A Pilgrim’s Digression

I’ve written a new piece of satirical fiction, which I have published under the title The Lost Book of Onan. If you take the time to read it, I hope you derive some enjoyment from it.

About ten years ago, I wrote a piece called the Apocryphal Book of Onan, which is much inferior to my updated version. Indeed, it’s sole recommendation is that it is under a thousand words; ‘many words won’t fill a bushel,’ as the Aphorist said.

I recall that in the summer of 1994 or 1995, I read the piece to my friends Todd and Dawn, as well as Dawn’s sister Linda and her cousin Shelley. Linda, I think, was shocked and offended. Shelley didn’t seem to mind it, nor did Dawn. Todd, who was much more serious-minded at the time, thought it blasphemous and juvenile.

The charge of blasphemy may in fact be true, but if so, I blaspheme out of ignorance rather than a Voltairean contempt for religion. On the subject of my juvenile sense of humor, I own up to that as well. The updated version of the story is, if anything, more chock full of sexual puns and double entendres than the version I wrote when I was closer to my true juvenile stage. For comparison’s sake, I will also publish the 1994 version of this story, and you can judge for yourself whether I have matured with age or only grown more perverse. Following are links to both pieces. Enjoy.

The Lost Book of Onan

The Lost Book of Onan [circa 1994]