Reading Wednesday 6/07
Jul. 6th, 2022 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livRecently read: The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. (c) Madeline Miller 2011, pub Bloomsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-4088-9138-4
cjwatson gave me this response to Greek literature as a slightly ironic Chanukah present. It's basically the Iliad from the POV of Patroclus, and I found it very readable, working both as a novel and a Tragedy.
Miller has a very strong voice, and excellent characterization. She really made me believe in the heroes as people, but without playing down that this is is ultimately a heroic saga about gods and demigods and fate and archetypes. I felt really emotional about the various prophecies of doom, actually engaged with the real human loss of people whose children are sacrificed or kidnapped or whose loved ones are killed in war. An odd trick that Miller uses is to provide infodumps as if this were a mid 20th century fantasy novel; the book is narrated in the first person by Patroclus, and he sometimes addresses the reader explaining that 'in my culture, we believe that...'.
The major gods are in the background and exist mainly in the characters' belief system. But Miller does an excellent job with demigods like Chiron, Thetis and of course Achilles himself. They are definitely inhuman rather than being people with super powers.
I was intrigued by how the first person narration would work when the whole point of the story is that Patroclus dies part way through (I'm not worrying about spoilers for the actual Iliad!) The solution is that because he is left unburied for some time after his death due to military politics, his shade is still tied to earth and is able to recount the mistreatment of his body, Achilles' grief and the aftermath. The final scene where Thetis and the dead Patroclus mourn Achilles together in spite of their enmity is really moving.
The relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is well-drawn in a way that feels reminiscent of good fanfic. There's a slightly contrived reason why they don't actually have sex until they turn 16, and in general it felt as if Miller was treading a line between offering the modern reader a gay romance while also staying true to the the ancient Greek context. My overall opinion is that The Song of Achilles is a very creditable prose Iliad, but it's not essential reading as a novel in its own right, it's worthwhile if you actively want a good solid modern prose Iliad.
Currently reading Still dipping into The order of time by Carlo Rovelli. It's a book to savour with its mix of abstruse physics and very poetic language. But it's not grabbing me in the way a novel would.
Up next Probably Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. Butjack is in the middle of it at the moment, so I need to wait my turn.
cjwatson gave me this response to Greek literature as a slightly ironic Chanukah present. It's basically the Iliad from the POV of Patroclus, and I found it very readable, working both as a novel and a Tragedy. Miller has a very strong voice, and excellent characterization. She really made me believe in the heroes as people, but without playing down that this is is ultimately a heroic saga about gods and demigods and fate and archetypes. I felt really emotional about the various prophecies of doom, actually engaged with the real human loss of people whose children are sacrificed or kidnapped or whose loved ones are killed in war. An odd trick that Miller uses is to provide infodumps as if this were a mid 20th century fantasy novel; the book is narrated in the first person by Patroclus, and he sometimes addresses the reader explaining that 'in my culture, we believe that...'.
The major gods are in the background and exist mainly in the characters' belief system. But Miller does an excellent job with demigods like Chiron, Thetis and of course Achilles himself. They are definitely inhuman rather than being people with super powers.
I was intrigued by how the first person narration would work when the whole point of the story is that Patroclus dies part way through (I'm not worrying about spoilers for the actual Iliad!) The solution is that because he is left unburied for some time after his death due to military politics, his shade is still tied to earth and is able to recount the mistreatment of his body, Achilles' grief and the aftermath. The final scene where Thetis and the dead Patroclus mourn Achilles together in spite of their enmity is really moving.
The relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is well-drawn in a way that feels reminiscent of good fanfic. There's a slightly contrived reason why they don't actually have sex until they turn 16, and in general it felt as if Miller was treading a line between offering the modern reader a gay romance while also staying true to the the ancient Greek context. My overall opinion is that The Song of Achilles is a very creditable prose Iliad, but it's not essential reading as a novel in its own right, it's worthwhile if you actively want a good solid modern prose Iliad.
Currently reading Still dipping into The order of time by Carlo Rovelli. It's a book to savour with its mix of abstruse physics and very poetic language. But it's not grabbing me in the way a novel would.
Up next Probably Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. But
jack is in the middle of it at the moment, so I need to wait my turn.