Following his highly acclaimed dramatization of the Odyssey, Simon
Armitage here takes on the fate of Troy, bringing Homer's Iliad to life
with refreshing imaginative vision. In the final days of the Trojan War,
the Trojans and the Greeks are caught in a bitter stalemate. Exhausted
and desperate after ten years of warfare, gods and men battle among
themselves for the glory of recognition and a hand in victory. Cleverly
intertwining the Iliad and the Aeneid, Armitage poetically narrates the
tale of Troy to its dire end, evoking a world plagued by deceit,
conflict, and a deadly predilection for pride and envy. As with the
Odyssey, Armitage reveals the echoes of ancient myth in our contemporary
war-torn landscape, and reinvigorates the classic epics with adventure,
passion, and, surprisingly, Shakespearean wit.
Praise for The Odyssey: A Dramatic Retelling of Homer's Epic:
"So superb. . . . Armitage 's love of the Greek epic is evident in
almost every line."--New York Times