# Satyricon and Soldier

*The Urth list — 3 messages, 3 voices, 18 Aug 2006*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4691>

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### Adam Thornton
*18 Aug 2006, 21:15*

I assume this has been mentioned before, but, uh, everyone's aware of  
how much the Latro books read like _The Satyricon_--the damaged Latin- 
speaking hero on a quest throughout the Roman world to appease his  
god--right?

It's just that the holes in Latro's story come from the hole in his  
head, rather than the holes in a text passed down less-than- 
faithfully for two millennia.

I'm rereading _The Satyricon_ as research for a project I'm working  
on, and I was struck by how familiar a lot of it felt.

Adam

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### Russell Wodell
*18 Aug 2006, 21:41 · in reply to Adam Thornton*

Hmmm...that begs that question whether Wolfe ever saw Federico Fellini's 
remarkable 1969 film version of Sayricon, in which the bold leaps across the 
narrative gaps are memorably disorienting, if you will excuse the pun. There 
might just possibly be a structural influence. ... even though there are 
many centuries between pre-classic Greece and Petronius.

Or could that have inspired the future-influencing-the-past structure of 
Book of the New Sun? (Just kidding.)

Actually, the film that springs to mind re: Latro would be the classic Ray 
Harryhausen version of Jason and the Argonauts.


----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Adam Thornton" <adam at io.com>
> To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 2:15 PM
> Subject: (urth) Satyricon and Soldier
> I assume this has been mentioned before, but, uh, everyone's aware of
> how much the Latro books read like _The Satyricon_--the damaged Latin-
> speaking hero on a quest throughout the Roman world to appease his
> god--right?
> 
> It's just that the holes in Latro's story come from the hole in his
> head, rather than the holes in a text passed down less-than-
> faithfully for two millennia.
> 
> I'm rereading _The Satyricon_ as research for a project I'm working
> on, and I was struck by how familiar a lot of it felt.
> 
> Adam
> _______________________________________________

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### Jonathon McKitrick
*18 Aug 2006, 23:16 · in reply to Russell Wodell*

On Fri, Aug 18, 2006 at 02:41:46PM -0700, Russell Wodell wrote:
: Hmmm...that begs that question whether Wolfe ever saw Federico Fellini's 
: remarkable 1969 film version of Sayricon, in which the bold leaps across the 
: narrative gaps are memorably disorienting, if you will excuse the pun. There 
: might just possibly be a structural influence. ... even though there are 
: many centuries between pre-classic Greece and Petronius.
: 
: Or could that have inspired the future-influencing-the-past structure of 
: Book of the New Sun? (Just kidding.)
: 
: Actually, the film that springs to mind re: Latro would be the classic Ray 
: Harryhausen version of Jason and the Argonauts.

I was thinking of Doc Brown and Marty McFly, myself.


Jonathon McKitrick

```
My other computer is your Windows box.
```

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