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A carregar... The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War (2009)por Caroline Alexander
A carregar...
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60 years ago as a freshman in high school I read everything I could lay my hands on regarding the Iliad and the Trojan War. I have just relived my youth in reading "the War that Killed Achilles" with its dissection of the main scenes, accompanied by breathtaking insight and spectacular scolarship. ( ) I thought this would be a study of the history of the Trojan war and it was actually a study of the poetry of Homer's Iliad with reference to Greek mythology. Yeah, I know, it says that right on the cover, but I thought they were being colourful. At any rate, if you like poetry or Homer, this is the book for you. If you enjoy history, not so much. Caroline Alexander has written a book that briefly explores what Homer's Iliad is all about and what the epic poem tells us about war. This is not a translation of the Iliad, nor a history of the war, with archaeological evidence etc, so the sub-title is misleading. It is simply a description of the epic poem (with quotes) follwed by the author's commentary and analysis. The writing is clear and the author's arguments and observations easy to follow. Alexander also includes additional historical details to help add context to the story. An especially interesting aspect is what the Iliad has to "say" about the psychological effects of this war on the humans involved, and how this is still relevant today. I found this to be an interesting and thoughtful examination of the Iliad and the characters mentioned in the epic. However, it would have been wonderful if Caroline Alexander had decided to explore some of the themes more fully.
Alexander, a professional writer who has been published in Granta, The New Yorker, and National Geographic, holds a Ph.D. in classics from Columbia University. Her new book explores her deep fascination with Homer's Iliad. Essentially, she offers an extended discussion of the plot, elaborating and contextualizing it by reference to extant fragments from other epics and other ancient texts and archaeological and historical evidence. She also relates the resonances of The Iliad in the modern world, from Muhammad Ali's refusal to serve in the Vietnam War to the account of an American war widow responding to the death of her husband in Iraq. Verdict Alexander's book is vigorous and deeply learned yet unpedantic. Highly recommended to general readers interested in a full appreciation of the power and the enduring relevance of The Iliad.- "She shows that The Iliad is sharply relevant to conflicts of our own day, as well as a key to understanding the distant world of the Bronze Age." "The War that Killed Achilles is certainly a worthy memorial to Homer's poem: compassionate, urgent and unfailingly stimulating. Yet it is hard to escape a nagging feeling that the image which Alexander sees reflected in the Iliad is too much her own." The problem with “The War That Killed Achilles” doesn’t lie in Ms. Alexander’s intelligent readings, her combing through the text looking for ambivalence about, or fear and loathing of, war... The problem is that her book is such a dutiful walk-through of Lattimore’s translation. Ms. Alexander quotes from, and summarizes, Lattimore’s words so frequently that without them her book would threaten to collapse into a heap of thin if shapely sticks and twigs. Though Alexander (freelance writer) aims this well-written book at general readers, she includes brief discussions of technical issues such as history, archaeology, and linguistics, with frequent footnotes pointing to more detailed accounts. However, her chief goal is to discover "what the Iliad says of war." Indeed, by focusing on the character of Achilles and posing questions such as "who is the real enemy?" and "what is the point of (this) war?" she succeeds in making the ancient epic completely relevant for readers only too familiar with current wars.
Many have forgotten that the subject of the "Illiad" was war--not merely the poetical romance of the war at Troy, but war, in all its enduring devastation. This groundbreaking reading of Homer's epic poem restores the poet's vision of the tragedy of war, addressing many of the central questions that define the war experience of every age. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)883.01Literature Greek and other Classical languages Prose and Fiction, Classical Greek Pseudo-CallisthenesClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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