Читать книгу Artemis - Jean Shinoda Bolen - Страница 33

Of all the versions of the story of Atalanta, I find Bernard Evslin's narrative (Heroes, Gods, and Monsters, 1968) about how Meleager and Atalanta met not only the most vivid, but also the most psychologically true explanation of their attraction. In my own telling, I borrow the situation that brought them together from him and then interpret the story so that it makes internal psychological sense. In classical Greek and Roman versions, the circumstances given differ greatly; but in all of them, Meleager falls in love with Atalanta at first sight. She evokes an image, a yearning for a feminine counterpart—his dream girl or anima figure, in Jung's psychological model. When men talk about attractive women, their first comment usually focuses on their appearance or on particular physical attributes.

Atalanta and Meleager are a standout matched set—a striking couple, both archers and hunters at home in the wilderness. Atalanta evokes Artemis, twin sister to Apollo. She has her silver bow, he his golden one. This twinning is a characteristic of many young relationships that become marriages. In high school, the football captain and the head cheerleader or prom queen are the classic couple. In colleges where “the Greeks” dominate social life, sorority sisters find their match in fraternity brothers—and back in the days before couples lived together, this often led to marriage after graduation.