(In one of the more huh? moments, Haynes suggests that the Trojan War was masterminded by Zeus as population control; there's a chapter from Gaia's - the personification of earth, basically - perspective complaining about how many people there are, using so many resources, she can't carry them anymore, etc., which could only be unsubtle commentary on Us Moderns and has some, hm, icky implications?)
The idea of the Trojan War as a deliberate culling of the human herd is classical: I associate it with the Epic Cycle rather than the Iliad or Odyssey themselves, but if you give me a moment I'll try to run it down. [edit] It's quoted in scholia as if from the Cypria, but regardless of the accuracy of the attribution, the lines exist. For more context, see Martin L. West's Greek Epic Fragments from the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC (2003).
"I'm sick of talking about Helen," Haynes' Calliope says at one point, to explain why there's no chapter from her perspective, but I feel like her perspective and characterization would be an interesting one to explore.
I don't know your tolerance for Imagist poetry, but I strongly recommend H.D.'s Helen in Egypt (1961) and its companion piece "Winter Love," collected posthumously in Hermetic Definition (1972).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2021-05-22 08:40 pm (UTC)The idea of the Trojan War as a deliberate culling of the human herd is classical: I associate it with the Epic Cycle rather than the Iliad or Odyssey themselves, but if you give me a moment I'll try to run it down. [edit] It's quoted in scholia as if from the Cypria, but regardless of the accuracy of the attribution, the lines exist. For more context, see Martin L. West's Greek Epic Fragments from the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC (2003).
"I'm sick of talking about Helen," Haynes' Calliope says at one point, to explain why there's no chapter from her perspective, but I feel like her perspective and characterization would be an interesting one to explore.
I don't know your tolerance for Imagist poetry, but I strongly recommend H.D.'s Helen in Egypt (1961) and its companion piece "Winter Love," collected posthumously in Hermetic Definition (1972).