Chasing Ulysses
Ammouliani, 17 years old, 1995
Format: Proposed Novel/ Novella
Year Completed: N/A
Genre: Literary
Description: A Trojan warrior pursues Ulysses, enduring many of his same experiences before retreating and disappearing from history.
Inspiration: The inspiration for this work is, among other things, my time in Greece during a summer exchange in 1995.
Related Work: Signs & Wonders, Inferno & In the Land of the Snake
Dim was the one who told me that the name Justin is the name of a Greek king. When he told me that, I thought it was interesting, but I didn’t think to ask him what he knew about their reign. I wasn’t really in Greece to go to museums or learn history, even though it’s a really good place to do that. But while writing this, it seemed like a good time to verify that Dim wasn’t just pulling my chain. But after a quick search, I was able to find the Justinian Dynasty on Wikipedia. According to that site, the Justinian Dynasty rule lasted from about 518 to 602 ACE. And there were at least two Justins who ruled the Byzantine Empire. Dim and I were sitting on the beach when he told me about these rulers. It didn’t make me feel like the king of Ammouliani or anything, but it did do a lot to keep me from feeling like a foreigner."
“The Greek Street Fighter” (2016)