David Willis McCullough

The Unending Mystery

Excerpts from The Unending Mystery:

Introduction

Photos:

The Unending Mystery:
A Journey Through Labyrinths and Mazes
by David Willis McCullough

Published by Pantheon Books, November 2004
ISBN: 1-58288-137-5

"There are a few books on the history of labyrinths and mazes, but none as as complete and entertaining as this one. Even if you've never solved a printed maze, you'll find David McCullough's history a delightful read."
- Martin Gardner

"An engrossing look at the mythologies and symbolism inherent in mazes and labyrinths."
- Psychology Today

"In the cheerful voice of one smitten by the both subjects, McCullough takes readers on a tour of some fascinating labyrinths and mazes. ... Captivating."
- Kirkus Reviews

"Engaging history. ... As David McCullough rveals...labyrinths and mazes are puzzles that engage our minds as well as apt physical embodiments of the journeys we all face."
- Discover

The Unending Mystery: A Journey Through Labyrinths and Mazes is a social and cultural history of labyrinths and mazes from prehistoric caves to modern corn fields. It ranges from myth to the fall of Troy to Roman mosaics to medieval cathedrals and Elizabethan gardens. There are visits to stone circles in Scandinavia, Hindu temples in India, Renaissance villas in Italy, ancient rock carvings in the American southwest , and 19 th century utopian communities in Pennsylvania and Indiana. There are examinations of mazes at country fairs, amusement parks and in films by Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick.

Besides showing how variations on a basic design have been used in very different ways in many different cultures--for meditation, for simple decoration, for sport, for seduction--it also argues that the labyrinth design itself was one of mankind's first creative images (something based on imagination not the observable world) and shows how for nearly 3,000 years labyrinths have been associated with that most human of creations, the city.

Later chapters of the book--based largely on interviews--examine two late 20 th century revivals: the renewed interest in walking the labyrinth as a form of meditation (both in spiritual and therapeutic settings) and the boom in puzzle mazes as tourist attractions on great estates and in corn fields. The interviews are with maze and labyrinth builders and designers (both professional and amateur), Lauren Artress (the California priest, who almost single-handedly sparked the return of labyrinths to churches), Lord Bath (whose estate, Longleit House, saw the beginning of the modern hedge maze boom) and the former Disney producer, who more or less invented the corn maze.

With references that range from Chartres Cathedral to Jim Carey's The Cable Guy , the book is both informative and entertaining. It also tells you how a labyrinth is not a maze and how to draw a labyrinth in less than 15 seconds. Includes eight color photographs and more than 40 line drawings.