Re: Universitatlity

I'm beginning to wonder what qualifies as a sequel. Lethal Weapon 1, 2,
3, 4 are essentially the "further adventures of" the characters of Danny
Glover and Mel Gibson. Halloween 1-6...the same. Nightmare on Elm
Street...the same. Rocky 1-4...the same. In fact, in sequels you have
formulaic extensions of the central character's adventures. The Odyssey
isn't the "further adventures of" to the Iliad the way Rocky IV is to
Rocky I. It really focuses on a single character and his attempt to get
back home after the war, rather than the "further adventures of" for all
the major characters in the Iliad (as if that were even possible).

So I think the Odyssey is more properly a "spin-off" of the Iliad than a
sequel, as is the Aeneid.

I tend to agree with your previous response to Matt. I think when we
start talking about specific works, though, we just need to quibble over
details to keep ourselves honest.

Jim

"L. Manning Vines" wrote:
>
> Contributing to the sense of out-of-placeness that I mention in my last post
> was a recent post of our dear steward, Mr. O'Connor. I forgot to mention
> this is my other post, but I was stunned to see not another look of
> astonishment aside from my own at a single post that asserted plainly that
> sequels are a recent phenomenon rooted in cinema, and which yet went on to
> use the name Ulysses. . . which, of course, is to say Odysseus.
>
> Where AM I?
>
> -Robbie
>
> P.S. I need not refer any more explicitly to THAT greatest of sequels -- I
> hope -- though a cursory examination of the literatures of antiquity reveals
> many more, perhaps especially amongst the Greeks, perhaps the most widely
> read being Oedipus, Oedipus 2, and Oedipus 3 (Oedipus at Colonus and
> Antigone). There are several more. One might even suggest an occasional
> prequel, a rarity even in Hollywood, though this admittedly is harder to
> find and might start an argument over what properly constitutes a prequel.
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Received on Mon Dec 8 21:08:48 2003