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On Jan 31, 2010, at 10:37 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: > > New Left Review 61, January-February 2010 > > by Mike Davis > > WHO WILL BUILD THE ARK? I take no issue with Mike Davis's well-reasoned diagnosis of the desperate "Anthropocene" climate crisis. But, off topic, as a (perhaps imperfect) Wagnerian I cavil at this phrase: "the Wagnerian hyperboles of Albert Speer in the Third Reich." There was nothing Wagnerian at all in the architectural monstrosities of Hitlerism. Almost all of the action in Wagner's operas takes place in the open air, with a few scenes in a natural cave (Venusberg in Tannhauser, Nibelheim in Das Rheingold) or in modest structures like a Sea-captain's home (Der Fliegende Hollander) a monastic refectory (Parsifal) a parish church (Die Meistersinger) or a forest hut (Siegfried, Die Walküre). The most notable building is the Erzburg Tonhalle (Tannhauser). Wagner's own home, Haus Wahnfried, is exceedingly modest, as is the Festspielhaus in comparison to all other 19th and 20th century opera houses. So the "Wagnerian hyperbole" must refer to Valhalla--which, of course, Wagner explicitly presents as the epitome of "Machtdunkel (power blindness)," useless, futile, paid for with stolen and accursed gold, and (like the Third Reich itself) doomed from the outset to fiery destruction. Or to Klingsor's illusory tower. In his madness Hitler imagined himself a Siegfried. He was nothing but a wannabe Klingsor. Shane Mage > This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it > always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, > kindling in measures and going out in measures." > > Herakleitos of Ephesos ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
