Words&Dirt

Stephen Fry’s Troy is the third and final book I read in preparation for Ada Palmer’s upcoming finale to her magnificent Terra Ignota series. This last stop in my self-education about the Trojan War is by far the most comprehensive source I’ve consulted, but also the least enjoyable. Fry’s obvious wit and passion for Greek Mythology notwithstanding, Troy felt more like homework than fun. 

The newly-minted hardcover edition of Troy is a beautiful book––a delight to touch and peruse. It provides a distinctly modern wrapper for Homer’s ancient tale. The book has much to offer dedicated mythology enthusiasts (among whom I would not quite count myself), presenting a detailed recounting of the events that preceded the conflict and the colorful cast of Greeks and Trojans who eventually went to war. I was especially taken with Fry’s depiction of the role of the Gods in this tragic narrative:

The Olympians enjoy the mauling and brawling of their playthings, their little human pets. They thrill to mortal war. They are as fired up and involved as Elizabethan nobles wagering on the outcome of a bearbaiting, or Regency lords ringside at a cockpit in the East End, or Wall Street bankers at an illicit downtown cage fight…And like those sporting aristocrats, the gods have their favorites. Rather than wagering with gold, the immortals stake honor, status, and pride on the outcome. Also like those sporting aristocrats, the gods––as we shall see––are not above nobbling the runners and riders they disfavor and unfairly assisting those they support. (123)

Here we see Fry’s flair for ironic descriptions of human weakness and divine caprice, as well as his talent for drawing connections between the Homeric tradition and more contemporary literature and culture. Sadly, these moments are few and far between in Troy, which too often reads like a long list of proper nouns that must be consulted more in service of duty than pleasure.

I also enjoyed Fry’s reflections on Achilles, the swift-footed and stone-stubborn “hero” whose fate is bound to Troy’s through his response to the prophecy that mapped out his two possible life-paths:

He could have chosen for himself a long life of tranquil ease in obscurity, but he knowingly threw himself into a brief, dazzling blaze of glory. His reward is the eternal fame that is both priceless and worthless…We each of us know, or have known, someone with a glimmer of Achilles’s flame in them. We have loved and loathed them. We have admired them, sometimes even shyly worshipped them, often needed them. We recognize that if we had ever encountered the real demon demigod Achilles, we would have feared and dreaded him, hated his temper, despised his pride, and been repelled by his savagery. But we know too that we could not have helped loving him. (190-1)

The notion that renown achieved through death in war is “both priceless and worthless” is something I tried to capture in my review of The Iliad, but it will surprise no one that Fry’s articulation is superior. Additionally, Fry’s non-exculpatory compassion for Achilles is a testament to how far humanity has come since the days when honor and reputation trumped empathy and forgiveness.

Refusing to pull any punches, Fry ends Troy on a devastating note. Zeus, dismayed by the barbarism displayed by the Greeks during the sacking of Troy, laments his decision to create humanity in the first place: “I knew it was a mistake” (237). This provides another chance to celebrate the degree to which our species has matured since the time of Achilles, Hector, and the other fictional warriors who became victims of their civilization’s obsession with hierarchy and dominance displays. We still have a long way to come if we are to truly grow beyond that atavistic cradle, but continuing to explore and reinterpret our literary history will help us get there:

It is the intriguing distance, the blend of history, mystery, and myth, the interplay of the particular and the universal that makes the Homeric experience so rich and compelling. The action is played out on the golden horizon between reality and legend, the beguiling penumbra where fable and fact coexist. (250)

Rating: 5/10