Ostrakon #2: Zooey Deschanel and the footsteps of Orpheus
Hello it is me again. Over the last week we have published two entries and hopefully they gave you a better idea of the sort of things we are looking for. More are in the pipeline — so keep your eyes peeled on our social media. Next week we have an article by a 1st year student and the second part of James’ three-part-series on museology which is kicking off his Academic Affairs Officer column “Demodocus’ Odyssey”. And just like today, there will also be another starry-eyed and awfully mediocre exploration of a classics-shard by me.
This week’s Ostrakon is a song (and I am fully aware of the amount of judgement I might be exposing myself to here) I have been jamming to for almost a year now. It is called “Don’t Look Back” and is performed by the band She & Him; an Indie-Folk-outfit comprised of Zooey Deschanel (yes the one) and M. Ward (that is how he spells it). My first introduction to them was through their excellent Christmas album “A Very She & Him Christmas”, but it was “Don’t Look Back” that really got my Classics senses tingling. The music video for this song is quite something to behold for the fan of 60’s design, but for the purpose of this text I just want to focus on the lyrics and the things I looked into because of it (the usual Ostrakon-disclaimer applies; this series is a proof of concept and the research is the work of a single afternoon so please don’t yell at me if I get things wrong or miss out important aspects, but rather see that as an invitation to tell me and others about them).
The very first word of the song is “Orpheus” and with the snap of a finger (or stroke of a piano key in this case) a whole host of associations opens itself up to the student of Classics and fan of myths. Orpheus, not unlike Herakles from last week, was an immensily popular figure in the ancient world and beyond. The mainstays of his mythical biography are that he travelled aboard the Argo (with Jason and the Argonauts), that he descended into the underworld below the earth in an ultimately failed attempt to rescue his wife Eurydike from a bad case of the death, and his continued existence as a literal talking head after having said head removed from his body. His role in myth plays an important part in the study of reception — both ancient and modern —and it is where other aspects of the character and story of Orpheus come to the fore. There is his role in musical drama and opera for example [looking at your Zauberflöte Mozart] as well as his (sometimes quite loose) connection to ancient mystery cults and magic (look up “Orphism”, check out Edmonds [2013] from the further reading below, or wait until next week for the edited volume by Dr. Goldschmidt and Prof. Graziosi “Tombs of the Ancient Poets: Between Literary Reception and Material Culture” to come out).
That last part is an especially interesting field of modern scholarship since for the Greeks and Romans Orpheus had been a real person and the “Orphic” texts they read and sometimes wore around their necks as a guide to immortality or to achieve a privileged place in the underworld (written on gold tablets with a set of instructions) claimed to continue his voice after being written by him. These texts have fascinated and continue to fascinate their readers. They are odd and call out for commentary and explanation which is something scholars are and have been working on since at least the 4th century BCE. Europe’s oldest book, the Derveni papyrus, is in fact a philosophical commentary on an Orphic poem. It is registered as such in the UNESCO Register of the Memory of the World.
As I have mentioned, a large portion of these Orphic texts contain instructions on how to behave in the underworld to either get out of it or make your stay there more pleasant. Knowledge (so the story goes) Orpheus was able to gather during his stay in the Underworld. A short glance back at the lyrics of the song reveals that the song I started this text out with is chiefly focused on that very same trip and the Orpheus and Eurydike storyline. The title many a reader will have surely realised by now is a dead giveaway. Orpheus after all lost the chance to re-alive his wife precisely by looking behind him. It is exactly at this moment that the song sets in and also the place I will leave you for this time. An interesting aspect that someone with more than an afternoon’s worth of training in reception might want to explore further is that the singer seems to place herself simoultaneously in the shoes of both Orpheus and Eurydike to explore the them of heartbreak and loss. The first verse reads:
“Orpheus melted the heart of Persephone
But I never had yours
I followed you back to the end of the path
But I never found the door.”
Whereas the chorus goes:
“And you can work to save your love
You can bear it from the earth below
You can work but you can’t let go
Oh, oh but you have to know
Don’t look back all you’ll ever get
Is the dust from the steps before
I don’t have to see you every day
But I just want to know you’re there”
A puzzle worth thinking more about I’d say.
Further reading:
Edmonds, R.G.: “Redefining ancient Orphism : a study in Greek religion”. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2013).
The Derveni Papyrus in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/the-derveni-papyrus-the-oldest-book-of-europe/ (last accessed: 12.10.18 / 20:00)
Bernabé, A.: “Poetae Epici Graeci. Testimonia et fragmenta. Pars. II, Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta.” K.G. Sauer, München (2004–2005).
Herrero de Jáuregui et al.: “ Tracing Orpheus: Studies of Orphic fragments in honour of Alberto Bernabé.” De Gruyter, Berlin (2011).
Take care :)
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