mostly OT: Herodotus

Lisa Schaffer-Doggett · 07 Sep 2003, 00:22 · from urth-v0309.mbox · original

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From: Lisa Schaffer-Doggett <harlekin at earthlink.net>
Subject: (urth) mostly OT: Herodotus
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 17:22:17 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0309-4048 at digest.urth.net>
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Hey everyone,

I just want everyone to know that I'm having a damned entertaining time=20
reading Herodotus.  I'm beginning book three and I don't know if it's=20
the translation (U of Chicago, by David Grene) or what, but it's really=20
great.  It reads like an engaging classroom lecture or sitting room=20
conversation.  Herodotus easily holds his own with any writer past or=20
present.  His style, that of recording what people thought of their=20
past, calls to mind an excellent book that I'd like to recommend: =20
"Deus Lo Volt!  Chronicle of the Crusades" by Evan S. Connell.   He=20
also wrote "Son of the Morning Star" about the battle of Little Bighorn=20
(a blow by blow account that manages to digress in huge arcs into a=20
comprehensive history of the Indian Wars without ever losing sight of=20
the main story.  An amazing book.)  Anyway, "Deus Lo Volt!" is=20
categorized as historical fiction but what it really is is the=20
shoehorning of a gazillion primary sources into a comprehensive=20
narrative of the Crusades from the first to the last.  It's narrator is=20
Jean de Joinville, a knight of Saint Louis, the last real Crusader. =20
All of the conversations and monologues are paraphrases of recorded=20
encounters.  It is a beautiful book, well written and engaging, and=20
definitely a history in the Herodotian sense, albeit a counterfeit one.

Don

--=20

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