Hélène de Troie

Summary

Dominique Pagani almost always brings up Helen of Troy through Goethe's Faust, where the devil, Mephistopheles, resurrects her and gives her to Faust as a companion1. He sees in her the ancient, plastic, Homeric ideal, the Greek model of beauty21. What he mainly draws from this is that her return does not fulfil Faust: once married to him, Helen evaporates like a cloud3; Faust is not satisfied45 and ends up growing weary of her6. The episode comes up from 2014 to 2023, in sessions on a range of subjects: the myth of the noble savage in Rousseau, Nerval's Angélique, Chateaubriand, what is musical in music, Mignon, Plato's Gorgias, worldliness in Clouscard. The passages do not say what role the example plays in each of these sessions. The meaning stays the same from one occurrence to the next: ancient beauty brought back cannot satisfy modern desire.

1. 1#18 What is musical in music25 Mar 2021 · 24:41
2. 2What is to be done? 1/329 Jan 2016 · 48:10
3. 3#1 Mignon, or the song of silence7 Apr 2021 · 59:09
4. 4#4.9 Angélique (by Nerval)14 Jun 2018 · 1:41:34
5. 5#10.7 “Postmodern” eco-petty-Nazism: Plato's Gorgias23 Dec 2021 · 1:49:03
6. 6Worldliness in Clouscard: the clash of worlds?9 Jul 2023 · 58:54

Summary produced automatically from 8 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.