War Music
Book description
A remarkable hybrid of translation, adaptation, and invention
Picture the east Aegean sea by night,
And on a beach aslant its shimmering
Upwards of 50,000 men
Asleep like spoons beside their lethal Fleet.
“Your life at every instant up for― / Gone. / And, candidly, who gives a toss? /…
Shepherd is reader supported. We may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through links on our website. (learn more)
Why read it?
1 author picked War Music as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Logue’s modernist reworking of the Iliad – the Trojan war - mother of all Mediterranean contests, is quite unlike anything you’ll ever read. Logue doesn’t translate, he remakes. It’s as cinematic as a film script, cast in a poetic language as brilliant as anything in modern times, full of jump cuts, staccato effects, and startling contemporary references. The violence of the fighting has a slamming immediacy (‘Dust like red mist/Pain like chalk on slate’), the Mediterranean – ‘the sea that is always counting’ - glimmers and sighs, the Gods behave like spoiled children, helicopters go whumping over the dunes.
From Roger's list on the Mediterranean world.
Want books like War Music?
Our community of 6,000+ authors has personally recommended 10 books like War Music.
5 book lists we think you will like!
Interested in the Iliad, Homer, and the Mediterranean?
6,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about the Iliad, Homer, and the Mediterranean.