Hey,
I read the classic German Gustav Schwab stories about the war of Troy as a kid. I think I’d like to read something like that again, but I haven’t quite found anything quite like it. — Doesn’t have to be some bloodthirsty war story, just a well-done pseudo-historical novel set in those mythical times, well researched, and written with love for the subject.
Ursula K. Leguin’s “Lavinia”, for example, was a novel that dealt with a similar topic in a very original, yet true-to-the-source way, in my opinion.
Thank you kindly! If you find a good book like that for me, you’ll likely make my weekend! 🙂
by RowellTheBlade
4 Comments
I have a book here that might fit. haven’t really been in the mood for it, but I respect the author and bought it after reading the first couple of chapters. then I stopped to research the main characters/stories, and the rabbit hole got me 😛
{{Cassandra, by Christa Wolf}}
*Song of Achilles* if you want another take on Achilles and Patroclus, maybe. It’s told from the latter’s POV and focuses on their relationship during the war.
Btw, this isn’t really important, but in English it’s usually “the Trojan War” rather than War of Troy.
The raw emotion and intricate storytelling in ‘The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien make it a standout choice for anyone exploring the personal narratives of the Vietnam War. The book’s exploration of the psychological landscapes of its characters is both heartbreaking and utterly human.
“Achilles” by Elizabeth Cook is my favorite, but it’s only a novella. It covers Achilles’s life in an elegant, haunting way and manages to include tons of references to source material.
The “Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow” series by David and Stella Gemmell is longer, but it sounds like you’re more interested in stuff that says a bit truer to the source material than this. The “Troy” series re-imagines the Trojan War in a faux-historical setting that really is just a standard David Gemmell hero-verse. It’s specifically focused on Aeneas and the Trojans, and tries to undercut the established story in clever ways (Helen is a plain-faced nobody, for instance, the fun is asking how Gemmell is going to turn her into the beautiful demigod we expect her to be). Good action, likable heroes, what you’d expect from David Gemmell, but doesn’t try to set itself up as a well-researched academic work. Trigger warning for >!a rape that Gemmell doesn’t seem to understand was a rape, so male assault survivors might want to tread lightly!<
“The Goddess” by Miranda Seymour is a novel about Helen, that pays a lot of attention to the source material but focuses on rejected 70’s scholarship about Mother Goddess cults, giving it an interesting camp flavor. Takes on the fun challenge of making Paris/Alexandros a sympathetic figure.
The graphic novel series “Age of Bronze” by Eric Shanower is far and away the best-researched labor-of-love out there. And like the goddamned Epic Cycle, it’s incomplete- it was cancelled a while back. But it’s worth your time to go back and read it, just because it’s so exhaustingly, lovingly detailed.
“Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller is Patrokles-focused story that draws heavily on slash fic storytelling styles, about his relationship with Achilles. Not for me, but a lot of people find it moving.
“A Thousand Ships” by Natalie Haynes is a collection of stories focused on the women from Troy, and a retelling of The Trojan Women. Lots of little details collected into one place (whatever happened to Andromache?), but more focused on the bystanders than the war itself. Pat Baker has a dualolgy “The Silence of the Girls” and “The Women of Troy” that covers similar territory, focusing on Achilles’s slave.