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Summary: The subject looked unattractive but I love reading Unsworth
Review: I was recently introduced to Barry Unsworth and I have been eagerly reading his work since. The subject of this novel looked pretty boring but thankfully I gave it a try. Ancient Greek history doesn't do anything for me but this novel is pure Unsworth. So if you enjoy reading Barry Unsworth then by all means read this work. If you are a buff of Ancient Greek history, give it a pass.
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Summary: Good effort but the Euripides version is better...
Review: If you enjoy debunking, a hard headed cynical view of human nature and motives, and real politiks, you will like the premises of this retelling of the Ancient Greek story of King Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia on his way to Troy. Superficially this is a historical novel, with jarring and sardonic intrusions of current political doublespeak which turn into a satire clearly intended for our times.This is not the first anachronistic retelling of a homeric tale or of Greek myths in Western literature. The great Greek playwrights, Aeschylus, Sophocles and particularly Euripides, rewrote many of the incidents in Homer, debunking heroic myths and exposing the underlying human tragedies; Racine and Corneille continued this tradition in France, Shakespeare contributed to the tradition in his play "Troilus and Cressida", in which, according to the Shakespearean critic G. Wilson Knight:
"The Trojan party stands for human beauty and worth, the Greek party for the bestial and stupid elements of man, the barren stagnancy of intellect divorced from action..." In a sense, some of Freud's key insights are not only based on his knowledge and fascination with Greek myths but explain why the myths have endured and need to be retold generation after generation. Thus, Barry Unsworth continues with a millennial urge to wrap an ancient story in a more modern language, and chooses to put some new twists on Euripides' classic play "Iphigenia at Aulis". Agamemnon is a king obsessed and blinded by his ambition to lead the Greeks, his brother Menelaos (Helen's cuckolded husband) is a sexual braggart, a vulgar rapist who justifies his crimes by appealing to his noble birth, Achilles is a narcissistic, cold blooded killer (as in Shakespeare) and Ajax a stupid and mediocre commander out of Catch 22 who invents athletic games out of a desire to keep the army from fighting itself and olive wreathes out of stinginess. The two most interesting characters in the novel, who drive most of the action in the novel are Odysseus (Ulysses) and Calchas. Odysseus is portrayed as a pathological liar, an amoral manipulator of men who gets his kicks from herding men along paths of his devising. If Odysseus enjoys twisting and playing with the truth, Calchas, the foreign soothsayer, is an anguished soul searching for the truth. Odysseus dismisses him as an ineffectual intellectual and easily outmanoeuvres him politically, or in the novel's words, "marginalizes" him. In the end analysis, the novel's premises are interesting and well thought out, but something fails to jell and the novel remains unconvincing. Interesting enough, even Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida", which builds on similar premises, somehow lacks stature and has often been criticized as one of Shakespeare's less successful plays, often labelled as "difficult and incoherent" as G. Wilson Knight points out in a masterly essay on the play in his book "The Wheel of Fire". If you are intrigued by the idea of retelling old stories with a new twist on them, or as Aeschylus himself said treating yourself with "slices from the banquet of Homer", I would recommend you try reading some Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides in good, modern translations (Robert Fagles' version of "The Oresteia for example"). If you haven't already done so, take time out to become acquainted with Euripides' "Iphigenia at Aulis" (Merwin and Dimrock's Oxford University Press translation is particularly striking) and with the fountainhead of all Western Literature, Homer's "The Iliad", (say in Richmond Lattimore's stirring translation), and find out why it has fascinated people for almost three thousand years. After all, as Jasper Griffins so aptly quotes in his slim and very readable book on Homer: "No exertion spent upon any of the great classics of the world [...] is really thrown away."
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Summary: Hooray for Barry Unsworth
Review: In 'The Songs of the Kings' Barry Unsworth proves that sometimes the best way to make social commentary and really get people to listen is to disguise it. Coming out of his amazing story you find yourself pondering questions that are quite relevant in today's world (especially in the political arena). How far are we willing to go? Who is, ultimately, capable of deciding between what is right and what is wrong? Who should be responsible for decisions like that when the outcome will effect countless numbers of people? Regardless of where you fall in the political spectrum these questions are crucial to the world today, and Barry Unsworth does an excellent job of steering you toward them without trying to answer them for you. Through the re-telling of Greek myth Unsworth has crafted a relevant, thoughtful piece of literature which will remain with you long after you turn the last page.
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Summary: Fun with Greek myths!
Review: In this novel, Unsworth retells Greek story/myth of Agamemnon, Iphigeneia and the wind at Aulis that just wouldn't stop so that the Greeks could sail to attack Troy and reclaim Helen and their honor. He writes with a delicious, tongue-in-cheekiness, fleshing out the characters to real people with real, and sometimes annoying, personality traits. The great hero Odysseus is a cocky trouble maker with a penchant for hearing himself speak. Achilles is flamboyant and egotistical. Agamemnon is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Short, unattractive Menelaus is convinced that only kidnapping could have pulled Helen from his side and, um, prowess. The main theme of the story, though unspoken, is that of public relations--"good press" if you will. The will of the people was easily manipulated through the innuendo, stories and sometimes outright lies told by the Singer. As there was only one Singer in the camp, his good opinion--and his song--was bought by the highest bidder. What they heard the Singer tell was what became the truth. A jab at modern day press, perhaps? The story is often told from the standpoint of outsiders. Calchas, an Asian priest who has found favor with Agamemnon tells a large part of the narrative, as does Iphigeneia's maid Sisipyla. This looking in from the outside gives a different slant to the story, showing some actions, events and gods as alien. This alien-ness is balanced by the views of Odysseus (as in the above quotation) and other Greek characters, both major and minor, seeing their world as the only natural way. These two views combine with good solid writing to form a fascinating tale that is hard to put down, even though I knew how it was going to end. Anyone who enjoys Greek myths and would be amused (as opposed to horrified) to hear famous Greek heroes talk in modern lingo about "CV's" and "glad rags" and "blabbermouths" will probably get a kick out of The Songs of the Kings. I found it a fun read and definitely recommend it, though I was disappointed that Unsworth choose to end it where he did--I felt it should have went on just a bit longer. Nevertheless, I rate it an 8 of 10.
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Summary: The well structured song
Review: Perhaps this is Pascali's Greek Island. Perhaps not. Still, a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Monody of the Kings
Review: Songs of the Kings begins by making the reader experience a bit of weather -- the wind stranding the Greek fleet at Aulis -- as a source of existential terror. Not only is the wind felt as a breath of divine disfavor, but as a kind of projection of the deadly thugocracy of the Greek leadership. Through the consciousness of the alien priest Calchas, an earnest mystic whose life depends on the kings' favor, readers experience the Homeric heroes as a kind of Stalinist rogues' gallery who will kill anyone who crosses them. It's quite an imaginative accomplishment, sustained through many scenes, such as Odysseus' intimidation of the army's minstrel, to whom he offers a deal he can't refuse: embed our propaganda in your story or...else. (Unsworth has a gift for portraying the arrogant, self-righteous evil of men in power throughout the centuries. His murderous Venetian oligarch in Stone Virgin and vindictive slave merchant in Sacred Hunger would fit right in with the Greek leadership in Songs of the Kings.) That said, the all-too-plausible recasting of the Greek kings as a band of vain, selfish, cold-blooded killers also strikes many false notes as it's pushed toward contemporary caricature and allegory. The kings' pious justification for 'collateral damage,' for example, breaks the illusion that we're in the grip of real thugs, as does the repetitive swearing, bickering and utter idiocy of the two Ajaxes. What rings true throughout is the priest Calchas' failed struggle to reconcile his mystic intuitions with his terror of crossing his master Agamemnon and the kings and counselors who compete to influence and manipulate the high king. The other side of this story -- the relationship between Agamemnon's daughter Iphigeneia and her twin-like slave Sisipyla -- mirrors the strengths and weaknesses of the army scenes. The crux arises from the two teen girls' competing responses to Iphigeneia's 'duty' to go willingly to her own sacrifice (Odysseus has staged false omens to convince Agamemnon that only this sacrifice will remove the gods' disfavor and lift the wind pinning them in Aulis). Sisipyla's consciousness, like Calchas', is fully realized. A slave trained from earliest childhood to want nothing for herself and live only for and through her mistress, she comes through the crucible of the crisis to an epiphany that pierces Odysseus' self-serving propaganda. Iphigeneia, on the other hand, like the Greek kings, devolves into caricature at the crux, becoming simply another ruler who disappears into the myth of her own divinely-ordained destiny. Song of the Kings imagines slaves and servants with vibrant sympathy but reduces its ruling class characters to two-dimensional tyrants. It's a powerful, but ultimately monocular, parable of power.
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Summary: Stranded at Aulis
Review: The Greek fleet, on its way to Troy, is stuck at Aulis awaiting favourable winds. As time passes, tempers fray and frustration grows: dissent within the Greek army becomes more apparent. Can the gods be appeased, and thus bring favourable winds before the army disintegrates? A sacrifice is called for, but for the Greek leader Agamemnon, it's a massive sacrifice - perhaps too great. If you're a Homer devotee, I suspect that you'll either love or loathe this novel. Unsworth tells a classic tale in a very modern way, for example: "...you can always count on Chasimenos for le mot juste.." Putting modern language into the mouths of historic or mythical figures is always frought with danger, but I should think no less so than trying to write in a deliberately portentious style in order to add weight to the subject matter. One could always argue that historical novelists (and playwrights - eg Shakespeare) have been telling tales of long ago in contemporary language for ages, so it might not do to get uptight about it. Unsworth's novel is full of tragedy and humour. His Greek heroes are a very mixed bunch: I would guess though that his portrayal of Achilles is really pretty close to Homer's, albeit more overtly condemnatory. The two Ajaxes come on as comic turns, trying to organise a sort of Olympic Games to keep the troop amused. The casus belli of the Trojan War is given a new turn - was Helen really abducted by Paris, or did she go willingly? This is a weighty issue, touching on the question of why people really go to war - how much was due to the actual offence (indeed what was that "offence") and how much to economic causes? Issues which are very relevant today. "The Songs of the Kings" is worth a read provided you're happy seeing your Greek heroes debunked a bit. G Rodgers
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Summary: Ancient myth spiced up
Review: What a great concept for a novel, a modern retelling of Greek myth with more detail, "The Song of the Kings" is about King Agamemnon and his sacrifice of Iphigenia at the outset of the Trojan/Greek war. The story is chiefly told through the eyes of three characters - Odysseus cast here as a clever politically ambitious manipulator, Calchas an Asian priest of Apollo and soothsayer to the king, and Sisipyla a slave that Iphigenia received as a present years before. Through the character of the Singer many tales of gods and goddesses are worked into the book.
A group of Greek rulers, among them Achilles and Ajax, and their troops are sailing to war with Troy under the command of Agamemnon, ostensibly to avenge the insult to Menelaus, brother to Agamemnon, whose wife Helen was "abducted" by Paris the Trojan prince. Strong winds are sent pinning the Greek fleet in harbor and an oracle reveals that the only way to appease the angry goddess who sent the winds is for Agamemnon to sacrifice his own daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon sends for Iphigenia and deceives his wife Clytemnestra by telling her their daughter is going to be married.
Barry Unsworth is able to make this story come alive for the modern reader, even relevant to our times, though this is somewhat overdone. A few of the references made me cringe, like ".....fight a war without collateral damage." or ".....bound to look impressive on a person's CV." Even so, the book was enjoyable and surprisingly suspenseful considering the outcome was already known.
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Summary: The Big Send Off
Review: Why read this when you can read the original??....and in Greek....Who cares about 21st century ideas when you greek text talks of the horrors of having the heart and the mind violated.
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