The Ecumenical Cruise
Walter Benesch
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Nonetheless Press
ISBN: 1932053077

And Other Three-Legged Chicken Philosophy Tales.

Walter Benesch's stories are like gazing upon a Salvador Dali painting or an M. J. Escher illusion. All is not at all what you might think.

There are 19 stories of varying lengths & complexities. Each is prefaced with a reference to a passage or two from great religious teachings: Biblical, Koranic, the Jakata, the Sanskrit Plays, The Presocratics, the books of Lieh-tzu, the Jaina Sutras, the Gnostics, & so forth. Each story is told in a spry & learned way, reminiscent of Victorian writings, about all manner of strange philosophical coils. If you are a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, you are going to be in nirvana!

Having worked in a Steno Pool I thought I'd start with Helen Morley's Finger. What I found was dark & dreamy: about a woman in a barren life filled with filial duty, strivings for perfection & parental indulgences. Of blighted lives & helpless souls all wrapped up in a slightly horrific yarn.

Other stories are:
•  Satori at the Doughnut Shop -- a debate on the differences between “nothingness” & “emptiness” between a doughnut & a doughnut hole.
•  Queen Vashti Goes to Heaven -- wherein a queen rebels against the religious tradition that when women die they are merely recycled again as women, whereas men & stallions go to paradise.
•  The Bed Bug -- when a bed bug discusses the consequences of drinking a single drop of blood from the little toe of the baby Jesus.
•  The Making of Presidents -- describing a salesman's success in peddling inflatable university presidents, chancellors, & deans.
•  The Man Who Worked at Crunchy's -- when the oldest bag boy in the U.S. discovers he has the power to change his customers' shapes when he squints at them through juice glasses.

& that's what this teacher of comparative religions has writ -- philosophical & waggish versions of shaggy dog tales, slyly grinning as he disappears into thin air, leaving you wondering, “Where have I been?”

Taking ancient stories from around the world, Walter Benesch adds the spice of modernity, & conjures up a feast of philosophy.

Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Walter Benesch lectures on Chinese & Indian thought, ethics & comparative religion.

More from Walter Benesch:
An Introduction to Comparative Philosophy: A Travel Guide to Philosophical Space.
(01/25/04)

Rebecca