Reblogged from tragicalhistorytour
Ech0
To illustrate the multiple resonances found in an echo, the Greeks conjured up the story of a beautiful mountain nymph. Her name was Echo and she made the mistake of helping Zeus succeed in one of his sexual conquests. Hera found out and punished Echo, making it impossible for her to say anything except the last words spoken to her. Soon after, Echo fell in love with Narcissus whose obsession with himself caused her to pine away until only her voice remained. Another lesser known version of this myth has Pan falling in love with Echo. Echo, however, rejects his amorous offers and Pan, being the god of civility and restraint, tears her to pisces, burying all of her except her voice. In both cases, unfulfilled love results in the total negation of Echo's body and the near negation of her voice.
But Echo is an insurgent. Despite the divine constraints imposed upon her, she still manages to subvert the gods ruling. After all, her repetitions are far from digital, more closer to analog. Echo colors the words with faint traces of sorrow (The Narcissus myth) or accusation (The Pan myth) never present in the original.
....her voice has life. It possesses a quality not present in the original, revealing how a nymph can return a different and more meaningful story, in spite of telling the same story. - House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
But Echo is an insurgent. Despite the divine constraints imposed upon her, she still manages to subvert the gods ruling. After all, her repetitions are far from digital, more closer to analog. Echo colors the words with faint traces of sorrow (The Narcissus myth) or accusation (The Pan myth) never present in the original.
....her voice has life. It possesses a quality not present in the original, revealing how a nymph can return a different and more meaningful story, in spite of telling the same story. - House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
