Customer Reviews

Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first encountered Karl Kerenyi by way of another of his books, _Eleusis_, a study of the mysteries of Demeter and Persephone. Let me tell you, I love the way that man's mind worked. In the case of Eleusis, and also in the case of Dionysos, there are secrets that the celebrants of the rites took to their graves. But rather than just say "we'll never know what really went on", Kerenyi leaves no stone unturned in an attempt to figure it out. Using myths, art, and "urban legends" from ancient times, which often dance around secret subjects, Kerenyi puts together a more coherent picture of the religions of these ancient deities. The myths and art may dance around the real mysteries, but if you "dance" around enough and see the material from enough different angles, you can get a pretty good idea of what isn't being said.

Dionysos originated on the island of Crete, where he was considered to be the same deity as Zeus, and was a dying and resurrected god who presided over mead and the mysteries of death and rebirth. From there, his cult was taken all over the Mediterranean world, and changed along the way. His rites changed, too, and Kerenyi shows us all of the different ways he was worshipped, from the bull-sacrifice on Crete (with a great chapter on the god's notorious wife Ariadne) to the roving maenads of rural Greece, to the sacred tragedies and comedies of classical Athens. Then we see Dionysos again on the walls of the Villa dei Misteri in Pompeii.

In a way, _Dionysos_ is differently focused than _Eleusis_, where the author was trying to reconstruct what happened on one particular night. This book is more protean, following the thread of the Dionysus cult throughout distance and time as it changes. Recommended to anyone who loves mythology.

Karl Kerenyi has a way about him. A way to touch the reader with word of clinical precision that none the less convey emotion and power to the reader that is probably as much to do with translator Ralph Manheim as the departed author himself.

The subject of Dionysos and the startling workings of his ancient religion are given thorough study, and one is left with a feeling of having experienced the god himself through the writings of the author to whom the subject is so dear. Read this book as an insight into a bygone era, an insight into the human need for religion, an insight into Dinoysos the God, and most especially, an insight into your own mind.

I'm sure that this book is invaluable to the specialist but P.U.P. has put it out with a full color cover and a "cross-over" imprint, Mythos. My edition seems to be missing a number of pages because the blurry illustrations skip from # 105 to # 141 just about 70 or so pages after Kerenyi's argument has devolved from a proper book into a mere catalog of details and descriptions. This "book" is long on information(unfortunately mostly descriptive information pertaining to artifacts as the book progresses)but very short on synthesis. There is nearly endless presentation with very little summation. Kerenyi has always been a murky writer who hints rather than nails things down, and here he is at the apex of that fault.

p.s. There may be more validity to the method but the closing argument depends fairly heavily on the 20-odd missing illustrations missing from my edition. Since Kerenyi refuses to summarize after his presentation (depending heavily on the reader's recognition after viewing the blurry pictures in the text)it is nearly impossible to fully make sense of his argument without the illustrations.

In short both the author and the publisher fail to give the reader the experience promised.

This is one of the most fascinating books on ancient myths I have ever read. If you're into ancient pagan religions, you won't be able to put this book down once you pick it up. It's a bit of a tome --lots of scholarly details --but well worth journey.

the book has safely arrived and in a perfect condition. Although not new, it is still to my mind perhaps the best research on the subject.