While visiting family in Germany, I decided to catch up on some lost reading time.
Specifically, there was a historical non-fiction book by the title of The Mighty Dead, which I picked up at a charity-shop three months prior, that I really wanted to read.
The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters by Adam Nicolson was published in 2014; judging by the ripped, coffee-stained exterior of my copy, I’d say my version was used by some professor as a coaster for the last six years.
Even as a classical archaeology major, I have to say that Homer has never intrigued me. I’m pretty sure I just studied Heinrich Schliemann’s failures to identify the location of Troy and (possible) falsification of artifacts and decided I had no interest in getting caught up in Homer.
My future job as an archaeologist is relying on me to be an objective researcher, right?
I’ve read some passages of the Iliad and the Odyssey like any other classics student, but in my ignorance, they never struck a chord with me. I just couldn’t connect to the text in the same way I could read Herodotus’ Histories while quietly laughing at his blunt mannerisms and blatant assumptions from my wooden-chair-of-future-neck-problems in the Berkeley Library.
That is, until I read this book.
Adam Nicolson ignited a new passion for Homer that I didn’t realize was possible for me; I’m even writing a research paper inspired by the extinct poet now.
Like, of my own volition.
Putting aside the captivating narrative style of Nicolson’s writing, I was greatly impressed by the extent of the research this author committed to without expecting to hold a BA in Archaeology at the end of his efforts.
The most important thing to note is that this book isn’t just an analysis of Homer’s works; it’s a social experiment, exploring the mysteries of Homer while also providing a commentary on how the works of Homer can change people’s lives.
The affected subjects within the book aren’t limited to long-dead translators or authors, but also Nicolson himself.
In comparing his own life experiences to the graphic masculinity and sexuality within Homeric epics, Adam Nicolson paints a stunning story of growth and loss. There are moments within the text that made me hesitate, to stop and re-read the previous line to assure myself that yes, he really did share that with me.
At times, the book feels so personal that reading the text is almost like having a private conversation with the author.
This type of writing is something rarely come upon in historical non-fiction. There is nothing bland about this book. It is a work of art from the start to the finish.
I admit, I dog-earred my favorite pages.
I wouldn’t call this purposefully damaging the pages, as there should be no shame in creating a well-loved book.
Nicolson attacks many ideas within this novel: from analyzing the philology of Homer, the historic peoples who could’ve influenced these epics, the possibility of Homeric epics being an oral tradition of many poets, the societal context of the long-forgotten world which these epics captured, the linguistic intricacies of the original Greek text, and modern comparisons to the ancient society within the text.
While wrapping up these extensive topics with a neat bow, Nicolson also breathes life not only into Homer, but also into his characters in a way that I’ve never seen before.
For those of you who are more interested in the accuracy of any of Nicolson’s historical claims than his philosophical musings, there is an extensive bibliography for further research.
Which I myself am starting to delve into.
Adam Nicolson’s novel not only inspires thoughts on the ancient world and nature of Homer, but also existential questions for our own modern age.
Nicolson states,
“Homer’s embrace of wrongness, his depiction of a world that stands at a certain angle to virtue, is the heart of why we love him. He does not give us a set of exemplars. These poems are not sermons. We do not want Achilles or even Odysseus to be our model as men. Nor Penelope or Helen as women. Nor do we want to worship at the shrine of Bronze Age thuggery. What we want is Homeric wisdom, his fearless encounter with the dreadful, his love of love and hatred of death, the sheer scale of his embrace, his energy and brightness, his resistance to nostalgia or to what the American philosopher Richard Rorty described as ‘belatedness’. Most literature and philosophers, Rorty wrote, put value only in the past...Homer doesn’t do that. There is no sense that he has come late to life. The poems may enshrine the past, but they exist in the radiant present , and in that way are hymns to the present being.” (Nicolson, 2014, p. 250-251)
If you’d like to join me in my newfound appreciation for Homer’s works, or just for Adam Nicolson’s prowess as an author, this book is available on Amazon.com.
Nicolson, Adam. (2014) The Mighty Dead; Why Homer Matters. London: William Collins.
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