Customer Reviews (1)

Cold Calls: The "Penultimate Chapter" of Logue's Homer
I needn't have worried.British poet Christopher Logue has been working on his "account" of Homer's Iliad since the early 1960s, and I've long feared he might not live to complete it, especially when you consider how long it takes him to write."War Music," published in 1962, was the first piece he released, covering Book 16 of the Iliad.Over forty years later, and he's only covered Books 1-6 and 17-19.But now we have Cold Calls, which covers Books 7-8, and is apparently the penultimate chapter.According to his publisher, Logue is even now working on the final (!) volume of War Music.

Logue's installments have been released years (even decades) apart from one another, but the day will come when they are placed together, in order, in one volume, and they will provide a seamless read.Logue has lost none of his masterful touch.If anything, he's improved with age; there should be no fears that the decades separating each chapter of this work might spoil its impact.In fact,Cold Calls contains some of the best lines Logue's written.Here's one such example, as Zeus speaks to Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena:

"Darlings," He said,
"You know that being a god means being blamed.
Do this - no good.Do that - the same.The answer is:
Avoid humanity.
Remember - I am God.
I see the bigger picture."

Like the earlier "All Day Permanent Red," Cold Calls is filled with harrowing combat scenes, but also contains a healthy amount of squabbling amongst the gods, including a hilarious song Hera and Athena sing about Aphrodite that's too vulgar to recount.Only here, in Logue's fabulous Iliad, will you find Aphrodite calling Hera a "blubber-bummed wife" with "gobstopper nipples," and Athena an "undercurved preceptatrix."Only here will you find this same goddess appearing in "grey silk lounge pyjamas piped with gold" and "snakeskin flip-flops," and referred to as "Our Lady of the Thong."Only here will you find Athena screaming for the blood of Troy from a decapitated Greek head.

Special mention must be made of the sequence in which Aphrodite, injured by the Athena-empowered Diomedes, goes to the river-god Scamander for aid.Homer hinted at the erotic overtones here, but Logue highlights them, with an over-eager Scamander screaming in lust for Aphrodite's "bum" as she steps into him.It's not only a comical sequence, but also one of the best written in Logue's Iliad.But then, as expected, Cold Calls is filled with Logue's excellent writing.Here's another of my favorite sections, and another example of how Logue's "account" of the Iliad excels over your standard, dry translations:

Around the tower 1000 Greeks, 1000 Ilians; amid their
swirl,
His green hair dressed in braids, each braid
Tipped with a little silver bell, note
Nyro of Simi - the handsomest of all the Greeks, save A.
The trouble was, he had no fight.He dashed from fight to
fight,
Struck a quick blow, then dashed straight out again.
Save that this time he caught,
As Prince Aeneas caught his breath,
That Prince's eye; who blocked his dash,
And as lord Panda waved and walked away,
Took his head off his spine with a backhand slice -
Beautiful stuff...straight from the blade...
Still, as it was a special head,
Mowgag, Aeneas' minder -
Bright as a box of rocks, but musical -
Spiked it, then hoisted it, and twizzling the pole
Beneath the blue, the miles of empty air,
Marched to the chingaling of its tinklers,
A majorette, towards the Greeks, the tower.

Yet more proof that a nonstandard approach to this ancient poem can produce fantastic results.I hope Logue finishes his decades-long work, and one day we have the complete War Music in one volume.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Stunning and Eye-Opening
I don't typically enjoy poetry.Maybe I'm too simple, but I usually need at least a modicum of a storyline and decent characterization in my literature.And most poetry I remember from school didn't have those aspects.Sure, lots of imagery and allusion, but not much on the storytelling.

That said, I was absolutely blown away by Logue's version of the Iliad.As another reviewer suggested, reimagining great works has a dubious past, but Logue is such a tremendous stylist his interpretation succeeds on every level.He maintains the emotion and power of the original, and he maintains plotline that has enthralled for thousands of years.But at the same time his English brings Homer directly to contemporary readers.For such a slim volume, it generated a lot of enjoyment.

My biggest disappointment is that so many of Logue's chapters of the Iliad are out-of-paint.

The Logue Iliad continues
British poet Christopher Logue continues his decades-long rewriting of Homer's tale of war with this slim volume, which comprises books five and six of the Iliad.Since these books feature the first battles in the Iliad, this book is action-packed from first page to last.An online reviewer compared this book to the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan," and that's a very apt comparison.Like those twenty minutes of film, the fifty pages that make up All Day Permanent Red are a hectic, heart-pounding melee of bloodshed.

More importantly, this book marks the first appearance in action of my favorite character in the Iliad, Diomedes.Though here he is called Diomed, or the Child, as Logue occasionally refers to him.Diomedes is like a replacement Achilles; while that famous hero sulks in his ship, Diomedes takes up the mantle of "wartime hero" and destroys every Trojan in his path.Logue's handling of the character is excellent, especially in the way he is introduced.As Odysseus witnesses his Achaean fellows being slaughtered on the battlefield, he prays to the god Athena for help.What follows is the best line in the book:

Setting down her topaz saucer heaped with nectarine jelly,
Emptying her blood-red mouth, set in her ice-white face,
Teenaged Athena jumped up and shrieked:
"Kill!Kill for me!
Better to die than live without killing!"
Who says prayer does no good?

As you can see from this quote, Logue's is not a standard translation of the Iliad.As any reader of his earlier collection "War Music" knows, Logue re-writes and changes the Iliad to suit his tastes.In fact, the man can't even read Greek.But his version of the book is adored by Homer-ophiles.If you asked me, I'd rather read Logue's cinematic bursts of action-packed, freestyle verse over any of the more noted, straight-up translators, such as Fagles, Lattimore, and Fitzgerald.

This book is highly recommended to anyone who's read the Iliad, and wants to see a master writer at work.The only problem is that it's so short, and I fear that Logue won't be able to finish the whole of the Iliad itself.We can only hope.

Brilliant!
I've always been wary of people "reimaging" -- to use Hollywood's latest buzzword -- the classics but it's next to impossible to condemn Christopher Logue's work in reinterpreting Homer's Illiad. In All Day Permanent Red, Logue rewrites the first battles in the Illiad and the result is a fantastic updating of books 5 and 6. Mixing ancient and modern metaphors in his poetry, Logue brings home the juxtaposition in war both as horror and joy. I'm a traditionalist, I don't much care for people messing about with the books I love, but I have nothing but applause for Logue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book
i enjoyed this immensely. it was an engaging narrative of the 3rd and 4th books. ... Read more

Book Description

Amazon.com
George Steiner, praising Christopher Logue's brilliant reconstruction of Homer's work, writes that this book has the "mystery of a creative echo," that it is a "translation of genius." Some combination of a translation, an adaptation, and a new poem inspired from an old wellspring, War Music is violent, beautiful, hypnotic, and terrifying. This is Homer for the era of Stephen King and Quentin Tarentino.Book Description

Customer Reviews (15)

The Trojan War Updated.
Christopher Logue's reinterpretation of Homer's Iliad is not only a masterful historic achievment; it is fine poetry in its own right. Not so much a translation as a re-imagining, War Music and its add-ons (All Day Permanent Red and Cold Calls) bring the great classic to life in a way his stuffier predecessors never managed. Sometimes tragic and sometimes comic, always vivid and never academic, these books are a must for lovers of ancient history, fine writing or just a terrific adventure story. Highly reccommended. Mungo MacCallum, Ocean Shores, Australia.

Best Iliad since Homer
In creating his own account of Homer's Iliad, Logue has in fact succeeded in creating very much his own poem. His War Music moves at a swift pace, at times enhanced by film script language, at times by witty similes to modern day phenomena, and always with a great sense of humour that leaves the gods and goddesses unrevered, while leaving the bitter earnest of war and all it entails intact. Superb effort, I sincerely hope the poet will manage to complete the series.

Best poetry.
This is just about the best, most beautiful, most powerful poetry I've ever read. I'd also suggest this book for reading and discussion groups, as it has so much to talk about in it, while being a pretty quick read. I've been told more than once that it is very difficult for non-native English speakers, however.

Mind-blowing!
Every good thing you've read about this book and Christopher Logue's work is true.
The bronze age struggle comes through clearly despite the 'modern' references and word choice.I recommend this to every poet and any person who loves words and good writing.

Read aloud with friends
We gathered some friends together, some experienced actors, some not, and read Kings and War Music aloud. Voices create moments of transcendent beauty and horror.

I've been told a group of actors in England have read Kings in the dark, with a sound track of horses, chariots and the sounds of arrows hitting the sides of the ships. I don't know if I could bear hearing it that way, it might be too much.

Mike O'Brien ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Antioch Review, published by Antioch Review, Inc. on March 22, 2002. The length of the article is 4268 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Letter from London.(author Christopher Logue)(Critical Essay)
Author: Christopher Logue
Publication: The Antioch Review (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2002
Publisher: Antioch Review, Inc.
Volume: 60Issue: 2Page: 333(8)

Article Type: Critical Essay

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Thomson Gale on December 1, 2006. The length of the article is 2090 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Logue's odyssey.(Notebook)(Christopher Logue)(Theater review)
Author: Andrew Stuttaford
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 25Issue: 4Page: 85(4)

Article Type: Theater review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Word count: 2711. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 636 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Christopher Logue. All Day Permanent Red: the First Battle Scenes of Homer's Iliad Rewritten.(Book Review)
Author: Michael Leddy
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 78Issue: 3-4Page: 100(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
Complete in one volume, Count Palmiro's Bawdy Ballads (published 1955) and Limericks (published 1956.) With index of first lines.

First published by the Olympia Press, this twin collection of poems (compiled by noted poet Christopher Logue) ranks as some of the finest attention ever paid to the material. ... Read more