Good evening, dear readers!~
Today I want to tell you about a remarkable connection I've discovered between my studies and personal interests. It's just an example, but I think it's a very good one to reveal that studying at university can build up many links to everyday life. It not always may seem to be entwined with it that much, and often I have the feeling that what I'm studying isn't that present in the world around me... No way! Learning about the most various topics in an enclosed university doesn't necessarily mean that what you're doing research about is in vain: It widens your worldview and gives you thousands of facets to see life in brighter colours than before.
And today I realized some connections in the following case:
At the moment I visit a class dealing with novellas, and of course we have to read lots of them during the semester and we discuss about their contents and backgrounds etc. Recently I was reading E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Sandman" - not really my favourite story, but that doesn't matter in that place.
First fact: When I passed by the theatre of our city I saw the promotion for the latest opera which will be performed: "The Tales of Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach. Finally I realized that especially this Hoffmann is meant and that also the novella's story is part of this opera - quite interesting!
But now to the second and, in my opinion, more interesting link. One figure in "The Sandman" is called Olimpia and becomes the model for Leo Delibes's protagonist in the same-named ballett "Coppélia". I was quite surprised when I stumbled over this connection and instantly was reminded of Japanese musician Kaya's song also called "Coppelia". I wonder whether he is aware of the origins of the figure...
Of course I also have read the lyrics carefully, and if one wanders around three corners with this background knowledge one really could interpret the lines as the thoughts of the Coppelia from Delibes's ballett as well as the thoughts of Hoffmann's Olimpia. Both figures are lifeless puppets and not able to think or feel at all - on the other hand, Kaya's Coppelia apparently is animate and having emotions. Nevertheless, Hoffmann's Olimpia is a puppet sitting close to a window and the young student Nathanael is observing her with a telescope and finally falls in love with her, not knowing that she is just a puppet. Although we never get to know whether Olimpia has emotions or is able to think in "The Sandman" itself, Kaya's lyrics could depict the counterpart of her mind, if she possesses one. Although the novella is from 1816, we can see that the figure of Olimpia/Coppelia is still present in recent intertextuality.
So, if I would have to put the results in a formula, it would look like this:
E.T.A. Hoffmann, "The Sandman", Olimpia -> Leo Delibes, "Coppélia", Coppélia -> Kaya, "Coppelia"
Moreover I of course loved the fact to get to know more about one song of one of my favourite artist randomly by studying - I hadn't expected such a thing ^___^
So, as a conclusion and message to all of you: Whatever you're doing as a job, whether you're studying or not - always keep holding your eyes and your mind open to everything around you. You may discover connections between things you haven't expected they could be entwined in any way. Here the bonmot becomes reality: Whatever you're learning about or dealing with, and how unnecessary it seems to be; you never know whether you will need this knowledge one day, so bdon't refuse it.
I found out about the value of this saying myself, and I want to encourage all of you to do it the same way.
With best wishes~
Junsui
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