Transformation and perfection Part 1 Transformation 1 Transformation

1: Transformation • One of the main characteristics of Greek myths is the transformation

Medusa • There is the case of Zeus changing into a swan; or the

The butterfly • Change is basic to life. Without change, we would not grow

Italo Calvino • “For Ovid, too, everything can be transformed into everything else, and

Dissolving the solidity… • Calvino’s words imply that once we know something, once it

Viktor Shklovsky • The Russian Formalist Critic, Viktor Shklovsky, wrote that one of the

The Medusa Myth • When Perseus slays Medusa, her blood turns into Pegasus, the

Ronald Laing • Psychiatrist R. D. Laing adopted the Medusa myth to illustrate the

Summary So, the notion of metamorphosis, of transformation, or change, is a way of

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Transformation and perfection Part 1: Transformation

1: Transformation • One of the main characteristics of Greek myths is the transformation of Gods, or unearthly things, into something else.

Medusa • There is the case of Zeus changing into a swan; or the poor souls turned into stone by the gaze of the gorgon Medusa.

The butterfly • Change is basic to life. Without change, we would not grow up, not fall in love; without change, we would not know sorrow, would not weaken and die.

Italo Calvino • “For Ovid, too, everything can be transformed into everything else, and knowledge of the world means dissolving the solidity of the world. ” (in, Six Memos for the next Millennium, Pg. 9)

Dissolving the solidity… • Calvino’s words imply that once we know something, once it is ‘set in stone’, it becomes limiting. Only more knowledge transforms the stone into a new experience.

Viktor Shklovsky • The Russian Formalist Critic, Viktor Shklovsky, wrote that one of the purposes of literature was “to make the stony” – or, to look again at what is familiar.

The Medusa Myth • When Perseus slays Medusa, her blood turns into Pegasus, the winged horse, a marriage of Medusa’s solidity and the gift of flight that Perseus has.

Ronald Laing • Psychiatrist R. D. Laing adopted the Medusa myth to illustrate the fear we have of being turned from a live person to a dead thing; of negative attitudes towards us.

Summary So, the notion of metamorphosis, of transformation, or change, is a way of avoiding limitations. For Calvino it is an aspect of literature; for R. D. Laing – and his theory of ‘petrification’ – it is something we require to overcome other’s looks, other’s attitudes towards us, over which we may feel we have little control. And so it is that change, or transformation, is a key theme in literature.