“War Music” by Christopher Logue

This is billed as “an account” of Homer’s Iliad. In many ways it is more than, as well as less than, a translation. Less than in the fact that Logue could not read ancient Greek himself. More than in the fact that it is a beautifully reworked modern interpretation taken from Logue’s readings of multiple translations and then transformed into something almost entirely new. It keeps the central thrust and flow of the ancient story, mixed in with words and phrases that are thoroughly modern. This is Homer in modern dress at its best. The Gods and heroes of Troy and Greece are there on the battlefield, interspersed with contemporary turns of phrase and asides. Although unmetered, it flows with a constant breakneck pace to match the battle imagery it portrays. It is a shame Logue died before completing his project. Nonetheless, this edition, forty years in the making, “completes” Logue’s vision of his Iliad. It is a magisterial work that stands on its own as one of the finest epics ever written in any language.