5.0751 It Must Be Spring: Aliens and Golems (3/58)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 9 Mar 1992 19:17:21 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0751. Monday, 9 Mar 1992.
(1) Date: Fri, 06 Mar 92 10:30:46 GMT (15 lines)
From: stephen clark <AP01@liverpool.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: 5.0741 More Rs: Alien Sex
(2) Date: Wed, 04 Mar 92 23:46:07 EST (21 lines)
From: LHT@CORNELLA
Subject: Golem, Prometheus, Adam, Frankenstein
(3) Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1992 9:31:58 -0500 (EST) (22 lines)
From: J_CERNY@UNHH.UNH.EDU
Subject: Golems ... forward and backward in time.
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 92 10:30:46 GMT
From: stephen clark <AP01@liverpool.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: 5.0741 More Rs: Alien Sex (3/50)
Niven's term was rishathra - in The Ringworld Engineers: I doubt if it
has an etymology.
There are several stories by James Tiptree (a woman), including one that
imagines (very implausibly) that we would be sexually excited by aliens
in much the way that plovers are excited by #supernormal# eggs.
And there are stories by P.J.Farmer, including The Lovers (sex with an
insect evolved to look like a woman).
Philosophical papers in Regis, ed., Extraterrestrial Life.
Stephen Clark
Liverpool
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 92 23:46:07 EST
From: LHT@CORNELLA
Subject: Golem, Prometheus, Adam, Frankenstein
A thorough, interesting, and insightful treatment of autogenesis
as a recurring theme in myth can be found in Hans Blumenberg's
_Work On Myth_. As I recall, Blumenberg traces versions of the myth from
Hesiod through Genesis and _Frankenstein_ into the 20th century (it's
a very long, densely writtenbook). Blumenberg, who is seriously underrated and
under-read, uses the myth as a framework for a discussion of the major
philosophical transformations in western history. His thesis (again,
working from fairly distant memory) is that myth itself is the enactment
of the autogenesis thematized in the various manifestations of the
Prometheus myth. All myth and theory of myth, including Blumenberg's
own (and this discussion on HUMANIST, for that matter) contributes to the
creation and modification of the conditions of human existence, although
never on the same level as the myth's superficial narrative. Autogenesis
is both entirely impossible, in the sense of literal _completion_ and
absolutely inevitable, as culture produces its unending "Work On Myth."
Virtually,
Nate Johnson
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------29----
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1992 9:31:58 -0500 (EST)
From: J_CERNY@UNHH.UNH.EDU
Subject: Golems ... forward and backward in time.
For anyone interested in any aspect of the golem, I recommend the museum
exhibition catalog by Emily Bilski: *Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art*,
1988, The Jewish Museum, ISBN 0-87334-049-3. It brings the legend both
forward and backward in time from the probably best known version that
tells of the golem that saved the Jews of Prague in the 1500s (told in book
form by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gutstav Meyrink, Elie Wiesel, and others).
The Bilski catalog includes appearances of the golem in film and a
bibliography that includes a couple of science fiction/fantasy titles:
Piers Anthony's *Golem in the Gears* and Alfred Bester's (I think) *Golem
100*.
I'd be interested in comments on whether a golem is actually referenced in
the Bible. In the Bilski catalog, Psalms 139:16 is cited as a reference to
a golem: "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;". What
does it actually say before translation into English?
Jim Cerny, Computing and Information Services, Univ. N.H.
j_cerny@unhh.unh.edu