The Importance of Classics

     The Professor and the Siren, a story written by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is a fresh reminder of why reading the classics is so important. When the waiter at Via Po reveals the name of the smoking gentleman that frequents the café, Paolo Corbera instantly recognizes his name; the accomplishments of Senator Rosario La Ciura are renown throughout Italy, he is regarded as a “Great Humanist” and to be “the highest form of human being” (Tomasi, 62). And when Corbera visits his house, he recognizes the books, sculptures, and paintings that the senator has around as traditional and classic. The senator will not even let Corbera see the library saying, “all classics that could have no interest for one like you, who are morally failed in Greek” (70). He regards these books as sacred to morality and a way of life. Classical works, those related to Greek Mythology, are, often, an attempt to explain certain aspects of life unexplainable otherwise and Tomasi emphasizes the value of reading classics in his story. The Senator’s friend comes to him with advise during a stressful and confusing time in his life. Rosario, competing for “a Chair at Pavia University”, studies his Greek relentlessly but is confused by “the innumerable connections between literature and mythology, history, philosophy, [and] science” (75-6). But after his summer at Augusta and his relationship with Lighea the senator realizes the importance of simplicity and contextualizing ancient Greek poetry.

Superiority in The Siren

“I think he must have acquired a certain affection for me too, but I am under no illusions about that; if he did have any , it was not what one of “us people” ( to use the Senator’s term) might feel for a human being, but more like an old spinster’s affection for her pet canary, of whose fatuity and incomprehension she is aware but whose existence permits her to express aloud regrets in which the little creature has no part; on the other hand, if it were not there, she would feel ill-at-ease. I began noticing, in fact, that whenever I was late the old man’s haughty eyes were fixed on the entrance door” (pg 66).

In The Siren, Paolo Corbera meets an aged Sicilian Senator named Rosario la Ciura. Paolo and Rosario, acquainted through their Sicilian nationality, begin to meet on a nightly basis in a cafe that Rosario describes as a “ghost-filled...geometric site of failed people” (pg 67). Rosario’s list of accomplishments ranged from being a published author, to being the Chair of Greek Literature at two different universities. Paolo, being a little-known law school graduate turned editorial office employee, poses a small amount of worthiness to Rosario, for he resembled one of the "failed people" that he so eloquently described as belonging to the cafe. Utilizing what he already knows about Paolo, Rosario manipulates situations within their interactions to establish himself as an intellectual, cultural, and experiential superior to Paolo.  

Temptations- The Siren and The She-Wolf

Temptations- The Siren and The She-Wolf

            In Lampedusa’s story, the senator explains how he fell in love with the siren when he was young. The senator, La Ciura, believes that this siren, Lighea, was a tempting beast of a creature. At first sight of her, he notices her youthfulness and beauty, but also describes her ‘“sharp little white teeth like a dog’s”’ (Lampedusa 78). He tells Corbera, “‘she was a beast but at the same instant also an Immortal’” (Lampedusa 81). La Cirua describes the vicious way she would eat live fish, ‘“the blood flowed from the lines of her chin”’ (Lampedusa 80). Despite having the body of and animal and her beast-like attributes, she tempts the senator just as she has manipulated other men. Lighea instantly entices the senator and he says, “This smile was the first of the spells cast upon me, revealing paradises of forgotten serenity” (Lampedusa 78).

            In Verga’s She-Wolf, Pina is also a woman character with beastly attributes who has the ability to tempt men, specifically Nanni in the story. There are many similarities between Lighea and Pina since Pina is also vicious and animal-like. Pina allures Nanni, even though he is much more hesitant than La Cirua was toward Lighea. Nanni describes, “It’s the temptation of hell!” (Verga 7). La Cirua never admits to being this seduced, however in the end he jumps in the sea, assuming to be with Lighea, which shows his ultimate inability to resist the lure. In both stories, the animal-like women tempt them men in a way that they cannot resist.

Surroundings

The Professor and the Siren is a complex short story by Tomansi. As the story begins two unlikely subjects meet, Senator Rosario La Ciura and Paolo Corbera. As the duo begins to meet regularly they grow closer and their differences in age and culture is not relevant. The story consistently shows how much can be learned from two people with contrasting differences. When the Senator meets the Siren, Lighea, they are opposites however the Senator experiences things he would never have been able to experience without meeting Lighea. She shows him a side that he has never seen within himself. All of his life he has spent “studying away”(76), so when he takes his much needed summer vacation to Augusta, he is out of his element. While in Augusta, “each book became, instead of an obstacle, a key opening up a world”(77). He is experiencing new surroundings of peace, isolation, and silence. The Senators mentality changes due to his surroundings.

The Professor and the Siren

Senator Rosario La Ciura's experience with the Siren causes him to believe that he is superior to humans, including Paolo. In Rosario's first conversation with Paolo, Rosario mentions how his knowledge of Greek is exceptional compared to his other university colleagues. "Poor wretches, anyways; how can they sense that spirit if they have never had occasion to hear real Greek?" (64). Rosario has heard Greek spoken only from the Siren, and attests that this makes him superior because he has heard it first-hand. He sees himself as above Paolo and his colleagues based on the notion that he knows Greek better than they do, and this stems from his interaction with the Siren. As well, Rosario has never been with a woman because he is above human pleasure. "She had shown me the way towards true eternal repose, and also towards asceticism derived not from renunciation but from an incapacity to accept other inferior pleasures" (83). He has experienced godlike satisfaction from the Siren, and sees every other human as never being able to reach this type of satisfaction. Although he is human, he concludes that he is superior because other people have not had the experiences he had encountered in the three weeks with the Siren. This ultimately leads to him jumping into the sea because nothing in the human world can satisfy him as much as the Siren had, and he needed to reunite himself with her.

 

The Professor and the Siren

Tom Kryspin

The Professor and the Siren

The Professor and the Siren, is a short story of how two acquaintances feud over each other’s position of dominance over the other. To get there though these two must befriend each other in typical fashion. Paolo Corbera, the main character, is a man who comes from a well know family and the other character is Rosario La Ciura a Senator.  The bond the two create is stronger than any typical bond, it is the strongest bond made out of their remembrance of their country and all the things that are enjoyed in the country.

The bond begins as the Senator spots Paolo reading a paper from his home, Sicilia. Both Paolo and the Senator have strong connections to the island of Sicily. They begin to talk about Sicilia in the most descriptive of ways, “the scent of rosemary on the Nebrodi hills, the taste of Melilli honey, the waving scent of corn seen from Etna on a windy day in May, of the solitudes around Syracuse, the guests of scent from orange lemon groves poring over Palermo, it’s said, during sunsets in June” (65). Through this elaborate description the two form a bond over memories of their past and home country.  Their relationship is built off the highest of connections and that is homage to their country and the memories that surround it.

The Professor and The Siren

Kendall Weinert

Masterpieces of Italian Literature

The Siren Blog Post

11/24/13

The Professor and The Siren

In the story The Professor and The Siren, by Lampedusa, the main character Paolo hears a story from a friend of an interaction with a mystical creature. His friend, the senator, explains and brags about this interaction, thinking that he is now better than everyone else. Paolo does not believe that the senator is better than everyone else. He believes that the senator is being very arrogant. Paolo states, “Pride is preferable to false modesty.” (Lampedusa, 64) In the short story, Paolo would rather have someone who has a lot of pride in themselves than someone who is telling a lie about their past.

Paolo believes that the senator is stretching the truth in his story about the siren. “I felt the senator was rather over-doing it.” (Lampedusa, 64) By the senator over-doing it with his story of the siren, the senator believes that he is in fact above others. After telling Paolo the start of the story of the siren, he insists on paying for his coffee. This is something that may not be looked at as something out of the ordinary, but in this case it is the senator trying to show off and insist that he is above Paolo.  Another instance where Paolo tries to show that he is above others is when he tries to show Paolo the letter he received from the Rector of the University of Columbia. This letter was “inviting him to join the Committee of Honour for a congress.” (Lampedusa, 71) From the senator trying to show off this letter he is again doing everything in his power to try to not only make Paolo jealous, but to be sure that Paolo knows that he is not as good as the senator is. Another way that the senator tries to make Paolo feel as though he is less that him is when Paolo saw the senator laugh for the first time. This was not a laugh that one would expect. It was a laugh to make Paolo feel worse about himself. “For the first time I had known him I saw the senator laugh…’so this is the theatre of your grubby ruttings.’” (Lampedusa, 72) Here the senator is trying to show that he has better belonging than Paolo. He is trying to make Paolo feel bad once and for all. The senator believes that he is above all and should have some sort of superiority to everyone whom he comes across.

Response to Tomasi

                                                Fantasy in "The Professor and the Siren"

            Tomasi dives into a world of myth and fantasy in his short story "The Professor and the

 Siren."  Much like Calvino, fantasy in Tomasi's fiction exists within his interest in Greek classicism.  The story opens with the narrator's brief account of an affair that has left him alone.  In his state of isolation and with a strong distaste for humanity, he meets Senator Rosario la Ciura--"the Great Humanist," (62).  Both the narrator and the Senator share a critical view of humanity; however, Tomasi's use of fantasy juxtaposes the lives of the two men.  The narrator's life is grounded in a dull reality while the Senator seems to possess an unworldly superiority due to his affair with a Siren that separates him from humanity.  He wishes to refrain from "being convinced that the sordid pleasures of you people have never been Rosario La Ciura’s" (68).  Additionally, he possess a superior outlook on death.  Condescendingly, he refers to the narrator as "you people": “always the same, you people, slaves to decay and putrescence, always with ears strained for the shuffling steps of Death (72)."  The Senator's relationship with the Siren allowed him to briefly experience immortality.  In contrasting the lives of the narrator and the Senator, Tomasi is actually contrasting present reality with a life of mythical and classical worth.  The Senator's death serves as the wend of an interest in the classics-- which is "slowly rotting away,"--therefore an end to the story's element of fantasy (84).   

Tozzi Free Writing Introduction

       In Tozzi’s novel, Eyes Shut, the protagonist, Pietro, internalizes his emotions and often fails to participate in reality. This disconnect with his surroundings leads to the reader’s confusion as to the actuality of events and circumstances. In Pietro’s youth, he is constantly subjected to the abusive dominance of his father, leading to extreme insecurity and a low self-esteem. His distressed childhood influences him to live a life with “eyes shut.” He prefers to create illusions of happiness, dismissing truths that could ruin his carefully protected delusions. Accustomed to abuse and distress, Pietro creates an internal world that protects him from hurt and betrayal by negating their existence and removing him from their reality.