An Analysis of Robert Ji-Song Kus Leda Essay -- Leda Essays

An Analysis of Robert Ji-Song Kus Leda In Robert Ji-Song Kus short horizontal surface Leda, the main character, Sorin, leads a life of imitation. He applies himself to his graduate studies in relative literature a little too memorialiseily he compares not just text to text he also compares his life to text, to whole caboodle of literature (Wong 281). If his life does not match that of at least whiz literary character on several levels of interpretation, whether emotional, physical, or mental, he changes his sort so that it will. For example, he begins to smoke and drink - heavily...simply because every one of Hemingways heroes did it. For a while I drank only vodka martinis in public because I read that James Bond drank it exclusively ... I ... also smoked his special brand of cigarettes (280). In Leda, the two influential oeuvres (280) are Junichiro Tanizakis The Bridge of Dreams, a haunting retelling of the Oedipal myth (281), and the story of Leda, in Greek mythology. Bot h gravel extensive figure out on Sorin, and their influences intertwine in his behavior to the finale that it is difficult to separate and identify each. Leda is primarily an Oedipal tale thanks to the influence of Bridge, but, as Sorin frequently finds himself doing things, saying things, and make certain choices because ... some of the around intriguing characters in books have done the same, he mixes Oedipus with Zeus, Castor and Pollux to make up the character he becomes when interacting with Leda, his lover. Oedipus, of course, is the Greek dramatic character who, when he discovers he has married his mother and has had children with her, gouges his eyes out. Zeus is the philandering Greek father of the gods who, harmonize to Greek l... ...or having lived his life vicariously. Works Cited Castor and Polydeuces. Microsoft Encarta Online. 27 February 1999 http//encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/54/05444000.htm. Cheju Island. 17 February 1999 http//www.chejuinfo.net/ind ex_e.html. Criss, P. J. Leda. 17 February 1999 http//www.cybercom.com/grandpa/ledax.html. Hefner, Alan G. Zeus. The Encyclopedia Mythica. 27 February 1999 http//www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/z/zeus.html. Leda and the constellation Cygnus. Department of Engineering, University of Michigan. 17 February 1999 http//windows.ivv.nasa.gov/mythology/cygnus.html. Webb, Ruth H. Leda. 17 February 1999 http//www.princeton.edu/rhwebb/leda.html. Wong, Shawn, ed. Asian American publications A Brief Introduction and Anthology. New York Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996.