Word: agathon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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After Iona's husband is executed for treason, having shielded his wife's involvement in the rebellion, Agathon goes to seed. It is then that he starts compulsively laughing at the universe and having visions of the future...
...AGATHON becomes the negation not just of Lykourgos but of everything, including himself. He insists that it is winter while they are in prison, though Peeker knows it is summer. He tells Iona, after she has helped him escape (against his will...
After he's rescued, Agathon dies of the plague, contracted from the rats in his cell. He has managed, though, to communicate his philosophy (or lack of one) to Demodokos, and in that there is hope. We identify with Agathon, not because he is a fashionable anti-hero, but because he approaches life with such zest that his enthusiasm is contagious. He cannot contain himself when he sees an old lady taking a shit in the woods, and has to come up behind her and whisper, "God bless you!" His reaction to death is "Whooee am I scared!" He tries...
Gardner sees more in Agathon than just a chaotic life force. The word Agathon means "the good." Despite Agathon's death the wreckage of the good is not complete. Agathon believes he has failed to make the stone-eared universe listen to his ravings, but he has passed his message on to one important person-Demodokos, "teacher of the people...
GARDNER strives to be cosmic, rather than merely relevant, and though he fails, he fails in a good cause. His style is excellent, occasionally lyrical, often funny. The difference between the prose of Agathon and Demodokos, and thus between their characters, is skillfully handled. The characterization of Agathon is a bit too broad and obviously symbolic to be completely successful, however, and it is on this character that the book stands or falls...