06.27.06
The Iliad, or those Greeks and their wars
I’m reading The Iliad now as book #2 in my quest to read good books this year. (The Count of Monte Cristo was book #1.)
(Random side note: It’s kind of sad that it is almost July, and I’m only on my second book. Granted, I’ve read other books this year, but most of them are of the light and fluffy type that don’t require much thought when reading, and therefore, don’t count. What makes it worse is that when I was little, I used to read ALL THE TIME (in the car, at the dinner table, while walking…you think I’m kidding). My mom actually had to tell me to stop reading so much (and apparently felt guilty about it, because who has to tell her child to stop reading?). And then I got to college, and the time available for fun reading dropped to just about zero. I suppose the good thing about this is that I can only do better in the second half of the year, right?)
Once I let go of trying to pay attention to every name Homer mentions (which is pretty much impossible…the name pronunciation glossary at the end is 40 pages long…characters are often introduced and killed within a paragraph) and let myself slide into the rhythm of the story, suddenly I got caught up in it. There is just something so good and resonant about the way Homer writes that makes the story amidst the fighting on that plain in front of the city of Troy seem so real.
Oh yes, the fighting. The Iliad is a story about war, after all, and a fairly violent one at that. Homer, being the poet that he is, is not content to simply say someone killed someone else with a spear. Instead, you get descriptions like this:
"[the spear] cracked his glistening teeth, the tough bronze
cut off his tongue at the roots, smashed his jaw
and the point came ripping out beneath his chin."
And you thought video games were bad.
There are a lot more fun passages, like one in which a Greek and Trojan get ready to fight each other to the death, realize their grandfathers used to hang out together, decide to become best friends, and switch armor. After all, there are plenty of other Trojans and Greeks they can kill.
Seriously, though, it’s worth the read, as long as you are willing to give it the time and concentration you need to get through it.
