
between men and women may be stereotyping. I don't deny that there are
such differences, but in a period of transition such as now, I think
we simply don't know what they really are. The play is now being
written. A lot of the differences evolved from the hunter/gatherer
dichotomy and were culturally reinforced over eons. Now that both
genders basically make a living with their minds (an
oversimplification, but not by much) the issues of what the
differences really are are being worked out in real life. And of
course it would be asking too much of Wagner not to share some of the
stereotyping prejudices. So if you want to find gender differences in
approaches to the dramas, fine, but be wary of thinking those
differences necessarily REAL. You may be bringing a sterotyping
approach to works that are already stereotyped in their own ways, the
whole situation like Arnold's "darkling plain/ Swept with confused
alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night." And perhaps not giving enough
attention to the ways in which some of Wagner's heroines, like
Brunnehilde, break the stereotypes.