The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 2, 2005 Page: 11 of 16
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March 2, 2005 The University News
: 1
Commentary
Editorial Board
Margaret Ballard
Jodi Dickens
Eric Martinez
Lincy George
Letters Policy
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however, we will not print
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by Damien Gaffney
Editorial
Lysistrata performance should not be censored
A recent debate about the possible revival of the fall Rome play,
Lysistrata, raises significant issues about morality in literature.
Some students are concerned that the play is vulgar, obscene, or
out-right pornographic. They claim that such a play should not
be performed at UD.
This attitude is a sort of close-minded self-censorship that
should be avoided at a liberal arts university. One should not
seek to live within tight restraints because of fear but should open
one's mind to the lessons afforded by great literature.
While Lysistrata may be bawdy and full of sexual innuendo,
it seems ludicrous to label it pornographic. There is no blatant
nudity or sexual acts committed during the play, nor is the main
point of the work to arouse carnal passions. As with other Greek
drama, the play was written for a particular purpose: as an escape
for an audience stricken by a decades-long war. But the reason it
has come down through the millenia to students of great: litera-
ture is that Lysistrata has a deeper meaning than simply a farce
about women withholding sexual favors from their husbands.
To discover this meaning, one must not only read the play but
view it as well.
If the play did not have some deeper meaning, why would
Letters to the Editor
it have been included in the core curriculum? In years past,
instead of reading The Frogs (another comedy laden with sexual
innuendo), students were required to read Lysistrata as part of
Lit. Trad. III. Additionally, it is often included as part of the
basic Theater Arts I class.
Students should be wary of throwing out good literature
simply because it contains some objectionable ideas or insinu-
ations. If this mentality were to be rigidly followed, students
would no longer read many of the works of Plato, including the
Symposium and the Phaedrus. Nor would students read Paradise
Lost because of its explicit description of the naked Eve. Such
valuable works of intellectual brilliance should not be allowed
to fall out of the curriculum simply because a few find certain
parts objectionable.
If censorship is allowed to take hold at UD, where will it
end? Could this university see book burning in its immediate
future? While pornographic material is objectionable and should
be condemned, one cannot assume that every work containing
sexual content must be prohibited.
If one is offended by the Lysistrata performance, one could
simply elect not to attend.
Professor supports
Lysistrata production
Dear Editor,
Some controversy was gener-
ated last fall on the Rome campus
when a group of students prepared
a production of Aristophanes'
comic masterpiece, Lysistrata.
"Lysistrata," as good UD stu-
dents should learn in Greek class,
means "A-woman-who-destroys-
armies." The "armies," in this case,
are the Athenians and Spartans,
the war the Peloponnesian, the
method of destruction, withhold-
ing sex. Spoiler: the women win.
I'm proud of the students who
decided to produce Lysistrata. It's
deadly appropriate for our times
(no matter what one's politics).
Lysistrata contains passages
of obscenity (if "obscenity" is
defined by the standards of the
Catholic Church). So does Plato,
where homosexual acts are cel-
ebrated.
So does Homer, where warrior
brains end up sprinkling the Tro-
jan landscape (one does wonder
why excessive violence never quite
rouses the same righteous indigna-
tion as excessive sex, even sex used
to end violence).
I'm quite sure the undergradu-
ates of UD can handle Lysistrata,
either at the "safe" distance of
reading it in Greek or the more
public venue of seeing it per-
formed in their own language.
The very fact that it raised
such a storm of protest on the
Rome campus speaks to its power,
2,400-odd years since it was first
performed in Athens.
Aristophanes would be proud...
were he not burning in hell.
Dr. Lee Fratantuono
Visiting assistant classics pro-
fessor (on leave)
Reader disappointed
with Fatima article
Dear Editor,
I was disappointed with Mi-
chelle Moran's Feb. 23 article on
Fatima. The editorial staff should
do more research before giving
credence to a suspended priest of
the Catholic Church: Nicholas
Gruner.
I first heard about Gruner 12
years ago and his position on
Fatima seemed appealing, but
it turns out Sister Lucia did not
agree or approve of his ministry
and the Carmel of Coimbra even
released a letter critical of him.
The conservative magazine The
Wanderer published a letter con-
cerning him that is worth reading
on the web (enter his name into a
search engine).
As for the promised conversion
of Russia, I read a poll which in-
dicated that among the European
nations which indicate a strong
belief in God and religion, Poland
came in first at 97 percent, fol-
lowed by Portugal and Russia at
87 percent. We will just have to
be patient and wait for the "period
of peace,"
Joseph Stinson
Former Student
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Dickens, Jodi. The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 34, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 2, 2005, newspaper, March 2, 2005; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201403/m1/11/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting University of Dallas.