No One’s Ways: An Essay on Infinite Naming

Homer recounts how, trapped inside a monster’s cave, with nothing but his wits to call upon, Ulysses once saved himself by twisting his name. He called himself Outis: “No One,” or “Non-One,” “No Man,” or “Non-Man.” He blinded his barbaric host and eluded him, becoming anonymous, for a while, even as he bore a name. Please join us for a discussion between two of our most admired critics on the way in which a grammatical possibility can be an incitement for thought.

Daniel Heller-Roazen is Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University and one of our most versatile critics. His many previous books include Dark Tongues: The Art of Rogues and Riddlers, The Fifth Hammer: Pythagoras and the Disharmony of the World, and The Enemy of All: Piracy and the Law of Nations.

Michael Wood is a celebrated literary and cultural critic and Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. He writes regularly for the NY Review of Books and the London Book Review. His many influential books include The Magician’s Doubts: Nabokov and the Risk of Fiction, The Road to Delphi: the Life and Afterlife of Oracles, and Literature and the Taste of Knowledge among many others.