This is a recent debut novel from Irish writer, Ferdia Lennon, and it deservedly caused a stir! It’s a punchy, humorous, but also, gruesome and devastating telling of what happened when Athenean forces were routed in Syracuse. Their Sicily campaign in tatters, the Athenean forces are kept in a disused quarry, dying in droves.
Lampo and Gelon, two Syracuse likely lads, take on the controversial challenge of staging Euripides’s Medea and The Trojan Women (his latest tragedy) with these dying soldiers. How will starving men be able to stage a play? Will anybody support this dangerous venture?
I really enjoyed the brutality and the humour of these grim, yet likely, scenarios. Lampo is a charismatic narrator. You really see the ways in which war and poverty make people behave in ways that are both gruesome and honourable.
A really interesting and fresh take on Greek history and society. This one is about the hard-working and out-of-work grifters, market hawkers, fishermen, slaves, and drinkers. The aristos in clean tunics and slicked oily hair are figures of fun and fear. I think the author really captures the grittiness of Ancient life as well the beauty and importance of poetry and storytelling. The magic of words and performance are literally transformative.
One word: tragicomic.
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