The novel is set just before the start of the battle of Troy. The Greek army under King Agamemnon is stuck on the island of Aulis en route to Troy because of a mysterious dying down of the winds. The army is restless and rumor and gossip fly around seeking a reason for the becalming as the men gamble and squabble while they wait and Odysseus connives and schemes behind the scenes with the help of Chasimenos, Agamemnon's chief scribe. The king is slowly convinced that he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia for the gods to be satisfied and Iphigenia is brought to Aulis under the pretext that she is to marry Achilles, the Greek hero. Along with her slave, Sisipyla, Iphigenia arrives in Aulis and discovers the plot. Sisipyla offers to take her place but, at the last moment, convinced of her own destiny, Iphigenia sacrifices herself.
Analysisedit
The novel is seen as a modern take on the Greek legend. Writing in The New York Review of Books, Hilary Mantel says about the book on one level it is quite clearly, directly related to the present world situation: to wars and rumors of wars, religious intolerance, the power of the storyteller to distort, lose, bury the message..[1] In The Guardian, Alfred Hickling says that Unsworth has recognized the essential modernity of the various retellings of this story and, comparing the impatience of Agamemnon to wage war to the American war in Iraq, says that the novel effortlessly proves that modern life is the stuff of ancient myth. We may no longer make human sacrifices, but we create plenty of media scapegoats. Unsworth's Iphigenia does not die to absolve her nation. She dies to save their spin.[2]
Referencesedit
^Mantel, Hilary (9 October 2003), The Hour before Dawn, vol. 50, The New York Review of Books
^Hickling, Alfred (31 August 2002), "Deus ex machina", The Guardian
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songs, kings, songs, kings, novel, published, 2002, barry, unsworth, that, retells, story, iphigenia, aulis, told, greek, tragic, poet, euripides, first, editionauthorbarry, unsworthcountryunited, kingdomlanguageenglishpublisherhamish, hamiltonpublication, dat. The Songs of Kings was a novel published in 2002 by Barry Unsworth that retells the story of Iphigenia at Aulis told by the Greek tragic poet Euripides The Songs of the KingsFirst editionAuthorBarry UnsworthCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishPublisherHamish HamiltonPublication date2002Media typePrint Hardback amp Paperback Pages245 ppISBN0 241 13701 2OCLC50433306Synopsis editThe novel is set just before the start of the battle of Troy The Greek army under King Agamemnon is stuck on the island of Aulis en route to Troy because of a mysterious dying down of the winds The army is restless and rumor and gossip fly around seeking a reason for the becalming as the men gamble and squabble while they wait and Odysseus connives and schemes behind the scenes with the help of Chasimenos Agamemnon s chief scribe The king is slowly convinced that he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia for the gods to be satisfied and Iphigenia is brought to Aulis under the pretext that she is to marry Achilles the Greek hero Along with her slave Sisipyla Iphigenia arrives in Aulis and discovers the plot Sisipyla offers to take her place but at the last moment convinced of her own destiny Iphigenia sacrifices herself Analysis editThe novel is seen as a modern take on the Greek legend Writing in The New York Review of Books Hilary Mantel says about the book on one level it is quite clearly directly related to the present world situation to wars and rumors of wars religious intolerance the power of the storyteller to distort lose bury the message 1 In The Guardian Alfred Hickling says that Unsworth has recognized the essential modernity of the various retellings of this story and comparing the impatience of Agamemnon to wage war to the American war in Iraq says that the novel effortlessly proves that modern life is the stuff of ancient myth We may no longer make human sacrifices but we create plenty of media scapegoats Unsworth s Iphigenia does not die to absolve her nation She dies to save their spin 2 References edit Mantel Hilary 9 October 2003 The Hour before Dawn vol 50 The New York Review of Books Hickling Alfred 31 August 2002 Deus ex machina The Guardian nbsp This article about a war novel of the 2000s is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it See guidelines for writing about novels Further suggestions might be found on the article s talk page vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Songs of the Kings amp oldid 1155100800, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
