Keep talkin'
----- Original Message -----
From: "PSavage" <psavage@SABER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 8:08 PM
Subject: Re Re Seppuku?

> > How is this different from harikari?
> PS; as long as I have you on the horn, wasn't Phaedra
> a charactr in Zen&the art of Motorcycle Maintenence?
> Rachel Cogent<
>
> Hi Rachel,
> Beats me, better consult the list!
> Oddly, I haven't read it, (Zen & the Art...)but I understand
> there is reference to the name, at least.
> Phaedra figures prominently in classic Greek mythology.
> She was goddess/wife of the god Theseus who went off to war
> for 40 yrs. Phaedra became restless & took a young lover, thinking
> Theseus long dead.  Theseus returns & discovers the lovers.
> The twist is that the young lover is son of Theseus from a previous
> marriage. The pair of lovers commit joint suicide.
>
> Feminist scholars & male scholars interpret the myth differently,
> naturally.  The men give it a mean twist, depicting Phaedra as a
> harridan; feminist scholars say she behaved honorably.
> The most well know translation of the myth is by the French poet,
> Racine.
>
> ; }
> P