As I mentioned recently, I have been reading the Robert Fitzgerald translation of Homer's Odyssey in preparation for re-reading James Joyce's Ulysses later this month.
If one were to suggest a classical work for a Robert Anton Wilson fan to read, i.e., a book that fits in the Greco-Roman cultural tradition of antiquity, what work would be recommended? It seems to me that a case could be made for the Odyssey. Ulysses references it. In addition, RAW's Schroedinger's Cat trilogy has a plot about a phallic object named Ulysses which travels around the world before returning home at the end of the trilogy. That's a story that references the Joyce work by name but Homer's earlier work in terms of plot.
Odysseus is a Greek hero of the Trojan War and thus can be connected to the Eris legend about the Judgment of Paris at the heart of Discordianism, which is an old Greek legend about the origins of the Trojan War.
I've also attempted to make a case for the historian Procopius as an early advocate of civil liberties and a proto-libertarian. And here is my post alleging that Robert Anton Wilson is a modernist classicist.
1 comment:
Great continuing work on your blog. Bob loved the Odyssey. He also included Ovid's Metamorphosis on his list of Brain Books he wished people would read.
I find it interesting that the Tale of the Tribe figures begin with Bruno. One can go back, back, back, but near the end of his life Bob seemed most interested in the last 420 years.
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