Christa Wolf, Cassandra How this Cassandra web site was conceived and constructed. The problem. In 1984 a short novel first appeared in English translation. In this novel, Cassandra, Christa Wolf reassembles the story of the Trojan War (from the dawn of the conflict between Achaian West and Trojan East to the arrival of Agamemnon's captive Cassandra in Mycenae). Wolf's reconstruction grows from a scholar's familiarity with the ancient "evidence" and this same scholar's experience of the old story in a very new way. Her revisions (re-visions) of the tale of Troy are an essential part of the value of the book. Her novel exposes the "mythology" permeating the ancient tales while building a new myth. This web site attempts to give the reader access to what she revises in order to see this new myth clearly. We invite you readers to participate by using the site as you read and by reacting to the novel and the site in tandem. Who? Members of the HP252 seminar Odysseus to Ulysses during the spring semester of 2002 as a class publication; we claim ownership and copyleft protection (others are free to take from the site as long as they make no copyright claims themselves from it). Why? The seminar looks for opportunities to make use of web-based technology in the humanities. Cassandra presents an ideal problem. How? The seminar discussed an organization for the site that would allow a division of labor in building it. After two lengthy discussions, we divided into three working groups, each with a mandate to devise one of three independent approaches to our problem. The three roughly defined areas were "the visual" (in the plastic arts), "the theatrical" (on stage and on film) and "the traditional" (in epic poetry). For whom? The seminar visualized a target audience for the site. We attempted to make a site useful to undergraduates who have read the classics. Thus, the site is offered to first and second year students in the Arts and Sciences Honors Program by seniors in that same program. Launch? Tuesday, April 23, 2002.
As soon as you begin reading Christa Wolf, tr. Jan van Heurck, Cassandra (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux 1988 paperback edition), you may consult our annotated web site and follow a variety of paths. You may... 1. Follow links from pages in the text to one of three topical sites AND/OR 2. Consult an alphabetical glossary of names and keywords in the Text-based section AND/OR 3. Follow links directly from the home page to three topical sites: AND/OR
5. Follow links within the "Text" site to the major textual sources (Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid) AND/OR 6. Follow links within the "Visual" site to collections of images depicting the gods, the Trojans, and the Achaians over the ages AND/OR 7. Follow menus and links allowing you to move from "Performance" to "Text" to "Visual" at will AND 8. Use the "Wolf" button to return to the home page to mark out your next path through the site. The wolf below is the icon for the home page. AND 7.
Follow your own inclinations. Let your pleasure be your guide.
A number of the links are video clips. Downloads of video players
are provided with them.
Credits. Home page designed by Alice L. Duket. Home page
and instructions proofed and corrected by Melinda Holmes, BC '04.
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