Original story of icarus
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Trapped in a remote prison on an island with his young son, he devised a revolutionary technological device that would allow them to escape to freedom. A legendary inventor and tinkerer, he found himself in a seemingly inescapable situation. Maybe it is worth taking a step back and re-telling the familiar story in full. And so the tragic story of Daedalus, one of the greatest inventors in all of Greek mythology, and his son Icarus reflects well the challenges of modern parenting, especially when it comes to the use of ever new and advancing technology. We must remember that some of the powerful inventions that we think will save us can destroy us, too. Yet we know, as did the Greeks, that inventions and technological advancements always carry risks, too. In the “Ode to Man” in Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, the chorus of city elders marveled over everything people have accomplished and invented over the ages, all to make their lives a bit better. Perhaps the entire history of humanity is, first and foremost, the history of technological inventions and advancements, as the Greeks thought. And it is, no less than that, a cautionary tale about parenting and the use of technology. The story is, rather, about the relationship of a father and a son.
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But it seems that whenever we focus on the tragic death of the one who flew too close to the sun, we forget that the story is not just about him, the child. We have all heard this advice and, likely, the tale of hubris that inspired it. The title of this article is borrowed from a line in 'Melting Point', in which Xenia Hadzithakis declares that 'in.D on’t fly too close to the sun. Linda Hutcheson has written that 'the point of metafiction is that it constitutes its own first critical commentary,' (2) and the prominence of metafictional moments within recent retellings of myth indicates that the mythological tradition is becoming increasingly self-conscious about its own reception. In her seminal critique of metafictional literature, Patricia Waugh defines the genre as writing which 'systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality.' (1) Among the simplest forms of metafiction are moments of direct address to the reader, the framing of a story within a story, and references to the genesis, performance, and the reading of tales. 'Melting Point' invokes the metaphor of translation to explore the myth's reception through different linguistic and cultural contexts, while Harry and Hortense uses metafiction to reveal the artifice of the narrative and its self-conscious construction. The two texts share a preoccupation with the subject of textuality, experimenting with the presentation of words on the printed page and their effect on the reader. I will argue that the works of young adult writers like Wheatley and Zindel not only make an important contribution to the perpetuation of the Icarus story but also reflect on the tradition of retelling mythic stories and their place within that tradition. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series, draw freely upon mythological motifs and allusions. In addition to the several hundred 'direct' retellings of classical myths that have been published for children and young adults over the last few decades, many other works, including J.K. Young adult literature has come to play a crucial role in the dissemination of myth in the modern age. While drawing upon traditional readings of this well-known story, these texts also use the myth as a launching point to comment on the relevance and the integration of ancient myth within contemporary life and the status of classical studies within the western educational system. This article undertakes a close reading of two retellings of this myth written for young adults: Nadia Wheatley's short story 'Melting Point', from the 1994 collection The Night Tolkien Died, and Paul Zindel's novel, Harry and Hortense at Hormone High, published in 1984. His powers as a craftsman were too great, and, although it was the son who fell, the father was punished. Daedalus too was found guilty: the wings he fashioned violated the natural order. He also should have heeded the wisdom of his elders and obeyed his father's instructions. Icarus should have plotted a middle course across the sky, flying neither too high nor too low.
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Yet the standard interpretation of the myth frames it as a cautionary tale that illustrates the disastrous consequences of over-ambition. Humans have always been fascinated by the idea of flying, and the classical myth of Icarus and his father Daedalus taps into our longing to take to the air.