This older commentary is still of interest, perhaps mostly for its style and vigor.
It offers a clever socialist interpretation, aimed at general readers. Without
notes or index.
2049.The Threat to the Cosmic Order: Psychological, Social, and Health Implica-
tions of Richard Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung.”Ed. Peter Ostwald and
Leonard S. Zegans. Madison, Conn.: International Universities Press, 1997.
xii, 190p. ISBN 0-8326-6528-3. ML410 .W2 T53.
Consists of 11 essays by various authors, taking up themes indicated by the
title of the book: Leonard S. Zegans, “Richard Wagner’s Cosmology: Self-
Deception, Realization, and the Destruction of Nature”; Robert W. Gutman,
“A Passion to Command and Demand”; Alessandra Comini, “The Visual
Wagner: Environments, Icons, and Images”; David Clay Large, “Richard Wag-
ner and the Problem of German Identity”; George H. Pollock, “Notes on
Incest Themes in Wagner’s RingCycle”; Eric A. Plaut, “Dwarfs, Giants, Drag-
ons, and Other Body Distortions in Wagner’s Operas”; Gunter B. Risse,
“Health and Medicine in Wagner’s Germany, 1820–1890”; Fritz C. Redlich,
“The Impact of Richard Wagner on Adolf Hitler”; Thomas S. Grey, “Sickness
or Redemption? Wagnerism and the Consequences”; and David Littlejohn,
“Panel Discussion on Performance, Interpretation, Staging and Audience
Response to the Ring.”- Levin, David J. Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen: The Dra-
maturgy of Disavowal.Princeton Studies in Opera. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
U.P., 1998. xi, 207p. ISBN 0-6910-2621-1. ML410 .W2 L48.
Considers the reworking of the Nibelung myth by Wagner and analyzes Fritz
Lang’s 1924 film of the epic. Backnotes, bibliography, index. - Corse, Sandra. “The Voice of Authority in Wagner’s Ring.” In New Studies
(#2034), 19–38.
An unusual perspective on the text, based on the premise that Leitmotiven
occur verbally as well as musically. They take the form of recurring statements,
quotations of one person by another, and of “embedded narrations” that point
to past events. Corse merges this idea with theories of linguist M. M. Bakhtin.
One of his ideas is that people quote one another with varying degrees of exac-
titude and concentration: the fully accurate, focused quotation is reserved for
authoritative voices. In the Ringthere is no real authoritative voice to demand
the respect of exact quotation with no comment by the quoter; Wotan’s
authority is undermined as his words are mixed with musical motives that do
not support them. The decline of his power through the cycle is shown by the
diminished weight given to his words as repeated by others. - Henderson, Brian. “The Ringand the Wake.” In New Studies(#2034), 55–88.
Just as James Joyce based the structure ofUlysseson the Odyssey,he modeled
(according to Henderson) Finnegans Wakeon the Ring.Joyce was fascinated
by the Old Norse Eddaand sagas, and that interest infused his final novel in
many ways, from overall structure to characterization and diction. Many spe-
cific parallels are noted.
Richard Wagner 383