Stendhal (Julian Sorel):

protagonist of The Red and the Black, a historical, psychological novel by Stendhal (published 1830).  Originally, the novel was to be eponymous.   He is a provincial young man who attempts to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing through a combination of talent, hard work, deception & hypocrisy.  He ultimately allows his passions to betray him & is hung for attempted murder.

and see Chapter VIII, page 290

 

Dante ("Vita Nuova):

see Chapter VIII, page 273

 

σώμα:

Greek, corporal body, dead body (without spirit)

 

Loki:

in Norse mythology a trickster god.  Loki is referred to in the Poetic Edda (13th century) from earlier traditional sources as well as in the Norwegian Rune Poems, in the poetry of skalds & Scandinavian folklore.  Some accounts make him the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir & the world serpent Jörmungandr.  By his wife Sigyn, he is the father of Narfi; by the stallion Svaðilfari, Loki is the mother—giving birth in the form of a mare—to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.  He sometimes assists the gods & is sometimes malicious.  He is a shape shifter & appears in the form of a salmon, a mare, a fly & an old woman.  Loki's positive relations with the gods end with his role in engineering the death of the god Baldr; he is bound & the goddess Skaði places a serpent above him whose venom causes him to writhe in pain, causing earthquakes. With Ragnarök, Loki is foretold to slip free to fight against the gods among the forces of the jötnar, when he will encounter the god Heimdallr & the 2 will slay each other.

 

Baldr:

god in Norse mythology, son of Odin & Frigg; he has numerous brothers (Thor, Váli); the Poetic Edda & Prose Edda contain many references to the death of Baldr as a great tragedy to the Æsir & a harbinger of Ragnarök.  In the Gylfaginning (of the Prose Edda) we are told his wife is Nanna, their son Forseti.  Baldr has the greatest ships ever built & is hall, Hringhorni, is the most beautiful.

 

Wolfram von Eschenbach:

see Chapter IV, pages 142, Chapter VI page 186

 

Cervantes:

see Chapter IV, page 148

 

Shakespeare:

1564-1616, greatest writer in English language, an Elizabethan playwright famous for his drama, as well as his poetry; a player in London theatre, part owner of the Globe; his 39 plays make up some of the greatest English drama ever written; he also wrote 154 sonnets & 2 long narrative poems.

and see Chapter VI pate 203

 

Goethe:

see Chapter I, page 9

 

epochal:

here used in reference to the Faustian Soul; epochs are a point of transition in the lifecycle, such as the change from Spring to Summer; Spengler is asserting that for Faustian culture these moments have great direction, great meaning, great drama.

and see Chapter IV page 148-49

 

episodic:

here used in reference to the Apollonian Soul; Spengler is asserting that great events (the battle of Actium) rather than signal the new epoch are simply a phase in a series of phases, and not a dramatic change or revolution, their meaning is less significant.

and see Chapter IV page 148-49