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The stories of Herodotus run through both the novel and cimematic versions of The English Patient: just as Herodotus maps out the landscapes of the world, so too does the English Patient (and his various loves) map out their own private geographies. One particularly nice adaptation of Herodotus is the wife of Gyges tale, from Herodotus, Book One. Here, it performed beautifully as an oral folk tale -- and one with a point. As our heroine narrates the tale, you can see Ralph Fiennes falling deeply and totally in love with her: he is, in effect, constructed by director as a new Gyges. By playing with time, the director shows us that this love affair ends very badly, since the English Patient ends up burned (a horrible telos), Similarly, Herodotus 'fast-forwards' in time to show how the curse takes effect five generations later, on Gyges' descendant Croesus. (Compare the fall of this house with the fall of the house of Atreus later in the course!)
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