Skip to content

Tag: Trojan War

Review: The War that Killed Achilles, Caroline Alexander

What was I reading recentlyish that talked about the Dark Ages being defined by the lack of Homer and Ovid? Was it The Secret History? Or The Fall of Rome maybe? Probably it was Tom Stoppard, Arcadia or The Invention of Love. It sounds like the kind of thing Tom Stoppard would say. Anyway, whatever character it was, they said something about how the Dark Ages were Dark because we didn’t have the classics around, in all their universal brilliance, to explain us to ourselves. When the West got them back again (thanks, Arabia!), it was like being reborn, a…

35 Comments

My day yesterday

Jenny: If fiction is going to be meta, it should be meta exactly like The Unwritten.  I HAVE DECREED IT SO. Universe: Oh yeah? NY Times: Zachary Mason’s The Lost Books of the Odyssey is metafiction and sometimes wonderful.  Read an excerpt. Jenny: I am unmoved by this excerpt. Slate and WSJ: Zachary Mason’s The Lost Books of the Odyssey is meta-licious.  We love it. Jenny: Whatever.  I will believe it when I see it. The Lost Books of the Odyssey: WIN WIN WIN. True story.

1 Comment