The Apolliad is a continuation of The Hesiad series. It marks the end of an era and the beginning of another in the incarnations of the main character of both series. The Apolliad is a series of two books, subtitled Le Chanson de Soleil. The subtitle pays homage to the spirit of the previous series and acknowledges the global nature of the character’s multifaceted lives in its polysemic interpretations.
Le Chanson de Soleil means ‘the song of the sun’ in French. I chose the subtitle after careful consideration and the choice of a French subtitle is for its linguistic, literary and historical attributes rather than for any geographical or particularly French associations. The subtitle pays tribute to other legends chronicled also in rhyme, mostly in French, about a millenia ago, as well as reflects the character’s life which spans several thousand years.
As for the title itself, The Apolliad, it is after Apollo. Apollo is a god of light of antiquity, who is also an incarnation of Horus, and a manifestaion of Zeus and Thor. In The Apolliad, the main character, lays grounds for a long-lasting empire and culminates a journey that spanned several thousand years.
The bookcover is after one of my paintings. The sun and the hawk are one and the same. They are almost one being, or several beings in a state of constant becoming or everlasting unison. The themes of the painting, or the bookcover in this case, flirt with other tales from antiquities of similar motifes albeit of a different nature.
H Bastawy 