Tiresias, are you out there somewhere?
(quavery voice from the Great Beyond) Yyyessss . . .
I’ve been thinking about some advice you gave Odysseus, way back when.
(slight hesitation) You mean, that he should pick up something nice for Penelope on the way home?
No, not that.
The tip about the Dark Age, suggesting he rebalance his portfolio and invest in basic commodities?
No, no, I mean that bizarre comment about carrying his oar inland until he reaches a people who know nothing of the sea and don’t salt their food.
Oh, that. Honestly, sometimes I have no idea where that stuff comes from.
You gave him a sign. You said that when someone calls his oar a fan to winnow grain, he would know that he had reached the spot to plant his oar and sacrifice to the gods.
I did? How odd. I’m not even sure I know what “winnowing” involves. Do you?
I do, but that’s not why I’ve summoned you from the House of Hades. I just have this suspicion that the bit about the oar and the winnowing fan is important somehow.
You may be right. I do have a reputation for saying important things. You know – and this is a good story, really great stuff – there was this fellow named Oedipus who married . . .
What interests me is the idea of a sign. You told him you were giving him a sure sign. And the crux of the incident is all about signs: the stranger thinks that the wooden object that Odysseus carries signifies a winnowing fan, not an oar. In other words, you required Odysseus to travel to a place so remote that he left his own sign-system for a completely different one: a place where “oar” and “ship” and “sea” have no meaning at all, where they signify nothing.
I know I’m supposed to be clairvoyant, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Odysseus is the epitome of cunning intelligence, of mētis. His skill at deception depends on his ability to manipulate signs. Disguised as a beggar in Ithaca, for example, he signifies weakness and submissiveness. Therefore, the suitors do not recognize that they are in imminent danger. Masters of trickery rely on this ability, the ability to use X to signify Y and mask Z.
Yes, I begin to see . . . er, I mean, understand what you mean. If Odysseus travels out of his own sign-system into a completely different one – where up might be down and black could be white, so to speak – then he could hardly be wily Odysseus. He would not understand the signs in this place; in other words, he would not be able to play with people’s minds, because he would have no idea how they think.
Precisely. And so my question is, why did you require a trickster to travel to a place where he could not possibly be a trickster?
No earthly idea. Now tell me one more time: what is a “blog”?
--Abbot
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