ThemisAthena.info
Welcome, stranger.
I see you are looking around a bit bewildered, wondering in what kind of place you suddenly find yourself.
For yes, those really are Tom Joad, "Papa" Hemingway and Butch and Sundance standing over there in
conversation with Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet the Prince of Denmark, and with my kinsfolk Apollo, Artemis and
Aphrodite (or Diana and Venus, as the Romans insist on calling the two ladies). And yes, those are Bogey
and Bacall sitting down for a game of poker (or a rubber of bridge?) with Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot,
Miss Marple and Lord Peter Wimsey; and Mr. Darcy and Captain Rhett Butler dancing away with Sheherazade and
Emma Bovary.
For you have entered a magic realm, not unlike the enchanted forest from William Shakespeare's
"Midsummer Night's Dream": except that our population is much larger and more diverse; in fact, it is open
to any- and everybody involved in telling life's great stories (and of course, its many small stories, too).
And in the same way, this place is open to every member of the audience: we don't care about social or
national origin around here, nor will impressive academic resumés or celebrity status automatically
guarantee you a place on a pedestal – all that matters is that you bring a genuine love for the art
of storytelling; be it in prose, poetry, drama, music, or on the silver screen, and some respect for those
who are dedicated to bringing us those stories. So don't be shy ... take a look around!
If you have a question or comment, feel free to leave a message in this site's
guestbook,
or write to me –
only please, before sending me an email, have a look whether your concern is already addressed on my
FAQ page.
Thank you very much, and I hope you will enjoy your visit!
She might be without country, without nation, but inside her there was still a being that could exist and
be free, that could simply say I am without adding a this, or a that, without saying I am Indian,
Guyanese, English, or anything else in the world. Sharon Maas: Of Marriageable Age.
Through our maps, we willingly become a part of their boundaries. If our home
is included, we feel pride, perhaps familiarity, but always a sense that this
is ours. If it is not, we accept our roles as outsiders, though we may be of the same mind and
culture. In this way, maps can be dangerous and powerful tools. Debbie Lee Wesselmann: Trutor and
the Balloonist.
I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just label ourselves on a map like the names
of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. ... All I desired was to
walk upon such an earth that had no maps. Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient.
Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you
dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you
meet and places you visit, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and
having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody
can stop me. Hugo Hamilton: The Speckled People.
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