Transcript A Monster

UNIT 8
The Monster
Contents
Pre-reading Questions
Background Information
Comprehension Questions
Structure of the Text
Language Work
Translation Exercise
Oral Work
Pre-reading discussion
1. What is the monster?
2. What kind of man is comparable to a monster?
Background information
About the text:
This text first appeared as a radio talk, entitled
A Monster. Later it was published with the title
Of Men and Music in the United States in 1937.
About Richard Wagner
German composer, the worlds's greatest
dramatists, a great thinker, one of the most
stupendous musical geniuses.
Born in Leipzig on 22 May 1813 and died
in Venice on 13 February 1883. he did
more than any other composer to change
music, and indeed to change the art and
thinking about it. His works are hated as
much as they are worshipped, but no one
denies their greatness.
His life and his music arouse passions like
no other composer’s. His works are hated
as much as they are worshipped; but no
one denies their greatness.
Comprehension Questions
1. Does the man's appearance, described in the first paragraph,
give one any impression of "grandeur" ?
No. He is a little man with the sign of illness, sick in both body
and nerves. This is by no means an appearance that may bring
one a sense of grandeur. Then what makes the man with a poor
look have "delusions of grandeur"? The only explanation is
that he is "a monster of conceit”.
2. What are the further evidences of the monster's conceit?
To prove his conceit, the second paragraph describes him as so
egocentric that he cared about nothing but himself; he had such
a strong sense of self-appreciation that he saw himself not just
as the greatest musician, polemist and philosopher, but also as
the world's finest living poet and playwright. And the third
paragraph tells that he never expected criticism or allowed
disagreement.
3. What kinds of grammatical devices are used to emphasize the
extreme extent of his peculiar conceit?
Inverted sentence: Never for one minute did he look at the world
or at people, except in relation to himself.
The superlative forms of adjectives
4. What kind of versatile man is he?
Besides his activity as a composer and a librettist Wagner
wrote an astonishing number of books and articles, in fact
about 230 titles. His literary spectrum ranges from theories
of opera to political programs. He has been classified as an
anarchist and a socialist and, simultaneously, as a protofascist and nationalist, as a vegetarian and an anti-Semite ...
In fact, his name has appeared in connection with almost
all major trends in German history of the 19th and 20th
centuries.
5. How does the writer describe him as an emotional person?
He had a mood as changeable as a six-year-old child. For
example, he would get mad when something was against
his desire, and forget all about it when something pleasant
happened. And he would be grieved on one occasion but
become merciless on another.
6. How was he financially supported? Did he earn himself a good living
with his great talents?
He lived on others' money. Through his life, he found many
benefactors, among whom King Ludwig II and Otto Wesendonck were
two of the most generous ones. In 1864 King Ludwig II, his greatest
benefactor, invited him to settle in Bavaria, near Munich, discharging
all his debts and providing him with money.
Another generous patron Otto Wesendonck, whose wife was stolen
away by Wagner, supported him economically by buying the
publishing rights of his works. However, later it turned out that he had
to give up his publishing rights because Wagner had sold them again to
others.
Although these benefactors had provided him with a great sum of
money and never got any repayment, Wagner kept living in debts and
in a narrow escape from being thrown into jail for debts because he
was a lavish spender.
7. What is his attitude toward love?
It seems that he was a playboy. He divorced his first wife
Minna Planer after 26 years' marriage ( 1836 - 1862) and
stole away other people's wives, e.g. Jessie Laussot,
Mathilde Wesendonck, Cosima yon Billow, the last one
was the wife of the conductor Hans von Billow, and Liszt's
daughter.
8. Why do you think Wagner made so many enemies?
The reason for Wagner to have made many enemies is also
his conceit, because he could tolerate anyone who
disagreed with him, even over some trivial points like
weather. He was u such a delusion of grandeur that he
would do anything to defeat them in order to defend his in
as a perfect genius rather than keep them as friends.
Text Structure
This text can be divided into three parts.
Part I (Paragraph 1-9) describe a man who
seems to roll all kinds of demerits into one,
a real monster.
Part II (Paragraphs 10) serves as a
transitional graph.
Part III (Paragraphs 11-13) justify all the
peculiar behaviors of Richard Wagner.
Language work
undersized
adj. too small or smaller than usual, especially
because of lack of growth
And he had delusions of grandeur.
And he had a false belief that he was a man of
importance.
delusion n. a false belief or opinion
e.g. That sick man is under the delusion that he is
Napoleon.
delusion of grandeur: a false belief in oneself as a
person with great beauty, power intelligence,
etc.
Never for one minute did he look at the world or
at people, except in relation to himself.
He had never cared about other people and
things in this world if they had nothing to do
with him.
To hear him talk, he was Shakespeare, and Beethoven,
and Plato, rolled into one.
He was often heard to boast of being a genius with a
combined quality of Shakespeare, the greatest
dramatist, Beethoven, the greatest composer and
Plato, the greatest philosopher.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and
dramatist.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827 ), German
composer.
Plato (427? - 347? B.C.), Greek philosopher.
roll into one ~ integrate several things or features into
one
She has become his assistant and secretary rolled
into one.
He had a mania for being in the right.
He has an extremely strong desire of being
right
The slightest hint of disagreement, from anyone,
on the most trivial point, was enough to set him
off on a harangue that might last for hours ...
If anyone disagreed with him, no matter how
small the sign of disagreement was and how
trivial the point was, he would mal lengthy
speech for hours to prove himself right ...
volubility n.
(often derogatory) the characteristic of always
being ready to produce a continuous flow of
words, or being talkative
voluble adj. characterized by a ready and
continuous flow of words; fluent; talkative
e.g. Ted's a voluble speaker at meetings; he
doesn't give much chance to others to say
anything.
for the sake of
1) for the good or advantage of
If you won't do it for your own sake, then do
it for mine.
My art does not try to serve society, it's just
art for art's sake.
2) for the purpose of
I'll give up smoking for the sake of health.
It never occurred to him that he and his doing
were not of the most intense and fascinating
interest to anyone with whom he came in
contact.
He had never thought whether other people
around him would have as great interest in
him and his doing as he himself did.
at someone's expense: with someone paying
the cost
e.g. He had his book printed at his own expense.
at the expense of ~ causing the loss of
e.g. He finished the job at the expense of his
health.
rave
1) talk wildly as if mad
He raved all night in his fever.
Father is raving at/against the Government
again.
2) put (oneself) into the stated condition by
talking wildly
He raved himself hoarse.
sink into suicidal gloom:fall into a gloomy state
which makes one wish to kill himself
grief-stricken: overcome with, characterized by, or
resulting from great sorrow
panic-stricken
and could be callous and heartless to a
degree that would have made a Roman
emperor shudder.
... and could be so merciless that even the
cruel Roman emperor would have felt
fearful.
shudder v. shake uncontrollably from fear, cold, or
strong dislike
e.g. She shuddered at the sight of the dead body.
What money he could lay his hands on he spent
like an Indian rajah.
Whatever money coming into his hands he
spent lavishly like an Indian ruler did.
An endless procession of women marched through his
life.
In his whole life, he had never stopped having affairs
with women, who had come and gone like the
marching of an army
pull wires: use influence, especially secretly,
from people concerned with something one
needs
e.g. He had to pull a few wires to get that job.
Caricature: a representation of a person in
literature or art made so that parts of his
character appear more noticeable, odd, or
amusing than they really are
be content with: feel happy or satisfied with
e.g. John was content with two glasses of beer
even though he could have had more.
testimony n.
a formal statement that something is true, as
made by a witness in a court of law
(read) between the lines : (find) hidden meanings
e.g. Some kinds of poetry make you read between
the lines.
And the curious thing about this record is that it
doesn't matter in the least.
Although the monster's peculiar personality and
behavior described previously are all facts on
record, people just care nothing about them at
all.
hold the stage: be performed; be the center
of attention
e.g. We had only one hour to discuss the
question and Mr. Hones held the stage for
most of it.
when you listen to what he wrote, the debts and
heartaches that people had to endure from
him don't seem much of a price.
... when you listen to his music, all his debts seem
to be repaid and the heartaches he brought to
people seen to be relieved.
Not for a single moment did he ever
compromise with what he believed, with what
he dreamed.
As for his belief and dream, he had never
lowered his aim and ceased his persistent
effort to make them come true.
Listening to his music, one does not forgive
him for what he may or may not have been.
It is not a matter of forgiveness.
His music was so great that people would
forgive him for all the misdeeds that he had
done and the good deeds that he failed to
do. As a matter of fact, what his music
arouses in people's mind is not anything
like forgiveness at all, but admiration.
It is a matter of being dumb with wonder that
his poor brain and body didn't burst under the
torment of the demon of creative energy that
lived
inside
him,
struggling,
clawing,
scratching to be released; tearing, shrieking
at him to write the music that was in him.
It must be a surprise that inside his sickly little
body, there lived a strong force of creativity,
which was so eager to burst out of his body
that it would have been a torture for him not
to write music.
Translation Exercise
1.为了你的家庭，你要三思而后行，不要冒那么多的风险。(for
the sake of)
For the sake of your family, you should look
before you leap and not take so many risks.
2. 昨晚喝了太多的酒，我感到为不太舒服。(out of sorts)
I felt a bit out of sorts after last night’s heavy
drink.
3. 他的父亲找了无数的门路，帮他在一个已经臃肿不堪的政府
机构找到一个位置。(pull wires)
His father pulled endless wires and got him a
position in an inflated government department.
4. 如果你仔细读这封信，就会在字里行间发现他的真正用意。
(between the lines)
If you read his letter carefully ,you can find his
real intention between the lines.
5. 我知道我对他真是无礼透顶，但我为自己找了各种理由。
(downright)
I knew I was downright rude to him, but I found
excuses for myself.
6. 过去杰出的人物有许多是许多是出类拔萃的多面手，像达芬
奇就集画家与发明家于一身。(roll into one)
Many of the outstanding figures of the past
were exceptionally versatile. Leonardo da vinci,
for instance, rolled a paiterrr and an inventor
into one.
7. 在多年遭受抢眼的折磨之后，他终于自杀了。(under the
torment of)
He finally killed himself after being under the
torment of insomnia for many years.
8. 他惊讶得说不出话来。(be struck dumb with)
He was struck dumb with amazement.
Oral Work
What kind of people do you think can be called a monster? Should
they be judged by their appearance or behaviour or both?
Did any of your friends or family members ever think you are
eccentric behind your back or to your face? How did you feel
about it? And how do you feel about it now?