In preparation for our first two book readings for our Western Canonball book club here in Brooklyn (click here to unlock the whole booklist and join the book clumb), I came across an interesting passage in Hesiod’s WORKS AND DAYS where he gives a sort of meta reference to his THEOGONY, the first book in the translation by CS Morrisey that we’re using:

From Aulis I sailed over,
to compete in the games at Chalcis.
In honor of noble Amphidamas,
a great-souled man, his sons
had established many great prizes.
May I boast about what happened at Chalcis?
With my song, the Theogony, I won first prize.
I was awarded a trophy, a tripod cauldron,
which I took home. I set it up as a monument,
dedicated to the Muses of Helicon, on that
spot by sacred Helicon, where they had breathed into me
a clear-speaking, inspired voice.

— Hesiod, Works

Now I’m no historian, much less a historian specializing in the history of aesthetics let alone how that history intersects with the Olympics, but based on this passage Hesiod seems to imply that his offering for the competition at the Olympics — or at least some sort of Greek competition overseen by Amphidamas — was his poem the Theogony. He won a first-prize trophy for it. A tripod cauldron.

That means he’s not talking about the opening ceremony that broadcasts the beauty of one particular nation to the world and therefore glorifies merely one particular work of art or performance or literary laureate such as the amazing poet from Canada during the last winter olympics or the bears of Sochi or the industrial revolution dance of London.

Rather he seems to be referring to the origin of what we mean when we use the phrase “poet lauret” – he won an award as a poet.

Now the evils of competing in our art are known and have been well rebuked by the likes of the Shook Twins who turned down American Idol’s offer for them to compete or Dave Grohl who went on a rant against them. The American Idolization of the aesthetic world is not only dumb, it’s actually counter to the very point of having humanities in the first place: the forming of a virtuous and whole and wise human who contributes to the whole of society in a full and mor meaningful way. Competition negates that.

But these competitions focus on the individual and not the “I am because we are” collective that most of the Olympics alledgedly inspires.

Further, whether sports that simulate violent conflict truly help us choose some other path than violent conflict is unknown. It is known that aesthetics and beauty negate the influence of the myth of redemptive violence and even make peace in times of war. Entire books like Beautiful Trouble have been written to this effect (free PDF here or here’s the hardcover).

An international competition of aesthetics running in the fall on the third year – not the summer, not the winter, and therefore in neither election year – would recall the glory of those lost civilizations that commissioned sculpture and preserved architecture and raised up more figure painters than fighter jet pilots. It would pull together the greatest of the humanities of all nations in order to spur one another on towards love and good deeds, emphasizing not the individual in the arena (a la American Idol, The Voice, America’s Got Talent) but rather the collective power of nations to build up civil society and the good and the true and the beautiful.

After talking this through with Emily Munro, she turned up an NYT post about Walter Winans, the Ultimate Two Medal Winner:

From the Times:

Winans won a gold medal in shooting in London in 1908, then won a silver in Stockholm in 1912. But he also won a gold medal that year in a different event entirely. Sculpture. Yes, the Olympics held art competitions from 1912 to 1948. The categories included architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture.

The art competitions were no sideshow, but a serious part of the Olympics program. Igor Stravinsky was even recruited as a judge for the 1924 music competition in Paris. (He stingily awarded no gold, silver or bronze medals.)

Winans’s winning sculpture, “An American Trotter,” beat out a strong field of eight that included silver medalist Georges Dubois, a French hurdler, who entered the seemingly more appropriate “Model of the Entrance to a Modern Stadium.” Also in the field was Prince Paolo Trubetskoy of Russia, a friend of Tolstoy, and Rembrandt Bugatti of Italy, younger brother of the car manufacturer.

Winans is the only person to win gold in a sport and an art. Alfred Hajos won two gold medals in swimming in 1896, in the 100 and 1,200 meter freestyle, then turned up in 1924 seeking architecture gold. But his design for a sports stadium could only muster a silver.

Imagine some of the possibilities:

• The best stone sculptors from around the world descend upon Marble, Italy and each get a cut from the same quarry, having exactly one week to turn it into something beautiful.
• The world’s best painters each get a cut from the same cloth of canvas, a certain amount of wood and nails and must form and bind their canvas, then use the paints from a selected set in order to paint the best landscape.
• Composers from everywhere gather to write and perform the greatest symphonies the world has to offer.
• Poet laureates each get the same typewriter and paper and must draft a poem upon an agreed upon subject.
• Filmmakers each get one week to use the exact same soundstage and equipment with their teams.
• An international, team-based Iron Chef.
• Barista throw downs.
• Ballets to the same piece.

The Olympic committee could include categories of research for scientific breakthrough and archeology and theology and the rest, many of which could be pitted against one another for live oral debates on the essential issues of the day. Some will say that the Nobel and Pulitzer and similar prizes do just that. But they don’t:

For if the Olympics truly exists to emphasize that healthy sort of competition which spurs on love and good deeds in this our brotherhood of humanity, then why oh why have they excluded the brotherhood of the humanities?

If the historical Olympics truly did originally award laurels to poets — hell, if our local county fairs award laurels to poets — it says a great deal about our age that our current Olympics awards none.

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