Customer Reviews

Tales of Troy and Greece (Library Edition)

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This is a great read for adolescents--but not for children, unless they're interested in the goriness of hand-to-hand combat and the rough and tumble of the plain of war.

It's interesting that Lang didn't leave much out regarding the butchery of war, while effectively removing the subtlety of character and richness of thought that Homer provides in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Any reader of the Iliad, at least, will recognize that the poet knew and tried to communicate to his audience the profound human consequences of organized violence; little of that remains in Lang's tale.

A few observations:

While retaining most Greek usages, Lang chooses the Latinized name for Odysseus (Ulysses) and truncates Diomedes to Diomede...and one can only wonder why, since Menelaus, Agamemnon, Aias, Priam, and many other Greek usages are preserved intact. Lang's recounting of the tales focuses largely on the plot and strips Homer's narrative of nuance and character--so that, for example, Achilles and Odysseus, two very complicated, conflicted, and controversial figures, are caricatures...merely brave, clever, resolute, and face the horrors of war without wavering...all of which betray the pre-WWI era in which Lang wrote. Hector, the starkly tragic figure on the Trojan side, is similarly drained of real humanity, and the helpless drama of his wife Andromache is laundered. One doesn't expect that every adult theme of a very complex and deep narrative would be translated for young people--but on the other hand, serving up the raw violence and editing out the painful human consequences doesn't make a lot of sense, either.

There is also remarkably little here of the Greek gods and goddesses, who intervene so actively and arbitrarily in Homer's works. The results of some of their actions (for example, the to-and-fro of fighting in the Iliad) are evident, but Lang's gods are virtually without personality and depth. Readers of this book won't be aware of how central the gods are in nullifying human impulses for peace and for more efficiently ending the conflict.

Lang embellishes his retelling with a highly speculative yarn that covers the hole between the events of Homer's Iliad and the actual fall of Troy (related in the Odyssey), evidently using the similarly speculative tale related by Quintus, a 5th-century AD Christian writer. Here you'll find very detailed accounts of Amazons coming to the aid of Troy (and their tragic end), the similar fate of Memnon and his army in support of the city, and Odysseus' theft of the "Luck of Troy,"--None of which occur in Homer, and none of which are found in works of the Homeric era.

Finally, Lang, whose story was published in 1907, has an annoying habit of comparing long-ago historic events to events that 19th-century English children would have been familiar with, such as the story of Joan of Arc and the battle of the Scots vs. King James.

Setting all those objections aside, many adolescent boys will find this a ripping good yarn, and I would think that 11- to 14-year-olds with very good reading vocabularies will find it entrancing.

Product Description
This thrilling collection recreates for young readers some of the central tales based on Greek mythology. They'll follow the harrowing adventures of Ulysses, meet the lovely Helen of Troy, behold the amazing Trojan horse, join Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece, and learn about the legendary deeds of other remarkable Greek heroes.

I enjoyed this book because it contained information that I never knew about. If you like mythology, you will love this book.