Like most people, I'd heard of Platonic love, but I didn't really know what it was. I had some vague idea it was about being "just friends". I also knew that Oscar Wilde defended himself against charges of homosexuality by invoking some ancient ideal of a noble friendship between an older and younger man, but I didn't really know what that was about either, or that the two were related. Things only changed the other week when I was reading a book about Leonardo and Michelangelo - The Lost Battles by Jonathan Jones. It says that Michelangelo defended himself against gossip over his male/male friendships by invoking Plato's Symposium. It also quotes a poem by Michelangelo, which says: Well, alas! How will it be heard? the chaste desire that burns the interior of my heart by those who in others always see themselves? This certainly struck a chord with me, and is very relevant for Carlo and Tammo's coming relationship in the next episode of my Angelio tr...
Warning: contains spoilers for the books and film. This year’s theme at Swanwick Writers’ Summer School is “Back to the Movies”. I’ve decided to go as a character from one of my favourite films ever: Howl’s Moving Castle . For that reason (as if I needed a reason!) I’ve been re-watching the film and re-reading the sequels, Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways . And as with the moving castle itself, there is always more to discover. Here are some of them. The Magician’s Cape I’ve been reading this Swedish fairy tale by Anna Wahlenberg as part of my ongoing quest for asexual fairy tales. I think it could well qualify! But I couldn’t help noticing the similarities to Howl’s Moving Castle. The titular magician has a castle high on a mountain, in front of which “he conjured a wonderful garden where magnificent flowers glowed… There the magician would lie on a velvet couch under the branches watching beautiful young girls dance on the lawn, and sing and play the guitar.” Furt...
She asked for a rose. Her father reaches out to pluck one. Suddenly, a Beast appears, furious, accusing him of theft. The penalty is death. Or the surrender of his daughter. But why such a harsh penalty for plucking a rose? Much has been said - or invented - on the possible meaning of the rose. When the last petal falls, the Beast's fate is sealed eternally. It is the first thing he has learned to love. It symbolises virginity; the plucking of the rose mirrors the deflowering of the daughter; the aristocratic Beast is excercising his droit du seigneur over Beauty, the merchant's child. But why should the plucking of a flower carry such a heavy penalty? And why does the same motif occur in other fairy tales? For example, Rapunzel , in which the father must sacrifice his child as payment for picking herbs from the Witch's garden. One answer may lie in ancient mythology. Most ancient polytheistic religions have s...
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