Odd Player

Originally produced in Italian, this narrative and dramatization of Leonardo da Vinci’s life is based on written documents (including da Vinci’s own notebooks), eyewitness accounts, and biographies, most written soon after the artist’s death. The film opens with Leonardo dying in the arms of the king, then calls into question the validity of that incident recorded by Vasari, once thought to be the definitive source of information on the lives of many Renaissance artists. Following this brief introduction, the narrator begins with the story of da Vinci’s illegitimate birth and continues, for the most part, chronologically through the stages of his life, concentrating mainly on his art and inventions. Although most of the scenes are taken from true incidents, much that happens during his early years is based on speculation, and drama is added throughout by suppositions of what he thought or did at times when documentation is scanty or absent. The lengthy narrative on two discs has been broken down into five segments that can be shown separately. In addition, there are a few short sections about the time period, including one detailing the younger, more prolific Michelangelo’s most famous works. Because it has been translated, the mouth movements and voice-overs are not always in sync, but the lush scenery, detailed costumes, and dramatic photography make for a compelling look at this important artist and inventor.

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The heroine Eleni Gage (Gatzoyianni) was one of the many victims of the atrocities committed during the Greek Civil War. Many may be familiar with her story via the film Eleni. This book, however, tells the story of another Eleni Gage who, in accordance with the papponymous naming tradition of Greece, was given the name of her paternal grandmother. North of Ithaka reflects her personal quest to retrace her roots and visit the house where her grandmother was imprisoned before her execution. In seeking information about her grandmother, the author also discovers the culture in which she lived. Her account is not only a moving testimony, but also a treasury of folk custom and tradition.

In the village of Lia, just below the Albanian border, the author’s main purpose is to rebuild her grandparents’ ruined house. Her efforts are beset with interesting challenges that provide us with much information on folk customs. For instance, due to the negative associations of the house, she is warned not to proceed with any renovation and her aunts tell her that if she does so she will “be killed by Albanians and eaten by wolves” (pp. 15 and 19). Here one can see that historically the word “Albanian” (Alvanos ) has had similar connotations to the word Arapis (a pejorative form of “Arab”) and was invoked as a phovitro, or bogeyman, especially to frighten children.

The author hires stonemasons to rebuild the house, and at each phase in the construction interesting customs are shared. For instance, before building can take place the old stone foundations are unearthed. As in other parts of Greece, a cock is killed and its head buried in the stonework, while its meat is fed to the builders (p. 116). However, we are also told of another custom seldom encountered elsewhere whereby “masons would place a coin on the cornerstones of a house to make it siderenio, strong as metal” (p. 67). On completion of the house “the owner adorns a wooden cross with oranges and money-filled handkerchiefs, then plants it like a flag on top of her new roof” for the builders to claim (p. 11). This flag ( flambouro ) is met throughout the Balkans in the context of wedding ritual, and apples may replace the oranges. Indeed, one wedding wish, kalorziko or “good roots,” is also made to someone on moving to a new home.

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To say that the late Alan Dundes (1934–2005) was a monument in folklore studies is to state the obvious. Almost more than any other figure in the discipline, Dundes helped to define the academic trends of research and analysis for two generations of American folklorists. He was a prolific writer, often publishing in hard-to-obtain journals, with material frequently being out of print soon after publication. Although Dundes wrote several books, his primary means for disseminating his ideas was through the essay or article. Therefore, it is a suitable tribute to such an important scholar that his colleague Simon J. Bronner should have taken up the task of retrieving and assembling a goodly body of Dundes’s work, and publishing it in this collection of essays. In The Meaning of Folklore, Bronner has brought together twenty articles assembled under two rubrics, “Structure and Analysis” and “Worldview and Identity.” These articles cover the whole of the forty-year period of Dundes’s research and thus constitute a general overview of and introduction to his thinking. Suitably, Bronner has placed first the early article “Folklore as a Mirror of Culture” (1969), which stresses Dundes’s argument about the relationship between folklore and culture and how his view differs from that of the great American anthropologist Franz Boas and his school. The ensuing wide range of articles cover subjects such as structuralism as an analytical method, psychological analyses—especially relating to subliminal sexual innuendo, analyses of discreet folklore subjects both verbal and behavioural, comparative analyses of non-western (European) materials, and a great deal more. This book is a rich treasury that will repay re-reading several times.

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This quirky, involving video enters the home and mind of Newbery winner Nancy Willard, who creates bizarre art works out of soda cans, cat whiskers, stones, and discarded objects. Gentle music plays as the camera examines Willard’s oddly beautiful puppets and statues, which sometimes come to life in weird puppet sequences designed by Ken Robinson. Willard discusses her immigrant grandmother, chemist father, and bibliophile mother. The latter inspired Nancy to tell stories and to embrace her artistic side. Actresses portray some of her childhood memories in the video’s opening scenes. Jane Yolen appears in an interview, discussing how Willard lives in a world of ideas. Literary critic Walter Mayes also appears singing Willard’s praises. Willard does a great job reading from her book, The Moon & Riddles Diner and the Sunnyside Cafe (Harcourt, 2001). She also contributes a song (”Shoe Fly Sally”) co-written with Cliff Sussman (who in turn co-wrote the lovely score with Richard Kosinsky). The best sequence shows Willard creating one of her elaborate characters, a bird carrying the moon, out of shells, bones, and paint. This sequence might inspire young artists to create art inspired by their dreams and imagination. The video is not perfect though. A segment with Willard speaking at a conference is marred by bad sound, and some of the technical aspects (e.g., the lighting) are uneven. Also, “Newbery” is misspelled on the video’s package. However, Uncommon Sense does a wonderful job of capturing the personality and spirit of Nancy Willard. This video is for larger collections, and for libraries serving fans of Nancy Willard. It could be used in art classes because it shows, up close and personal, an artist creating unusual works out of ordinary objects.