Jan 15 2009
Where Three Roads Meet by Sally Vickers
Cover via Amazon
There is some irony involved in Sally Vickers’ contribution to the Cannongate Myth series. Her fictional take on Oedipus , Where Three Roads Meet, might leave those without much knowledge about Oedipus, or Freud’s take on it, a little confused while striking those with such knowledge as too obvious. As a result it would seem to have a rather small reader “sweet spot.”
As attentive CM readers will know, however, I am a fan of the series. I have in fact, read all of the books published so far except one (which I should rectify soon). And I enjoyed Three Roads. It is just that it feels a little thin if you don’t have a larger appreciation for the subject matter; it is almost too subtle for the novice.
For those saying “Wait a minute, how about some background here?” allow me to explain. Where Three Roads Meet takes the form of a dialogue between Sigmund Freud, the famous psychoanalyst, and Tiresias, the famous seer of Thebes.
Vickers situates the story in the context of Freud’s having fled from the Nazis in Vienna and his battle with cancer (which she succinctly outlines in an introduction). This short work then consists of a sort of Socratic conversation between the two figures where each gives their take on the famous myth. I like the way Alan Cheuse describes it:
Tiresias tells Freud the story of his own troubled childhood and engages the doctor in a dialogue about Oedipus, the king of ancient Thebes, whose story weighs on Western civilization like a great psychic anchor; Freud has made this myth — the monumental story of murder, incest and recognition — the foundation of all his analytical work.
Incident by incident, scene by scene, the two men parse out the Oedipus tale, with each speaker adding his own particular wisdom to the story: Tiresias offers his eyewitness account; Freud, his deep understanding of the power of the repressed injury suffered by the king.
More, including “spoilers”, below.
