Given the rather strange and specific nature of the content of my old book I felt there were multiple aspects of the book I could isolate and try to find new books relating to that specific aspect. Since “Della transportatione dell’obelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V» is a book about obelisks I thought the most obvious connection one could make was these obelisks themselves. As obelisks are an age-old symbol of both power and divinity, I was sure to find analyses of their meanings and uses in different scenarios and maybe even more books about the logistical aspects of setting up obelisks. The second connection I wanted to make is a little more farfetched. In my analysis of “Della transportatione dell’obelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V» I mentioned the aspect of auto-documentation Domenico Fontana engages in, by writing about his own life’s work. Therefore, I see Fontana’s book as a sort of autobiography, which is the second connection I wanted to make.
For the first connection I found a really interesting book about an Obelisk erected by the fascist ruler Benito Mussolini. “The Codex Fori Mussolini” is a book giving context on a massive symbol of power erected in 1932 made from white marble. Below the obelisk itself the ruler hid a text “The Codex Fori Mussolini”. The text is meant to present the fascist rule and its rise to future generations and societys. A time-capsule full of propaganda.
The second connection went into a very different direction. Just choosing some autobiography would have been rather boring. Eventually I stumbled upon a book about posthumanism. Posthumanism is a term describing a multitude of models and ideologies. In the case of this book Posthumanism is the thought of surpassing what we think of as the limits of the human condition and human nature. While “Avatar Bodies: A Tantra for Posthumanism” isn’t an autobiography in the strict sense of the word, just as Fontana did in his book, Weinstone infuses autobiographical elements into her work.