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The Transatlantic Icarus Author: Catherine Grigoriou
ISBN: 1592320511
Language: Greek
Format: Paperback, 144 pp
Publisher: Seaburn Publishing Group
Price: $14.95 |
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The Transatlantic Icarus
DESCRIPTION:
About Icarus
Icarus is a young person with an immense challenge to meet: either to stay
under his father’s protection on the island of Crete where King Minos rules the
land and the waves, and where he will be a privileged but controlled subject,
at least until his father continues being such a major problem-solver for the
king. Or, he will make his big attempt to escape, by air. Where to? Back to
Athens, or anywhere he manages to get on his improvised means, the wings he and
his father carefully constructed out of bird feathers and wax.
Icarus is a man with a double destiny. The one he grew up with, and the one he
dreamed of; all he has is his two wings, not a vehicle in which he will be
seated to travel, not a craft, but two wings, that will only move as he moves
them, for as long as his strength moves them, for as long as his heart is
strong enough to move his wings and his dream. His wings constructed by wax,
the bee’s material of hive construction, and feathers, the birds’ own coat, his
lungs full of the aromatic air of Crete, his mind sharpened by his father’s
wisdom, the clarity of the horizon inviting him to try to conquer the freedom
of the birds.
He flew away, he flew gloriously, he flew freely, he flew happily, he flew
oblivious to his ultimate goal for another destiny, because he flew so
beautifully, because, for a while, flying became the goal, and he flew laughing
with it, and he flew loving it, and he flew exploring it, he flew low, touching
the tops of the islands and the tips of the waves and he flew high, and he flew
higher and the hot tips of the Greek Summer sun came to greet him full of
curiosity: «What a strange bird this is» they thought. And they started
tingling his wings’ ends and ran over his body and wondered at his
vulnerability, and covered his curly hair with lots of sweat, and dazzled his
eyes so, that when Icarus blinked his eyes saw everything red.
Icarus got dizzy, and his eyes got sleepy and his limbs got heavy, and his
wings got hot and the top layers of feathers started coming off the wax, which
had become soft with the heat. And he could not control his flight anymore and
then he realized he had been playing up there for so long he had really lost
his way, and he could see no land anywhere near, and then he recalled his
father’s advice not to go too high too late. He tried harder to flap his wings,
but the harder he flapped them, the more feathers were coming off, the faster
he was losing them, until he had no strength anymore, and then he saw the blue
waves coming closer and felt the cool breeze as he slowed down and flied lower,
and as he tried to steady his flight, he got the first sea spray over his skin.
And he welcomed the refreshing touch of the water, but, oh, the agony of
betrayal, betrayal of his own and his father’s dream, betrayal of his wings as
he did not take care of them, betrayal of the goal he tried so hard for.
Then again, what other destiny could possibly compete with the exuberance and
happiness he experienced up there for so long, the power of freedom, the sense
of self up there with almost no restrictions, the colors, the changes of
density of the air, the changes of temperature of the winds, the breaking of
the barriers of human access…
Thus, Icarus did meet his other destiny, he became a symbol of perseverance to
overcome extreme odds and go against the very concept of what is humanly
possible.
Icarus was not careless; he was a dreamer and a pioneer, who got bedazzled.
Instead of managing to fly carefully and land on another Greek island and
settle down and have a flock of sheep and a bunch of kids, he was met with
another destiny, that of choosing the experience, the extremities of testing
one’s abilities in what is humanly possible; follow your heart, then, Icarus,
and give your body as the sacrificial lamb. And let the cowards interpret your
choice as foolishness and let them laugh at you. It was not for them that you
had conquered the skies, but for the others who will always dream. It’s only
going to take humankind another three thousand years before they manage to
share your view point.
Being Icarus is not about falling, but rather it is about rising above the
restrictions of your time, and raising the human conscience to a different
level and better Humanity itself.
Icarus, Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, just a few names that come to mind,
they all came to mark with their fall a big leap for Humanity, and alter the
course of History towards a higher destiny, and thus they have risen. They
never fell. It is the visionary’s curse to be misunderstood for as long as it
takes for History to catch up.
My Icarus has crossed the Atlantic and hangs between the two coasts of this
Ocean that bears the name of the giant that used to hold the Earth Globe on his
shoulders. There must be a reason for the adoption of a double destiny, and for
the cover of «The Transatlantic Icarus,» I have chosen this photograph from my
1999 work which was done with similar ideas in mind: the duality, the known and
the unknown, the passionate pursuit for alternative answers, the division of
self which, nevertheless, manages to retain unity and coherence due to a higher
goal.
The duality exists everywhere in our lives these days; first is the duality of
centuries in which we live. All of us - except for the children born to this
world after January 2000 - were born in the XXth century and now we are in the
XXIst. And there is so much expectation carried through from the previous
century, so many disappointments with the most catastrophic wars and the degree
of degradation of humanity that reached its nadir with the holocaust and the
Atomic bomb, and, on the other hand, with high spirited institutions like the
League of Nations and the United Nations getting unable to perform their
professed goals just because Humanity was not ready to take up such selfless
responsibilities.
Thus, in which direction are we expected to lead the XXIst century and which
Ideals are going to move our reality and the way we see ourselves forward?
Finally, the most complex and promising duality in this regard is this of
Womanhood and the way Woman is perceived in the world. In those parts of the
world where she has a choice, she struggles to reconcile motherhood and
whatever aspects of the so-called «traditional role» could possibly have any
bearing on contemporary life, with the new roles she is called upon to perform:
more «updated duties,» the right for personal happiness, and participation in
the shaping of the world. Many women have already «fallen» in this pursuit of
an image representative of their ideals, which has not yet taken its final
shape, and many more have created a viable record for others to follow, became
role models, and the roles are still difficult acts to follow. But this is a
worthy dream to fight for and lose your peace over. It’s O.K. to be afraid,
Icarus.
— Catherine Grigoriou
New York, June 17, 2002
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