Heroes and Anti-Heroes...

The title of the blog stems from a fascination I have with using myth and storytelling to find meaning in the randomness of life. I draw a lot of inspiration from classical mythology, hence the Parzival inspiration. There's still a lot of meaning in ancient myths which get pushed out of the way in favor of one particular long-standing best-seller which I won't name. I gave up on that one a long time ago, mostly because of the tendency of people to take it for literal truth, and the tendency to ignore the ugly parts that include genocide, rape, slavery, and so forth. That's a subject for another day, though. I'm more interested in other sources of inspiration.

One of those sources, and in my not-so-humble opinion, a very important one, is in modern literature. There are dozens of examples of stories that can inspire. I myself find the world to be a very absurd place today. That's why I think we need to find more modern myths that resonate with our times.

We have plenty of examples of classical heroes who are always on the side of good, fighting for justice. However, the world isn't a simple place. Right and wrong aren't as easy to pin down anymore. It's rather hard to tell who the good guys are, especially since what passes for good and evil depends on who's doing the judging. We just can't trust authority figures who consistently and provably lie and mislead while telling us what's best for us. Since it's hard to tell who's right, and who's manipulating us, we just can't rely on the classical 'hero' anymore.

That's why we need a post-modern Parzival. We don't need heroes anymore. We need anti-heroes. Superman is out. Rorschach is in. Modern myths and stories just don't work with the pure and innocent Parzival. We need an anti-hero we can relate to, who is within the reach of the common man. Too much of a goody-two-shoes attitude in heroes just strips away credibility. We need anti-heroes who have faults like our own, yet who still pull through and, through their own will and humanity, redeem themselves despite their faults. Being pure is easy compared to being a scumball and redeeming yourself.

That's why I admire the anti-heroes of literature. I admire Tyrone Slothrop (Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow,) the AWOL Yank soldier on his own search for the Rocket, the high-tech Holy Grail. I admire Yossarian (Joseph Heller's Catch-22,) determined to find a way to flee madness and mayhem in a war that makes no sense. One of my personal favorites, albeit a bit obscure, is Jacopo Belbo (Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum,) a petty, bitter man with a taste for the overdramatic, who, through a stubborn refusal to bow to an angry mob, redeems himself. These aren't moral, decent people. These anti-heroes are out for themselves most of the time. However, through small, everyday virtues, they make up for all their vices. They are the sane ones in a world gone insane. Maybe they're looking out for Number One much of the time, or are just after a piece of ass. However, they show us the full range of the human condition.

That's why I love characters in post-modern literature so much. They aren't cardboard cutouts. They don't represent the best of humanity. They represent ALL of humanity.

"Just as there are, in the World, machineries committed to injustice as an enterprise, so too there seem to be provisions active for balancing things out once in a while. Not as an enterprise, exactly, but at least in the dance of things" - Thomas Pynchon


I suppose that I am starting this blog more as a journal for myself than anything. I have a lot of thoughts that just sit unsorted in my head, and there has to be some way of dumping them out. It's part self-bibliotherapy, part journal, and part bitch session.

I do not anticipate any sort of feedback or readership, I'm not going to advertise or anything. For the longest time, I considered a blog, but held back. I see a lot of attention whores out there. I am not that interested in that. Hell, if I never get a single reader, that's fine by me. I read a lot, and I get a lot of ideas based upon what I read. This blog is my way of getting them out. Maybe someone can be entertained, maybe it will inspire someone to think, at best, it will inspire someone to read a bit more. Whatever the case, here it is. Maybe I can be one random, chaotic voice out there that can help balance things out once in a while.