What a retelling of the Trojan War! Achilles depicted as a bloodthirsty teen with an easily bruised ego. Agamemnon depicted as a weasel but still King of kings. Odysseus as a fatalist. Priam as too decrepit even to understand what's happening to Troy. Paris as considerably braver than we may be used to seeing him. Hector as a little too late and a little too confused about the way things are. Helen? Perfectly willing to go back to Menelaos, who has a legitimate complaint with Ilium.
Technically daring style, too. Here's a cinematically spare description of the changing colors of a sunrise over the Trojan plain:
What's most fun is how Logue updates the Homeric image, without losing the Homeric tone:
"The quadraphonic ox-horns hit their note."
"Fierce chrome. Weapon-grade chrome."
And on the self-deluding qualities of the warrior . . .
"Now I shall ask you to imagine how
Men under discipline of death prepare for war.
There is much more to it that armament,
And kicks from those who could not catch an hour's sleep
Waking the ones who dozed like rows of spoons;
Or those with everything to lose, the kings,
Asleep like pistols in red velvet.
"Moments like these absolve the needs deividing men.
Whatever caught and brought and kept them here
Is lost: and for awhile they join in terrible equality,
Are virtuous, self-sacrificing, free:
And so insidious is this liberty
That those serving it will bear
An even greater servitude to its root:
Believing they were whole, while they were brave;
That they were rich, because their loot was great;
That war was meaningful, because they lost their friends."
This book ends with a magnificent image of Achilles speeding toward the walls of Troy for the fight with Hector. Logus doesn't bother to record it; we know how this turns out. He's with his driver in a chariot pulled by two white horses which are running at a full gallop, their hooves barely touching the sand. Achilles speaks to them, admonishing them not to leave his body behind as they left Patroclus' body to the Trojans, when the fight is over. (He knows how this fight turns out, too.) Here's the amazing image: one of the horses, in mid-gallop, turns its head and speaks back to Achilles, admonishing him in turn, that they are doing God's work, not Achilles'. And then the final line, "Someone has left a spear stuck in the sand," to punctuate the end of the story.
Two years after publishing War Music, Logue came out with All Day Permanent Red, part of his ongoing recounting of the Iliad in modern terms. If you like battle scenes (who doesn't, after Saving Private Ryan?), and if you've read with interest the many many many fight scenes in any good translation of The Iliad (I can only imagine the power in the original!), you'll love this for it's muscularity.
Technically daring style, too. Here's a cinematically spare description of the changing colors of a sunrise over the Trojan plain:
"Rat.
Pearl.
Onion.
Honey."
What's most fun is how Logue updates the Homeric image, without losing the Homeric tone:
"The quadraphonic ox-horns hit their note."
"Fierce chrome. Weapon-grade chrome."
And on the self-deluding qualities of the warrior . . .
"Now I shall ask you to imagine how
Men under discipline of death prepare for war.
There is much more to it that armament,
And kicks from those who could not catch an hour's sleep
Waking the ones who dozed like rows of spoons;
Or those with everything to lose, the kings,
Asleep like pistols in red velvet.
"Moments like these absolve the needs deividing men.
Whatever caught and brought and kept them here
Is lost: and for awhile they join in terrible equality,
Are virtuous, self-sacrificing, free:
And so insidious is this liberty
That those serving it will bear
An even greater servitude to its root:
Believing they were whole, while they were brave;
That they were rich, because their loot was great;
That war was meaningful, because they lost their friends."
This book ends with a magnificent image of Achilles speeding toward the walls of Troy for the fight with Hector. Logus doesn't bother to record it; we know how this turns out. He's with his driver in a chariot pulled by two white horses which are running at a full gallop, their hooves barely touching the sand. Achilles speaks to them, admonishing them not to leave his body behind as they left Patroclus' body to the Trojans, when the fight is over. (He knows how this fight turns out, too.) Here's the amazing image: one of the horses, in mid-gallop, turns its head and speaks back to Achilles, admonishing him in turn, that they are doing God's work, not Achilles'. And then the final line, "Someone has left a spear stuck in the sand," to punctuate the end of the story.
Two years after publishing War Music, Logue came out with All Day Permanent Red, part of his ongoing recounting of the Iliad in modern terms. If you like battle scenes (who doesn't, after Saving Private Ryan?), and if you've read with interest the many many many fight scenes in any good translation of The Iliad (I can only imagine the power in the original!), you'll love this for it's muscularity.
No comments:
Post a Comment