Early History: Greece, Asia Minor, and the Balkans
Historical Novels and Fantasies
Middle East
Robert Silverberg: Gilgamesh the King; the oldest extant epic
in the world. Unfortunately, I found it so alien to my tastes that I was unable
to finish it -- maybe some day... (Silverberg is a great writer, but this subject
was just off-putting.)
Greece
Balkans
Starling Lawrence: Montenegro; set in 1908, so this is not a historical
novel taking place in ancient times, but that doesn't matter because nothing has changed
there in thousands of years (except that they now have guns). A beautifully written spy novel
of sorts that describes the country and the people in wonderful detail, and explains them to some
extent. The 'Yugoslavians' have always been an intelligent, honorable, and good-looking people,
so how they are at the same time so screwed up is inexplicable to us! But this book helps us
to understand to an extent how 'living history' (what happened to your great-great-great-great-grandfather
and his daughters at the hands of 'Turks' or whatever is as though it were yesterday) can warp all
human behavior. The inhuman actions of the Serbs in recent times make a lot more sense in the
context of how the Turks and the Austrians (Germans) really screwed these people over the centuries. A definite no-win situation that seems as insoluble as the Ulster predicament. However, there is no denying
that this is a barbarian culture.
*** to come: Robert Graves (Hercules My Shipmate, etc.), Mary Renault (The King Must Die, etc.), and
Gore Vidal (Creation) ***
E-mail: grobius@sprynet.com
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