THE heroes come, because the storytellers precede them. And before them, the audience. You may say that the dalang tells, therefore Arjuna exists; that Homer recites, therefore Achilles is born. But it is not only that. The first and last battle in any epic at all, including Zhang Yimou's latest film Hero, is a battle against two great figures in life: time and oblivion.

Epics are composed because there are people expected to remember. Remem