The Songs of the Kings [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "This was the sixth night..." (more)
Key Phrases: moon mask, sacrificial knives, small friend, Ajax the Larger, Ajax the Lesser, Big Ajax (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Provocative and subversive, Unsworth's new novel rewrites ancient history to show how a wily, ambitious and power-hungry man can distort the truth, convince the masses to support him and incite his country to wage war. It's an audacious blending of myth with sharp contemporary resonance. The setting is Aulis in 1260 B.C., where unfavorable winds are keeping the fleet of the Greek expeditionary force (actually a motley assemblage of hostile and predatory tribes loosely united under Agamemnon) from setting out to capture Troy. The pretext is revenge for the "rape" of Helen by Paris, but Agamemnon and such tribal leaders as Achilles and Odysseus are, in fact, lusting for the fabled treasures of Troy, spoils of war that each man, down to the most common soldier, yearns to possess. Unsworth (Sacred Hunger) reveals this complex intrigue slowly as he explores the critical situation on which the narrative hinges: the omens that explain Zeus's wrath and the prophecy that only the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigeneia, will reverse the contrary winds. We know of this event from Homer, of course, and he appears here as the Singer, a far from noble figure who is influenced by the conspirators to fashion the version fed to him by Odysseus. It is the hero of The Odyssey who gradually emerges as the chief villain, cynically manipulating his cohorts as he exploits the prophecy to serve his own ends. And it is Iphigeneia, lured to Aulis by false promises, who shows more moral courage than the king, his enemies or any of the court sycophants who seek only their own advantage. Unsworth's narrative method is as daring as his message; his prose is a mixture of classic cadences and contemporary vernacular, animated by beautifully descriptive vignettes and bawdy humor. He uses a minor figure, Calchas the diviner, as the means through which the reader understands the political machinations that create the illusion of a just war. "People intent on war always need a story, and the singers always provide one.... What [this] is really about is gold and copper and cinnamon and jade and slaves and timber," Calchas says. "It is the stories told by the strong, the songs of kings, that are believed in the end..-- is really about is gold and copper and cinnamon and jade and slaves and timber," Calchas says. "It is the stories told by the strong, the songs of kings, that are believed in the end."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker

A stubborn wind from the northeast ushers in rough times for the House of Atreus, and the Greek ships, en route to Troy, remain trapped in the straits at Aulis. Unsworth's retelling of the story, familiar from Euripides, of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia to appease the gods so that the boats can sail is a bold, modern tale with cynical riffs on the themes of duty and power, truth and fiction. His Greek warriors are schemers and media-savvy self-promoters who are desperate to look good in the sung reports that are their equivalent of the news media—songs that are, we realize, the seeds of the Homeric tradition. As Odysseus says, "Once things get into the Song you will never entirely succeed in getting them out again."
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese; First Edition edition (March 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385501145
• ISBN-13: 978-0385501149
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #967,718 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The price of leadership, May 15, 2004

By	C. B Collins Jr. (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Songs of the Kings: A Novel (Paperback)

Barry Unsworth is clever. He tells the story of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia but his commentary is relevant to all times, especially our own. His insertion of contemporary expressions added wry humor. Agamemnon, however, remained a puzzle, motivated by greed and power, determined to unite the Greeks and destroy the Trojans, he is manipulated into a cul de sac by his chief scribe, Odysseus, and the priests of Zeus. He must sacrifice his beloved daughter to appease Zeus and thus change the winds in favor of the Greek fleet. Odysseus, the scribe, and the priests continue to support this course of action openly to build consensus among hte Greeks and maintain the unity of the Greek troops. The one false note here is that when a powerful leader is forced into making such a sacrifice by his counselors, his resentment later erupts to destroy those who manipulated him into a corner. Odysseus was too clever not to recognize that Agamemnon's resentment would eventually erupt and be aimed at those who restricted his previous course of action.

Homosexuality was dealt with in the novel as an ordinary daily occurance, both in the relationship between the priest of Apollo, Calchas and his beautiful acolyte and then in the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, his cousin and lover. Achilles had the cruelty and arrogance of the beautiful and athletic demi-god, cutting of the head of a thief for a petty crime.

Unsworth reveals the desires for power and wealth that motivated the Greeks, using the seduction/kidnapping of Helen by Paris as a pretext. The wronged husband Menelaus is a fool, rapist, bore that surely was disgusting to Helen. In the same way that Agamemnon's revenge was never fully developed, Iphigenia's agreement to her own sacrificial death was not fully developed either. Unsworth states that the father did not have enough sense of duty and the daughter had too much of a sense of duty. Thus he is pressured by Odyssus to assume leadership including making any sacrifice to unite his troops. Iphigenia is also pressured by Odyssus to make her ultimate sacrifice to her father and the nations of Greece as they move toward triumph. I have to give Unsworth credit for writing a page turner, even knowing the end, I was compelled to read faster and faster as the Princess moved toward her doom. In her arrogance, Iphigenia was not a sympathetic victim. But the stupidity and manipulative world of men made her a victim and worthy of some sympathy.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Songs of the Kings, February 3, 2004

By	Debra Hamel (TwitterLit.com) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Barry Unsworth shines light on an early event from the annals of the Trojan War--that dark period when the allied Greek fleet was massed at Aulis on the eastern coast of Greece, ready to set out across the Aegean to Troy, but was prevented from sailing by adverse winds. As Unsworth tells it, the assembled Greeks are growing increasingly contentious with the delay, and some remedy is required. The man with a plan, naturally enough, is wily Odysseus--star of Homer's Odyssey--here presented as a Machiavellian manipulator of words and men. Charmingly enough, he is wont to affect being lost for a word, and he compliments whoever supplies him with one with a very British sounding "Brilliant!"

Also on hand are those sons of Atreus, Agamemnon--the commander-in-chief of the operation, from whom a sacrifice is allegedly demanded by Zeus if the ships are ever to get underway--and Menelaus, wronged husband of Helen. You will remember that Helen was spirited away from her home by the Trojan prince Paris, the offense which was the direct cause of the Trojan War (her face launching a thousand ships and all that). Unsworth's Menelaus is a comical buffoon who can't wrap his mind around the possibility that Helen may have run off willingly: "Must I remind you that my Helen is currently in a Trojan dungeon, being violated on an hourly basis? And I've told you before, she wasn't seduced, she was kidnapped."

As the story goes, Agamemnon sends for his daughter Iphigeneia to come to the fleet at Aulis--I shan't tell you why. Thus we have, in the second part of the book, a glimpse of the princess's life at Mycenae. There one evening she tells her slave Sisipyla the story of her family's proud history of incestuous cannibalism: how her great-grandfather Pelops was mashed into a tantalizing stew by his father Tantalus and served to the gods (he got better), and how her grandfather Atreus in turn butchered his brother's three sons and served them up to their father. Sisipyla, hearing the story and thinking to comfort Iphigeneia, who seems strangely affected by the telling of her family's exploits, says, "It's always the children who suffer, isn't it?" A great line.

Unsworth's prose, as you've probably already noticed, is less stilted than one often finds in historical novels, for which I applaud it, though it is admittedly an odd experience to hear his loin-girded characters speak of "collateral damage," or to hear Agamemnon's scribe say of the hero Palamades, "[H]is father was one of that band of heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo in the quest for the Golden Fleece. That's the sort of thing that is bound to look impressive on a person's CV."

Readers who are already familiar with the story of Iphigeneia at Aulis will know more or less how Unsworth's story goes. Or will they? Because there is that alternate ending in which the goddess Artemis steps in and saves the day at the last moment....

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun with Greek myths!, March 11, 2004

By	Gypsi Phillips Bates "bilbiophile" (Knoxville, TN, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.