The Song of Achilles

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The Song of Achilles
TheSongofAchilles.png
Hardback edition cover
Author Madeline Miller
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre
PublishedSeptember 20, 2011
Publisher Ecco Press (HarperCollins)
Pages416
ISBN 978-0062060624
OCLC 773303923
918.3

The Song of Achilles is a 2011 novel by American writer Madeline Miller. Set during the Greek Heroic Age, it is a retelling of the Trojan War as told from the perspective of Patroclus. The novel follows Patroclus' relationship with Achilles, from their initial meeting to their exploits during the Trojan War, with focus on their romantic relationship. In 2012, The Song of Achilles was awarded the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Contents

Plot

The book is narrated by Patroclus, the son of King Menoetius. He is presented as a potential suitor to Helen of Troy. He is then obliged to take a blood oath in defense of her marriage to Menelaus. After Patroclus accidentally kills the son of one of his father's nobles, he is exiled to Phthia where he meets Achilles, the son of Phthia's king Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis. They become close friends and Patroclus develops feelings for Achilles. Convinced that a mortal of low status is an unsuitable companion for her son, Thetis attempts to separate the pair by sending Achilles to train under Chiron for what would become three years, though Patroclus ultimately joins Achilles in his training, having run away and caught up to Achilles before he even meets Chiron. As their relationship grows, the Mycenaean king Agamemnon calls on the various Achaeans to join his military campaign against Troy, whose prince Paris has kidnapped his brother Menelaus' wife Helen. As a prophecy foretells that Achilles will die in Troy after the death of the Trojan prince Hector, Thetis hides Achilles on Skyros in the guise of a woman in the court of King Lycomedes; she forces him to marry Lycomedes' daughter Deidamia, who later bears Achilles' son Neoptolemus.

Patroclus follows Achilles to Skyros, where they live until they are discovered by Odysseus and Diomedes. Patroclus is obligated to join the war in Troy as a result of his blood oath, while Achilles joins after vowing that he will never fight Hector in order to avoid his prophesied death. Upon joining the Achaean forces, tensions escalate between Achilles and Agamemnon: first when Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia in order to appease Artemis, and later when Achilles takes the Trojan woman Briseis as a war prize to save her from Agamemnon. However, out of sensitivity Achilles largely avoids interacting with Briseis directly because he had killed the men in her family, but she and Patroclus develop a close friendship verging on romance, ultimately settling into a devoted sibling relationship.

After nine years, Chryseis is claimed by Agamemnon. Soon after her father Chryses tries to pay for her release which Agamemnon refuses. Chryses appeals to Apollo, who unleashes a plague that decimates the Achaeans; when Agamemnon refuses Achilles' demand to return Chryseis, he doubles down by blaming Achilles for the war's length, by his unwillingness to face and kill Hector. As punishment, he orders that Briseis be taken from Achilles and brought to him, which offends Achilles, who vows to remove himself and his army from the fight until this slight at his honor is repaired.

To precipitate the Greeks' need for Achilles, Thetis convinces Zeus to tip the war in favor of the Trojans so that the Achaeans will regret having antagonized Achilles, and the Achaeans suffer significant losses. Tensions flare between Achilles and Patroclus when Achilles refuses to accept a private arrangement where Briseis is returned to him, along with valuable gifts. He stubbornly demands a public apology, refusing to come to the aid of the Greeks who are on the verge of defeat.

Patroclus, who has grown close to the soldiers as a field medic and sympathizes with their losses, attempts and fails to convince Achilles to rejoin the battle. Instead, Patroclus impersonates Achilles by donning his armor and leads his men into battle; the offensive forces a Trojan retreat. During the battle, Apollo causes Patroclus to reveal himself. Patroclus is killed by Hector and his body is brought to Achilles.

Achilles grieves along with Briseis and demands Patroclus' ashes be mixed with his own when he dies. Having lost his will to live, Achilles returns to battle and kills Hector to avenge Patroclus. After he is in turn killed by Paris, his ashes are mixed with Patroclus', per his request, and are buried. Neoptolemus comes to take Achilles' place and has Briseis killed when she refuses his advances and reveals Achilles and Patroclus' relationship. The Achaeans erect a tomb for Achilles and Patroclus, but do not inscribe Patroclus' name at the behest of Neoptolemus. Patroclus' shade is thus unable to pass into the underworld and is bound to the tomb. After the war, Thetis returns and grieves for Achilles. She and Patroclus share memories, and Thetis relents, writing Patroclus' name upon the tomb. Patroclus is now able to pass into the afterlife where he and Achilles reunite.

Development and publication

Miller in Kolkata in 2013 Madeline Miller - Kolkata 2013-02-03 4377 Cropped.JPG
Miller in Kolkata in 2013

Miller developed an interest in the legend of Achilles after her mother read the Iliad to her as a child. She found that she was particularly intrigued by Patroclus, a minor character who ultimately has a significant influence on the outcome of the Trojan War. [1] Drawing from this source material, Miller sought to write a story about who Patroclus was, and what he meant to Achilles. [2] In addition to the Iliad, Miller drew inspiration from the writings of Ovid, Virgil, Sophocles, Apollodorus, Euripides, and Aeschylus, as well as accounts of Achilles' childhood friendship with Patroclus and his martial training. [1] On the depiction of Achilles and Patroclus as lovers, Miller reminded:

The idea that Patroclus and Achilles were lovers is quite old. Many Greco-Roman authors read their relationship as a romantic one—it was a common and accepted interpretation in the ancient world. We even have a fragment from a lost tragedy of Aeschylus, where Achilles speaks of his and Patroclus' 'frequent kisses.' There is a lot of support for their relationship in the text of the Iliad itself, though Homer never makes it explicit. For me, the most compelling piece of evidence, aside from the depth of Achilles' grief, is how he grieves: Achilles refuses to burn Patroclus' body, insisting instead on keeping the corpse in his tent, where he constantly weeps and embraces it—despite the horrified reactions of those around him. That sense of physical devastation spoke deeply to me of a true and total intimacy between the two men. [3]

Miller depicts Achilles and Patroclus as the same age, contrasting Homer's depiction of Patroclus as significantly older than Achilles. Miller drew inspiration for this departure from the Achilleid by Statius, stating that "to me, the two have always resonated as peers, so that was the tradition I followed." [4] The Song of Achilles took Miller ten years to write; [1] [5] after discarding a completed manuscript five years into her writing, she started again from scratch, [1] struggling to perfect the voice of her narrator. [1] The Song of Achilles was published as Miller's debut novel on September 20, 2011, by Ecco Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. [5]

Reception

As of July 2022, The Song of Achilles has sold 2 million copies across various formats. [6] The book's sales received a significant boost in 2021 after it was featured in a TikTok video, cited by The New York Times as an example of how "BookTok" and viral social media videos increasingly drive sales of literature. [7]

Reviewing The Song of Achilles for The Guardian , Natalie Haynes commended the novel as "more poetic than almost any translation of Homer" and "a deeply affecting version of the Achilles story." [8] Mary Doria Russell similarly praised the novel in her review for The Washington Post , favorably citing its "prose as clean and spare as the driving poetry of Homer." [9] In his review for The Dallas Morning News , Brian Woolley stated "Even for a scholar of Greek literature, which Miller is, rewriting the Western world’s first and greatest war novel is an awesome task to undertake. That she did it with such grace, style and suspense is astonishing." [10]

In 2012, The Song of Achilles was awarded the 17th annual Orange Prize for Fiction. [3] Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was a surprise win, with Miller being "the dark horse in this year's race". [3] Joanna Trollope, chair of the judges, commented, "This is a more than worthy winner—original, passionate, inventive and uplifting. Homer would be proud of her." [3] The novel was also shortlisted for the 2013 Stonewall Book Award [11] and the 2013 Chautauqua Prize. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achilles</span> Greek mythological hero

In Greek mythology, Achilles or Achilleus was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. A central character in Homer's Iliad, he was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia and famous Argonaut. Achilles was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion Patroclus and received his education by the centaur Chiron. In the Iliad, he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the Myrmidons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agamemnon</span> Figure from Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ajax the Great</span> Character in Greek Mythology

Ajax or Aias is a Greek mythological hero, the son of King Telamon and Periboea, and the half-brother of Teucer. He plays an important role in the Trojan War, and is portrayed as a towering figure and a warrior of great courage in Homer's Iliad and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War, being second only to Achilles among Greek heroes of the war. He is also referred to as "Telamonian Ajax", "Greater Ajax", or "Ajax the Great", which distinguishes him from Ajax, son of Oileus, also known as Ajax the Lesser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hector</span> Greek history hero

In Greek mythology, Hector is a Trojan prince, and one of four sons to the King of Troy, he was a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's Iliad, where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing countless Greek warriors and the occasional Hero. However he is ultimately killed in single combat by the Greek Hero Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trojan War</span> Legendary war in Greek mythology

The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the 12th or 13th century BCE. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology, and it has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The core of the Iliad describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thetis</span> Nereid of Greek mythology

Thetis is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, and one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briseis</span> Greek mythological character

Briseis, also known as Hippodameia, is a significant character in the Iliad. Her role as a status symbol is at the heart of the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that initiates the plot of Homer's epic. She was married to Mynes, a son of the King of Lyrnessus, until the Achaeans sacked her city and was given to Achilles shortly before the events of the poem. Being forced to give Briseis to Agamemnon, Achilles refused to reenter the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chryseis</span> Mythological Greek character

In Greek mythology, Chryseis is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Chryses. Chryseis, her apparent name in the Iliad, means simply "Chryses' daughter"; later writers give her real name as Astynome (Ἀστυνόμη). The 12th-century poet Tzetzes describes her to be "very young and thin, with milky skin; had blond hair and small breasts; nineteen years old and still a virgin".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patroclus</span> Greek mythological character

In Greek mythology, Patroclus was a hero of the Trojan War and an important character in Homer's Iliad. He is widely known for being the childhood friend and close wartime companion of the hero Achilles. When the tide of the war turned against the Achaeans, Patroclus, disguised as Achilles and defying his orders to retreat in time, led the Myrmidons in battle against the Trojans and was eventually killed by the Trojan prince, Hector. Enraged by Patroclus' death, Achilles ended his refusal to fight, resulting in significant Greek victories.

<i>Troy</i> (film) 2004 epic historical war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen

Troy is a 2004 epic historical war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. Produced by units in Malta, Mexico and Britain's Shepperton Studios, the film features an ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Sean Bean, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson and Orlando Bloom. It is loosely based on Homer's Iliad in its narration of the entire story of the decade-long Trojan War—condensed into little more than a couple of weeks, rather than just the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year. Achilles leads his Myrmidons along with the rest of the Greek army invading the historical city of Troy, defended by Hector's Trojan army. The end of the film is not taken from the Iliad, but rather from Quintus Smyrnaeus's Posthomerica, as the Iliad concludes with Hector's death and funeral.

In Greek mythology Phthia was a city or district in ancient Thessaly. It is frequently mentioned in Homer's Iliad as the home of the Myrmidons, the contingent led by Achilles in the Trojan War. It was founded by Aeacus, grandfather of Achilles, and was the home of Achilles' father Peleus, mother Thetis, and son Neoptolemus.

The Cypria is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquity and fixed in a received text, but which subsequently was lost to view. It was part of the Epic Cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic hexameter verse. The story of the Cypria comes chronologically at the beginning of the Epic Cycle, and is followed by that of the Iliad; the composition of the two was apparently in the reverse order. The poem comprised eleven books of verse in epic dactylic hexameters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achilles and Patroclus</span> Relationship in Classical Greece

The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is a key element of the stories associated with the Trojan War. In the Iliad, Homer describes a deep and meaningful relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, where Achilles is tender toward Patroclus, but callous and arrogant toward others. Its exact nature—whether homosexual, a non-sexual deep friendship, or something else entirely—has been a subject of dispute in both the Classical period and modern times. Homer never explicitly casts the two as lovers, but they were depicted as lovers in the archaic and classical periods of Greek literature, particularly in the works of Aeschylus, Aeschines and Plato.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trojan War in literature and the arts</span>

There are a wide range of ways in which people have represented the Trojan War in literature and the arts.

<i>Posthomerica</i> Epic poem by Quintus of Smyrna

The Posthomerica is an epic poem in Greek hexameter verse by Quintus of Smyrna. Probably written in the 3rd century AD, it tells the story of the Trojan War, between the death of Hector and the fall of Ilium(Troy). The poem is an abridgement of the epic poems Aethiopis and Iliou Persis by Arctinus of Miletus, and the Little Iliad by Lesches, all now-lost poems of the Epic Cycle.

<i>Iliad</i> Epic poem attributed to Homer

The Iliad is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the Odyssey, the poem is divided into 24 books and was written in dactylic hexameter. It contains 15,693 lines in its most widely accepted version. Set towards the end of the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the siege's final weeks. In particular, it depicts a fierce quarrel between King Agamemnon and a celebrated warrior, Achilles. It is a central part of the Epic Cycle. The Iliad is often regarded as the first substantial piece of European literature.

<i>The Fury of Achilles</i> 1962 Italian film

L'ira di Achille, internationally released as The Fury of Achilles, is a 1962 Italian historical drama set in the ninth year of the Trojan War and is based primarily on Homer's Iliad. The film was directed by Marino Girolami and starred Gordon Mitchell as Achilles. It was released in the UK in 1963 as ACHILLES and was filmed in EuroScope and Eastman Color.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athletics in epic poetry</span>

In epic poetry, athletics are used as literary tools to accentuate the themes of the epic, to advance the plot of the epic, and to provide a general historical context to the epic. Epic poetry emphasizes the cultural values and traditions of the time in long narratives about heroes and gods. The word "athletic" is derived from the Greek word athlos, which means a contest for a prize. Athletics appear in some of the most famous examples of Greek and Roman epic poetry including Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid.

<i>The Silence of the Girls</i> 2018 novel by Pat Barker

The Silence of the Girls is a 2018 novel by English novelist Pat Barker. It recounts the events of the Iliad chiefly from the point of view of Briseis.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Alter, Alexandra (February 24, 2012). "Rewriting the Story of Achilles". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ Marsden, Sam (May 30, 2012). "Orange Prize for Fiction goes to Madeline Miller's story of a love affair overshadowed by the Trojan War". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Kellogg, Carolyn (May 30, 2012). "First-time author Madeline Miller wins last-ever Orange Prize". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  4. ↑ Ciabattari, Jane (March 21, 2012). "Madeline Miller Discusses 'The Song of Achilles'". The Daily Beast . Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Brown, Mark (May 30, 2012). "Orange prize for fiction 2012 goes to Madeline Miller". The Guardian. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ Harris, Elizabeth A. (July 1, 2022). "How TikTok Became a Best Seller Machine". The New York Times. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  7. ↑ Harris, Elizabeth A. (March 20, 2021). "How Crying on TikTok Sells Books". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  8. ↑ Haynes, Natalie (September 29, 2011). "The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – review". The Guardian . Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  9. ↑ Russell, Mary Doria (March 5, 2012). "'The Song of Achilles,' by Madeline Miller". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  10. ↑ Woolley, Brian (March 17, 2012). "Book review: 'The Song of Achilles' is a brilliant telling of a mythical friendship". The Dallas Morning News . Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Stonewall Book Awards List – 2013". American Library Association . September 9, 2009. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  12. ↑ Ron Charles (May 15, 2013). "Timothy Egan wins Chautauqua Prize for "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher"". Washington Post . Retrieved September 26, 2013.
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