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Anthony Winterbourne, A Pagan Spoiled: Sex and Character in Wagner's Parsifal
This is a philosophical reading of Wagner's last
music-drama.
The book argues that the dramatic focus is the character of Kundry,
rather than Parsifal himself.
This interpretation is defended through an
analysis of the sexual dynamics underpinning the action, and through an
examination of the religious and psychological symbolism of both the Holy Grail
and the lance often associated with the Crucifixion.
By giving due weight to
these themes in particular, the complexity of Wagner's final work is seen to
resolve into a feminization of the nature of religious redemption.
The argument is introduced with an overview of themes and responses in relation
to Parsifal and its sources, including its sexual symbolism and the particular
relationship between sexuality and sin. While it is clear that
nineteenth-century fin de siècle preoccupations still resonate, as in the
ambiguity of Wagner's view of Kundry, the work continues to impress mainly as
drama qua sacred action.
The book then examines the extent to which Wolfram
von Eschenbach's version of the Parsifal legend found its way into Wagner,
placing emphasis on the very different dramaturgical roles played by the Grail
and the lance respectively. The latter's sexual connotations, as well as its
eventual healing function, provide evidence that it is the lance, and not the
Grail itself, that is the symbolic heart of the work. Here also the key concept
of sexual indiscretion, manifest through the destinies of Kundry and Klingsor,
is developed.
Kundry's character is seen to express itself in three modes.
The first is the apparent historical, female guilt that she carries, transmitted
via the doctrine of metempsychosis; the second is her sexuality, in her role as
femme fatale; and the third is her strangeness as the heathen penitent in
relation to the male Christian ascetics by whom she is surrounded. The last two
aspects have provided evidence for interpretations of Kundry as either
anti-Semitic, or antifeminist, or both--view which the author challenges.
In
conclusion, the author suggests that the heterogeneity of religious impulses in
the work converge in the concept of redemption. A profoundly paradoxical
resolution is mooted, indicating that insofar as Parsifal is truly the core of
the work, it is Buddhist-Schopenhaurian, not Christian. And yet taking Kundry as
its focus, the drama becomes fully Christian, for it is in the repentance of
sins already committed, rather than in sexuality denied as in Parsifal's
chastity, that Wagner's Christian resolution of the drama demands the death of
Kundry as a heathen redeemed.
Anthony Winterbourne was born in London
and holds degrees in philosophy from the University of Bristol. He published
numerous papers in epistemology and metaphysics during his years as a lecturer,
as well as a book on Kant's theory of space and time. He now devotes his time to
writing, and his most recent book concerned the moral context of The Ring. He is
currently planning a further volume on Wagner, looking in particular at the
composer's female characters. Dr. Winterbourne is also embarking on a conceptual
reconstruction of early Germanic paganism.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
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