Behold! The New Prince (Gramsci, Mannheim), sailing from tradition to tradition (Benjamin), each of which must be mastered by cunning reason (Horkheimer and Adorno): revolution as homecoming (Hegel). Penelope will be waiting (Lukács), but only the New Odysseus will be able to pass the final test—to breathe life into the old arch (Marx).

Addendum I (August 3, 2015)

Gosh, how peppy I was thirty-five years ago! In the meanwhile, much of the pep has evaporated as if by magic. Breathing life into the old arch has become a pipedream, as it were. Things are changing, though. Posthistory is my new and happy horizon (“Prehistory, Posthistory,” February 14, 2012). And primitive communism is part and parcel of it (“On Primitive Communism,” May 7, 2013). Pace Marx, but the future indeed smacks of your confabulations, albeit with a small twist. The New Odysseus has come to your rescue at long last as if by cunning.

Addendum II (January 17, 2017)

The need for community underlies all other needs, no doubt whatsoever (“The Root of Communism,” August 13, 2008). The human species is unimaginable without the tribal instinct (“Tribal Instinct to the Rescue,” October 23, 2014). Indeed, the tribe is the mother of all communities (“The Mother of All Communities,” November 21, 2015). Blissfully, posthistory offers a return to the womb after many trials and tribulations. Although I will not live to witness it, I am delighted to have rediscovered primitive communism in my ruminations about climate change and environmental degradation leading up to the collapse of the civilization and human population. Although Marx would be horrified by this unexpected twist in the story, he would have no choice but to rejoice in the return to the womb. And I would keep grinning from the shadows. The New Odysseus triumphant!