Over the past few days, I have spent more than a significant amount of time reading and re-reading Little, Big and The Manuscript Found in Saragossa for my final paper. While reading these novels again, I have come to see how much I truly missed in both of these novels. Before starting my paper, I had considered these novels to be among my favorites after just one reading. But now I am not sure if that level of praise is even enough for Crowley and Potocki. The depths of the stories and their implications for literature as a whole is astounding. I have been recommending these novels to all of my family this semester and I was planning on letting them borrow my copies. However, now I think that my Christmas vacation might be best spent reading them for myself again.

I have especially enjoyed going back through Little, Big. I am constantly amazed at parts that I missed or just did not understand their entire implications. It makes me a little sad that we were not able to spend more time working on this book because it is a novel that could have been explored throughout an entire semester and not everything would be revealed or understood.

The following quotation is my favorite from Little, Big. I honestly think that it could be one of the most wrenching and beautiful things that I have ever read in my life. The most depressing thing about it is that I do not even remember reading this section the first time that I read through this novel.

"He had fooled them. No matter what happened now whether he reached the place they set out for or didn't, whether he journeyed or stayed behind, he had his tale. He had it in his hand. Let it end: let it end: it couldn't be taken from him. He couldn't go where all of them were going, but it didn't matter, for he'd been there all along."  Smoky

The Manuscript in Saragossa- Part 2

The last time that I wrote I spoke about how everything is interconnected within The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, which is completely true, but I did not touch on the Sheikh's story. One part of the story that appealed to me was his chronicling of his family tree. Now most of us would just skim that part but it is significant in multiple ways.

The first of which is that it leads us back  to the oral tradition, specifically that seen in the Bible. As most of the names came from the Bible and we should have all recognized at least some of them, this is a very obvious connection. However, we need to remember that this book was written to be read in the oral tradition. The Manuscript wasn't published as a whole until after Potocki's death. It was disbursed in days and so very similar to daily columns we now enjoy in our newspapers. I am taking a stab in the dark here but I would guess that this book was read aloud in days at night before families went to be and if it wasn't that was its intended use. We have seen themes of family, honor, loyalty, religion, as well as adventure so I am sure that this would capture and hold the attention if told aloud as a story.

The second thing that the genealogy brings to mind, at least to me, is destiny. I know that several of my classmates are using this as they jumping point for their projects. But by invoking the use of Biblical names from centuries past, it made me think that Alfonso was destined to come and impregnate the Sheikh's daughters.  We have seen how it was destined through the recent events but by now we have the evidence that this was preordained from generations back. When the Sheikh was explaining all of this, it almost seemed like a ritual. He could have just said who he was in lesser terms but the importance of who he was would have been significantly diminished. So to me, at first this ending section seemed almost anticlimactic. But I was wrong. I had just traveled through all of the hardships and stories to be able to reach the right ending. I had the knowledge to understand the importance of the names of ancestors and that destiny does not just start when one is born. Alfonso, the Sheikh, and Velasquez had their destiny determined for them centuries before they were even a mere thought.

These are just a few more thoughts that I had when considering The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. I'm sure that I could go on for much longer. However, I just wanted to bring up a few things that I am not likely to go into too much detail, if at all, in my paper/project.

Thoughts on The Manuscript of Saragossa- Part 1

Well I finished it. I am officially done reading The Manuscript Found in Saragossa! Well I guess I finished it a few days ago but haven't known exactly what I wanted to say about it, even though I'm not sure if I do now. I will say that it is now one of my favorite books. As with Little, Big there were times when I despised this novel but overall it was fabulous. It is one that I am going to be picking up and rereading after leaving the protective circle of MSU. 

Why, you may ask, will I read this book over and over again to try and figure out what it is all about? Honestly I will read The Manuscript Found in Saragossa again because I don't understand it. I have no idea how Potocki could create such an elaborate world. I wish I could ask him how he kept the characters straight in his head. I did do some research to try and figure out how he did it but unfortunately there is little information on his life. However, it seems to be thought that he did somehow have a map of all of 66 stories that brought them all together. All I have to say to that is A-MAZING!  I really would love to see a copy of this map. After finishing the book, I worked with Sara to try to come up with a summary of the book and go through it day by day and let me tell you it is very difficult to keep all of the story lines and characters straight. If I can't keep them straight reading it, I have no idea how he was able to do so writing it. This being said it is worth trying to keep them all straight! Finish/read this novel if you haven't already and if you have read it again!

Even though I love this book there are a couple of things that really irked me. First, Potocki doesn't go back the original story, at least I could figure out if he did. He doesn't mention the frame story of the soldier finding the novel. Not really all that important but annoying all the same. Second and I know that he was crucial to the story but Busqueros drove me up the wall. I could barely stand to read the parts that he was involved in. 

Hopefully this isn't a spoiler for anyone but I was so sad when it turned out that the Wandering Jew wasn't really the actual Wandering Jew. He was my favorite character....I guess that really isn't fair to say. His story was the one that I felt the most drawn to but I didn't really like his personality. I especially connected with the sections of his story that related to the fluidity of mysteries and religions, which at times can be considered to interchangeable. It plays exactly into the conclusions I have been working towards for months but never knew how to express my thoughts. Professor S was definitely right in saying that this was a book for me! Not only has this book sparked new ideas for me but it has also rekindled the passion that I found last spring. I have started re-reading all of the books that I have on ancient mysteries. I guess being on bed rest is good for something. 

That's pretty much most of my thoughts that I have formulated coherently on The Manuscript Found in Saragossa  at this point. I'm sure more will come as I work on my readings and my project. 

Project Proposal

The underlying idea that I would most like to explore with my final paper is the idea of mysteries. However, I don't want to try and unravel any certain mystery that has been mentioned or alluded to in the Manuscript Found in Saragossa but the very concept of mysteries. The best way that I know to try and explain my project is to just write the introduction that has/will be my jumping point for the rest of my paper. So this is what I have so far. I think that I have given a pretty good idea of the areas I want to focus on.

            When one thinks of the word initiation, I am sure that the image of painful and horrifying tasks comes to mind. But once again society has bastardized a term that was used in ancient Greece to mean something very much different. The idea of initiation is not one meant to scare but instead to prompt the initiates into a certain state of mind.

            Many different religions use the term initiation to mean to gain knowledge, not to punish. “In this fragment Aristotle concludes that initiates into the mysteries do not learn anything, but rather have an experience and are put in a certain state of mind (Meyer 12). A few of the ancient religions that incorporated formal initiation rituals are the Eleusinian mysteries and the mysteries of Dionysus as well as Christianity. All three of these systems of beliefs were not necessarily designed to teach people but were “an eye-opening experience that transcended earthly realities and mundane learning” (Meyer 12).  As you can see the

            The rituals of initiation have been performed throughout centuries of literature. One prime example of how initiation takes place in the mundane to create the extraordinary is in The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. The reader is taken through pages and pages of the mundane, even boring, lives of characters.  However, if the reader is intuitive she will see that the mundane is what allows the extraordinary to be able to occur. It is not from the great moments of life that transcendence is created but through the difference of the natural and supernatural moments. This can also be seen in Little, Big. Both of these amazing novels lead to the same realization. If the reader is able to figure out this by the end then that same reader should be intuitive enough to realize that he/she just went through an initiation into the world of mysteries. The reader may not have a particular mystery that they wish to focus on but they have finally been able to see “sacred objects previously hidden from sight” (Meyer 11).

The concept of mysteries is hard to define in any way that makes sense for someone who has not experienced an initiation process themselves. However, the intriguing part of the process is that everyone at some point has gone through an initiation; they just didn't know it at the time. Acclimating to any new job, environment, or culture creates an initiation. In fact, almost everyone who is reading this has been initiated into MSU. According to my findings, initiation happens when someone makes the conscious choice to experience something while being in a certain state of mind, at least according to Aristotle. 

My primary sources of information and guidance will come from The Ancient Mysteries A Sourcebook by Marvin W. Meyer, The Homeric Hymn to Demeter by Helene P. Foley, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki, and Little, Big by John  Crowley. There may be more texts that I later add but as of right now my research and investigations will center around these four items.