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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
After the Iliad, before the Odyssey, October 19, 2000
In the time of Homer, the story of the Trojan War was common knowledge. Therefore, when Homer composed the Iliad, he didn't worry that his audience might be left hanging by the poem's "abrupt" ending, which occurs directly after the funeral games for Patroclos, with Hector recently dead and Achilles still alive. Homer's audiences knew all that would happen, and weren't concerned that he left out the death of Achilles, the Trojan horse gambit, and even the fall of Troy itself. Likewise, his audience wasn't troubled by the fact that the Odyssey begins ten years later, with Odysseus long gone from Troy, and the War but a memory. Homer's audiences knew all of that, they just wanted to hear a good story.But we need more than that. It goes without saying that the happenings of the Trojan War are no longer public knowledge; they had even slipped from the public consciousness by the time of Quintus of Smyrna, roughly around the 3rd Century A.D. A poet of medium talent, Quintus took up the noble task of writing an epic that would bridge the events in the Iliad with those of the Odyssey, hence the title of this work, "What Homer Didn't Tell." Besides Quintus' annoying, overly-consistent usage of metaphors, there are a few problems with this epic. For one, there is no central character to identify with. Whereas the Iliad told the story of Achilles' wrath and the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus' craftiness in overcoming his many challenges, this story has no central theme, other than constant battle and the eventual fall of Troy. Several new champions arrive to help the Trojans, kill a bunch of Greeks, and then are killed themselves. This is the usual pattern for the first few hundred pages; soon after, Odysseus and Diomedes enlist the aid of Achilles' son, who provides the impetus (along with the infamous horse) for Troy's fall. The funny thing is, Achilles' son is basically Achilles himself, in power, ability, and charisma. Quintus went a little overboard with this character: he's just as superhuman as his father, and, reading the book, you can't even tell the difference between him and Achilles. As for the characters who appeared in the Iliad, all of their stories are tied up in this. Odysseus doesn't take that great of a part in the book, other than his contest with Aias and his idea for the horse. Nestor provides his usal wisdom, we see the ending to the triangle of Paris, Helen, and Menalous, and we see how morbid and joyless Priam has become, now that his son Hector is dead. Diomedes appears and disappears throughout the book, though, sometimes aiding the Greeks greatly, other times nowhere to be seen: he's set up as almost superhuman in the Iliad, but Quintus diminishes his powers somewhat, so the new heroes he introduces can take the spotlight. All in all, a useful addition to your library if you're into Homer's work, if at least to fill the gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey. Just understand that Quintus is not nearly the poet that Homer was, and this is through no fault of the translator, who provides his own critical judgement of Quintus' skill in the foreword. If Quintus had tightened the plot with a lead character, cut out some of his rambling metaphors, and written the events in a manner that made them seem less repetitive, then maybe this book would still be in print and also be better known.
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