I am about halfway through Barchester Towers, and enjoying it thoroughly. I have read past my previous stoppage point, so I feel a bit proud of myself. Honestly, I don't know why it is so difficult to start these books, once I get going they are absorbing and so interesting.
I find that they have a contemporary resonance. Everyone is talking, blogging, reporting (!), plain old GOSSIPING about Britney Spears and her latest televised screw up. Poor girl. In Barchester Towers, everyone talks and gossips about Signora Neroni and her affliction. She entraps the men!!! She monopolized a sofa!! She makes unreasonable requests of her hosts and companions!! All I can say is, please, everyone, have a little understanding for the overexposed pop star and please, let's condemn the selfish spoiled woman as Trollope directs us to. But there is nothing new under the sun...
But maybe Trollope has a surprise for me, we'll see.
I am also reading Ilium by Dan Simmons, a writer of extraordinary powers and depth. I started this book about a year ago, realized I was out of my depth and that I needed to read the Iliad to truly do this book justice. So I have read the Iliad, and with it fresh in my mind, I have restarted Ilium and I am so glad I did so. Everything Simmons discusses through his characters is so much richer after reading the Iliad.
Reading Simmons makes me realize where my education is lacking. I wish I had a classical education and had learned Latin and Greek. I am not sure how to remedy this at this late date!
Showing posts with label The Iliad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Iliad. Show all posts
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Finished the Iliad
Finished the Iliad yesterday and it was a long journey. What I felt most in reading this epic is the contrast between the wars our country is fighting now in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ancient war of Greeks versus Trojans. In the Iliad there are graphic descriptions of warfare, primitive warfare fought with spears and swords, where guts are spilled and injuries detailed. War is horrific and brings out both the worst and the best in the men fighting.
Our country is fighting a war that I am completely out of touch with. And it's not that I don't pay attention - I do. I read two newspapers every day, a local and a national, and would say coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is paltry. The only coverage on fatalities in the local paper happens when a local soldier is killed. And the coverage, aside from a few stories in Newsweek, is sanitized. Emphasis is on good medical response for the soldiers, and how many lives are saved by it, rather than the debilitating injuries and fatalities.
Homer describes every death in the Iliad; there is no such person as an unknown soldier. When a warrior dies, Homer names him and his foe, and he also describes the fallen. Perhaps we learn of his parents, or where the warrior hailed from. Sometimes we learn of deeds or accomplishments of the warrior. This aspect of the poem has really struck me.
I remember from history classes in college descriptions of the television coverage of the Vietnam War, and the way the networks would scroll the names of soldiers killed in action. I don't see that now, except in the Memorial Day Roll run by the comic Doonesbury!
I think we have sanitized war and distanced ourselves from it, and this is not a good thing. How are we ever to realize how horrific war is and how terrible and irrevocable the consequences are? Homer understood this, and I think modern man had the chance to understand this, but we've let it slip away.
Anyway, after reading that, I felt the need for something light, so I picked up Steve Martini's The Jury. Good plotting so far, thin on descriptions, heavy on conversation. Not always my thing, but a good read right now
Our country is fighting a war that I am completely out of touch with. And it's not that I don't pay attention - I do. I read two newspapers every day, a local and a national, and would say coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is paltry. The only coverage on fatalities in the local paper happens when a local soldier is killed. And the coverage, aside from a few stories in Newsweek, is sanitized. Emphasis is on good medical response for the soldiers, and how many lives are saved by it, rather than the debilitating injuries and fatalities.
Homer describes every death in the Iliad; there is no such person as an unknown soldier. When a warrior dies, Homer names him and his foe, and he also describes the fallen. Perhaps we learn of his parents, or where the warrior hailed from. Sometimes we learn of deeds or accomplishments of the warrior. This aspect of the poem has really struck me.
I remember from history classes in college descriptions of the television coverage of the Vietnam War, and the way the networks would scroll the names of soldiers killed in action. I don't see that now, except in the Memorial Day Roll run by the comic Doonesbury!
I think we have sanitized war and distanced ourselves from it, and this is not a good thing. How are we ever to realize how horrific war is and how terrible and irrevocable the consequences are? Homer understood this, and I think modern man had the chance to understand this, but we've let it slip away.
Anyway, after reading that, I felt the need for something light, so I picked up Steve Martini's The Jury. Good plotting so far, thin on descriptions, heavy on conversation. Not always my thing, but a good read right now
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Finished The Warden
I have finished The Warden, and I do feel like I read something of merit that was also entertaining and interesting. I espcially enjoyed the character of Harding, the warden of the title. He worries and obsesses and over thinks things, and I feel a kinship with him. I feel that I also tend to worry and nitpick, even after I have made a decision.
The other aspect of this novel that I felt resonates today is Trollope's scathing indictment of the press and its power. I find it interesting that almost 200 years after this novel was written, the press is still criticized and demonized for its pursuit of readership by using sensationalism and scandal-mongering. The newspaper of Trollope's novel, The Jupiter, relentlessly pursues what it views as corruption in the church. Trollope is very careful to subtly acknowledge that this corruption is very likely occurring. But he also makes sure that we know that Harding is the one character who is tortured by the the thought that his office is the beneficiary of church corruption. Ironically, The Jupiter succeeds in only getting rid of the one truly benevolent church officer in the novel, the warden Harding.
I had intended to continue with the Barchester novels, but I picked up my copy of Fagles' translation of the Iliad and got embroiled. I have read excerpts only of the Iliad, I thought I would try to read the whole thing. I had read mostly from Fitzgerald's translations in college. Fagles' translation came out 10-15 years ago, and was a sensation when it came out. I have read reviews of his translation that just sing its praises to high heaven, so I hope it lives up to its reviews. Fagles recently published his translation of The Aeneid and Nick gave me a copy for my birthday, which was nice as I had been reading Fitzgerald's translation of it. My copy of Fagles' Iliad is a used paperback - untouched - from www.shopgoodwill.com. I also bought his translation of The Odyssey at the same time.
When I read ancient literature, I feel strangely connected to all literature, new and old. The ancient stories are stories we still tell each other in our novels and poems. We think we have advanced and that these ancient people were primitive and crude, but we are these people. The graphic violence of today's films and books is right there in the Aeneid, beheadings, blood and gore, it's all there. And the crude humor of Apuleius in The Golden Ass is still laughed at today, although it may be Jim Carrey we're laughing at on the movie screen. I guess my point is that when I read ancient literature, I am constantly surprised by how familiar it feels.
Still reading Cryptonomicon. Only about 400 pages to go!
The other aspect of this novel that I felt resonates today is Trollope's scathing indictment of the press and its power. I find it interesting that almost 200 years after this novel was written, the press is still criticized and demonized for its pursuit of readership by using sensationalism and scandal-mongering. The newspaper of Trollope's novel, The Jupiter, relentlessly pursues what it views as corruption in the church. Trollope is very careful to subtly acknowledge that this corruption is very likely occurring. But he also makes sure that we know that Harding is the one character who is tortured by the the thought that his office is the beneficiary of church corruption. Ironically, The Jupiter succeeds in only getting rid of the one truly benevolent church officer in the novel, the warden Harding.
I had intended to continue with the Barchester novels, but I picked up my copy of Fagles' translation of the Iliad and got embroiled. I have read excerpts only of the Iliad, I thought I would try to read the whole thing. I had read mostly from Fitzgerald's translations in college. Fagles' translation came out 10-15 years ago, and was a sensation when it came out. I have read reviews of his translation that just sing its praises to high heaven, so I hope it lives up to its reviews. Fagles recently published his translation of The Aeneid and Nick gave me a copy for my birthday, which was nice as I had been reading Fitzgerald's translation of it. My copy of Fagles' Iliad is a used paperback - untouched - from www.shopgoodwill.com. I also bought his translation of The Odyssey at the same time.
When I read ancient literature, I feel strangely connected to all literature, new and old. The ancient stories are stories we still tell each other in our novels and poems. We think we have advanced and that these ancient people were primitive and crude, but we are these people. The graphic violence of today's films and books is right there in the Aeneid, beheadings, blood and gore, it's all there. And the crude humor of Apuleius in The Golden Ass is still laughed at today, although it may be Jim Carrey we're laughing at on the movie screen. I guess my point is that when I read ancient literature, I am constantly surprised by how familiar it feels.
Still reading Cryptonomicon. Only about 400 pages to go!
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