D.D. 06/07/06

I read a lot of good books, but its rare that I ever stridently recommend one. So here's one for you, especially if you are as much a classical mythology enthusiast as I am. John Updike's The Centaur is utterly brillant in it's imagery, breath-taking in it's language, and genius in its extended metaphor. The checked it out of the public library here on Monday and have already finished it. It's that brillant. There is tons of character symbolism and the author - at the behest of his wife - has included an index to this fictional novel which points to all the Greek mythology characters covered by the story.

The symbols range from spot on - like the labido driven school principal Zimmerman (the obvious Zeus) to the subtle (Pandora's box is alluded to as the protagonist love interest's virginity - with sex never actualizing - thus the hope of sex, growing up, etc. remaining). The book takes its title from the main character - Chiron the centaur in the form of the self-deprecating science teacher George Caldwell - who gave up his immortality for Prometheus as the legend goes, and thus has an obvious metaphorical connection also to Christ. A very interesting read. Check it out from your local library or get it on Amazon.