Green Oasis

The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania (via kottke.org), a radio program about Wagner’s Ring cycle, makes the operas sound like an epic retelling of mankind’s history—of each individual’s history, a transformative community ritual like the Greek mystery cult rituals, Freemasonic initiations, or the Mormon Endowment. The initiate enters the darkened ritual hall, passes through harrowing trials, and dies only to be reborn into the world of light, remade in the image of their gods. Opera as mystery cult.

Der Ring des Nibelungen, all twenty hours, is now in my Netflix queue.