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Orphe

Orphe is my fourth novel. It actually began as a short story, written in Australia in the early 1960s. It never seemed quite right as a short story—it itched at me for years. In 1968 I took it with me, on my motorcycle, to Panama. I recall sitting in a Chinese cafe, reading it over a cup of coffee. I jotted down a few ideas, a few more lines. I sold my motorcycle to a man on a yacht, and continued south. I followed the Amazon from Pulcallpa, Peru, to Belem at the Atlantic coast of Brazil. I lived on a raft in Iquitos. I wandered the streets of Manaus and Leticia and many mud-street villages. When I returned to California I chanced upon a book about the Greek demigod Orpheus. For some time I had been fascinated by the legends around Orpheus. Everyone knows the story of his descent into Hades, attempting to rescue his wiife, Eurydice. But there were many stories about Orpheus: he was the central figure in one of the Greek mystery religions. St Paul, when he was still Saul, was probably an adherent. Much of early Christian iconograpnhy is a blatant copy of Orpheus iconography. There were legends of his descents into Hades—he made many such journeys—returning with his songs. This, I felt, was the template of all artists: we descend into our own hells, and return with our novels, our paintings, our music. One story in particular interested me, an early version of the Oedipal myth, containing many references to the creation of the world. I decided I would use this myth as the backbone of a new novel, and build it around my recent voyages to central and south America. I envisioned a whole series of novels based on Orpheus legends. Alas, I only wrote Orphe, and found myself sidetracked into other novels, other stories, other exploits. The idea, however, still appeals to me. Perhaps one of these days....

Meanwhile, now that HAG is published as an illustrated novel, I've started working on an illustrated version of this novel. As I finish the various pieces, I'll add them here, in the column to the right.