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Post by robert on Aug 8, 2018 18:34:24 GMT
Has anyone seen this play or read it? If so, I was curious about your impression of the character 'The Button Moulder.' Not sure of the Norwegian name, only its English translation.
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Post by JoeP on Aug 8, 2018 21:24:30 GMT
I like the music by Grieg.
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Post by robert on Aug 9, 2018 0:02:15 GMT
I like the music by Grieg. Yes. Grieg's incidental music for the play is far more popular than the play itself. Of course this is a shame since the play itself is a masterpiece.
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Post by Mari on Aug 9, 2018 7:18:10 GMT
I didn't know it was a play. I only know the music.
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Post by robert on Aug 9, 2018 22:37:39 GMT
The play is fantastic. It is a play by Henrik Ibsen, famous for 'A Doll's House.' Though I think 'Peer Gynt' is far more insightful and magnificent.
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Post by Mari on Aug 11, 2018 6:27:24 GMT
I'm barbaric. I don't know Henrik Ibsen or a doll's house...
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Post by robert on Aug 13, 2018 13:33:57 GMT
I'm barbaric. I don't know Henrik Ibsen or a doll's house... Much of Ibsen's material is barbaric. It is right up your alley then!
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Post by Mari on Aug 14, 2018 9:57:55 GMT
*chuckles* I don't think I'll look it up, but thanks for the tip Actually, my taste in films etc. run more to dreamy or horribly romantic with sappy happy endings. I like Disney Channel movies. That should say enough about my taste (or lack thereof).
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Post by robert on Aug 15, 2018 13:15:26 GMT
That isn't bad taste though. There is no such thing as bad or good taste. It is all fantasy driven by what we experience in reality. I have a variety of things I like. I watch cheesy horror films, Netflix shows, etc.
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Post by spaceflower on Aug 16, 2018 0:15:40 GMT
It depends on whether you are interested in classic drama or not. Few people are, I gather.
I don't think I've ever seen or read the drama. But I still know about Peer Gynt and the folklore elements. And Peer's motto "I am myself (jag är mig själv) really means "I am self-sufficient, smug" (jag är mig själv nog). He goes around (gå utenom) instead of going straight, i.e. being true.
Though I must say I'm somewhat annoyed at the meek Solveig, always waiting for and forgiving Peer.
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Post by robert on Aug 17, 2018 1:53:37 GMT
Peer to me is an everyman character in a sense. He seems to represent the force of the will in the ego to make a mark in a world of mechanistic nature. His refusal to be melted down by the button moulder I find especially fascinating. For the button moulder, which seems to me to represent morality or a moral code, regards a good life as a determined one. There seems to be little room for volition in a rigid, legalistic world. Peer recognizes this in his own way and refuses to be melted down. He never lived a 'life' since he lived a life of fantasy. But the will is fantasy and in the natural sense has epiphenomenal traits only. The will is the smoke that rises from the mountain, the spirit, causally irrelevant. If we make choices based on our own whim, as opposed to 'sensibilities' or 'social custom' we in essence succumb to the deterministic forces of nature that strips us of what makes us ourselves.
As far as Solveig, she represents to me, the passionately religious person. They hold to their desires regardless of these values being moral and sensible. Peer is her passion and she holds to him regardless of his actions.
I am glad you brought around the going straight as opposed to going around. This, I think, is probably the most important feature of the play, the going around. 'Round about,' said the Boyg. The Boyg, in Scandinavian literature, was a sort of creature (often identified as a type of amorphous troll) that was like smoke or mist, but was impenetrable. And indeed, we wish to go through life without going around it. We have a path, but life provides a reticulated one for us that we cannot avoid.
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