Sirens & Muses

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It’s2011:America is in a deep recession and Occupy Wall Street is escalating. But at the elite Wrynn College of Art, students paint and sculpt in a rarified bubble. Louisa Arceneaux is a thoughtful, observant nineteen-year-old when she transfers to Wrynn as a scholarship student, but she soon finds herself adrift in an environment that prizes novelty over beauty. Complicating matters is Louisa’s unexpected attraction to her charismatic roommate, Karina Piontek, the preternaturally gifted but mercurial daughter of wealthy art collectors. Gradually, Louisa and Karina are drawn into an intense sensual and artistic relationship, one that forces them to confront their deepest desires and fears. But Karina also can’t shake her fascination with Preston Utley, a senior and anti-capitalist Internet provocateur, who is publicly feuding with visiting professor and political painter Robert Berger—a once-controversial figureheadseekingto regain relevance. Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. The sirens were the children of Achelous and Melpomene or Terpsichore. Kleopheme was the daughter of Erato and Malos. Hyacinth was the son of Clio, according to an unpopular account. It’s possible that the Sirens sang to avenge the wrongs against them. Abused by life, they decided to become monsters and destroy the lives of others.

Muses - The Muses vs. the Sirens | Shmoop Muses - The Muses vs. the Sirens | Shmoop

When Preston concocts an explosive hoax, the fates of all four artists are upended as each is unexpectedly thrust into the cutthroat New York art world. Now, all must struggle to find new identities in art, in society, and amongst each other. In the process, they have to find either their most authentic terms of life—of success, failure, and joy—or risk losing themselves altogether. In Homer’s Odyssey, the most famous nautical tale of the ancient world, the Sirens were the first hazard Odysseus and his crew encountered after leaving the peaceful island of Circe. Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. Online version at theio.com Greek art shows the Sirens assailing ships from above, but that view of the creatures changed over time. As monsters with the bodies of birds, the Sirens retained the beautiful singing voices they had been known for in their previous lives. They used their enchanting songs to lure sailors to their island, where they would feed on the unfortunate men.The Muses had several temples and shrines in ancient Greece, their two main cult centres being Mount Helikon in Boiotia and Pieria in Makedonia.

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Ancient authors and some later authors and artists invoke Muses when writing poetry, hymns or epic history. Ancient authors invocations often occur near the beginning of their work. It asks for help or inspiration from the Muses, or simply invites the Muse to sing directly through the author. The Muses, therefore, were both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: mousike (whence the English term music) was just "one of the arts of the Muses". Others included science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, and especially art, drama, and inspiration. In the archaic period, before the widespread availability of books (scrolls), this included nearly all of learning. The first Greek book on astronomy, by Thales, took the form of dactylic hexameters, as did many works of pre-Socratic philosophy. Both Plato and the Pythagoreans explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of mousike. [25] The Histories of Herodotus, whose primary medium of delivery was public recitation, were divided by Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses. The earliest written account of the Sirens, given by Homer, gave no names for the Sirens. Nor did Homer number them.Antonia Angress has written [an] exceedingly good debut novel, a shrewd and expertly sustained rumination on what it takes to be a self-supporting artist and whether it's even worth it. . . . gripping . . . [A] dazzler of a debut novel.” —Shelf Awareness Even with so few, there was a wide variety of names given for the former nymphs. These names all alluded to the seductive power of the Sirens’ voices. The Sirens were given wings and banished to an island far off the coast. There, they would prey on passing sailors. muse". Oxford English Dictionary (Onlineed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) Mainly 1b, 2

Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress | Open Library Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress | Open Library

After consulting together, the Sirens agreed to enter the contest. Of course, they had heard of the Muses’ legendary music, but they also knew that the power of their own songs.Jason and the crew of the Argo passed by with the assistance of the famous musician who had joined them. Orpheus played his lyre and sang loudly enough to drown out the seductive calls of the Sirens.