Christopher Logue Books

This was one of my favorite books as a child and I have been looking for another copy of it. It has beautiful illustrations-- they show visually that same dark magical quality as some Grimm's fairy tales do literally. I highly recommend this book.

My sister and I enjoyed this book as children and have been looking for it for a couple of months since our parents recently moved and it has been lost. The illustrations are incredible - really works of art in and of themselves! The story is classic and is a little above children of a young age (at times it's chilling) but together with the illustrations, it makes for one memorable book.

I needn't have worried. British poet Christopher Logue has been working on his "account" of Homer's Iliad since the early 1960s, and I've long feared he might not live to complete it, especially when you consider how long it takes him to write. "War Music," published in 1962, was the first piece he released, covering Book 16 of the Iliad. Over forty years later, and he's only covered Books 1-6 and 17-19. But now we have Cold Calls, which covers Books 7-8, and is apparently the penultimate chapter. According to his publisher, Logue is even now working on the final (!) volume of War Music.

Logue's installments have been released years (even decades) apart from one another, but the day will come when they are placed together, in order, in one volume, and they will provide a seamless read. Logue has lost none of his masterful touch. If anything, he's improved with age; there should be no fears that the decades separating each chapter of this work might spoil its impact. In fact, Cold Calls contains some of the best lines Logue's written. Here's one such example, as Zeus speaks to Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena:

"Darlings," He said,
"You know that being a god means being blamed.
Do this - no good. Do that - the same. The answer is:
Avoid humanity.
Remember - I am God.
I see the bigger picture."

Like the earlier "All Day Permanent Red," Cold Calls is filled with harrowing combat scenes, but also contains a healthy amount of squabbling amongst the gods, including a hilarious song Hera and Athena sing about Aphrodite that's too vulgar to recount. Only here, in Logue's fabulous Iliad, will you find Aphrodite calling Hera a "blubber-bummed wife" with "gobstopper nipples," and Athena an "undercurved preceptatrix." Only here will you find this same goddess appearing in "grey silk lounge pyjamas piped with gold" and "snakeskin flip-flops," and referred to as "Our Lady of the Thong." Only here will you find Athena screaming for the blood of Troy from a decapitated Greek head.

Special mention must be made of the sequence in which Aphrodite, injured by the Athena-empowered Diomedes, goes to the river-god Scamander for aid. Homer hinted at the erotic overtones here, but Logue highlights them, with an over-eager Scamander screaming in lust for Aphrodite's "bum" as she steps into him. It's not only a comical sequence, but also one of the best written in Logue's Iliad. But then, as expected, Cold Calls is filled with Logue's excellent writing. Here's another of my favorite sections, and another example of how Logue's "account" of the Iliad excels over your standard, dry translations:

Around the tower 1000 Greeks, 1000 Ilians; amid their
swirl,
His green hair dressed in braids, each braid
Tipped with a little silver bell, note
Nyro of Simi - the handsomest of all the Greeks, save A.
The trouble was, he had no fight. He dashed from fight to
fight,
Struck a quick blow, then dashed straight out again.
Save that this time he caught,
As Prince Aeneas caught his breath,
That Prince's eye; who blocked his dash,
And as lord Panda waved and walked away,
Took his head off his spine with a backhand slice -
Beautiful stuff...straight from the blade...
Still, as it was a special head,
Mowgag, Aeneas' minder -
Bright as a box of rocks, but musical -
Spiked it, then hoisted it, and twizzling the pole
Beneath the blue, the miles of empty air,
Marched to the chingaling of its tinklers,
A majorette, towards the Greeks, the tower.

Yet more proof that a nonstandard approach to this ancient poem can produce fantastic results. I hope Logue finishes his decades-long work, and one day we have the complete War Music in one volume.

i enjoyed this immensely. it was an engaging narrative of the 3rd and 4th books.

Christopher Logue's reinterpretation of Homer's Iliad is not only a masterful historic achievment; it is fine poetry in its own right. Not so much a translation as a re-imagining, War Music and its add-ons (All Day Permanent Red and Cold Calls) bring the great classic to life in a way his stuffier predecessors never managed. Sometimes tragic and sometimes comic, always vivid and never academic, these books are a must for lovers of ancient history, fine writing or just a terrific adventure story. Highly reccommended. Mungo MacCallum, Ocean Shores, Australia.

Every good thing you've read about this book and Christopher Logue's work is true.
The bronze age struggle comes through clearly despite the 'modern' references and word choice. I recommend this to every poet and any person who loves words and good writing.

In creating his own account of Homer's Iliad, Logue has in fact succeeded in creating very much his own poem. His War Music moves at a swift pace, at times enhanced by film script language, at times by witty similes to modern day phenomena, and always with a great sense of humour that leaves the gods and goddesses unrevered, while leaving the bitter earnest of war and all it entails intact. Superb effort, I sincerely hope the poet will manage to complete the series.

This is just about the best, most beautiful, most powerful poetry I've ever read. I'd also suggest this book for reading and discussion groups, as it has so much to talk about in it, while being a pretty quick read. I've been told more than once that it is very difficult for non-native English speakers, however.

We gathered some friends together, some experienced actors, some not, and read Kings and War Music aloud. Voices create moments of transcendent beauty and horror.

I've been told a group of actors in England have read Kings in the dark, with a sound track of horses, chariots and the sounds of arrows hitting the sides of the ships. I don't know if I could bear hearing it that way, it might be too much.

Mike O'Brien

Great book for any cat lover

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

"Puss in Boots" has endured as a classic children's book because the story is excellent. The graphics are intricate, crisp, and clear. I read "Puss in Boots" at a Read Across America event to 50 second-graders. Most, if not all, of them had never heard of "Puss in Boots". There was shock and outcry when the Ogre shrank himself to the size of a mouse and then was eaten by Puss. They wanted to know why!!! The Ogre was a victim of his own ego - a show off. And Puss was ruthless. The childrens' imaginations and reasoning were stretched and the story gave them a lot to think about. I highly recommend "Puss in Boots".

Puss in boots is always an enjoyable tale, probably because it is so based on wit.

I really enjoyed these illustrations they are glowing and friendly, making one feel very comfortable as they turn the pages. Puss is adorable, the expressions that our fine illustrator manages to convey through his feline features are just fantastic! Time and time again I was always dissapointed when I found a page that the lovely cat was not on.

A wonderful additition to any collection of books for children or lover of fairy tales.

The story of a guy that is down on his luck and broke, and all he has is a cat. Lucky for him, as this cat turns out to be rather clever. It guides him to an improvement in his station, once he realises it has intelligence.

They end up dealing with royalty, ogres, and other entertaining situations.

Facial expressions are everything in Fred Marcellino's illustrations of Puss in Boots, the famous folk tale by Charles Perrault. This book won the Caldecott Honor Medal in 1991.

As a children's librarian, I always ask my audience where the story begins. Their assumption is on page one until I show them that sometimes the story begins on the cover. Children's illustrators are nothing if not creative. Look at the dust jacket--there he is, Puss looking regal in royal clothes. Now turn to the title page: Puss is seeking food on a ship in the form of unsuspecting mice. Where is this story going with two discrepant images? Page two of the double spread--Puss is going to be eaten. Look at that feline face? Eaten? Say whaaaa?

Now Puss gets boots and begins to show his new master his guiles, all the while gifting the king with the largesse of his own lands, which Puss passes off as gifts from the Marquis of Carabas, a name Puss invents for his poor master. This elaborate ruse is continued until Puss manages a marriage between the king's daughter and his Marquis, all without a hitch. Well, of course, this is a fairy tale, if you consider Puss as a kind of fairy. That is the simple straight-away of the story.

Now consider the artwork, the finest version of any I have ever seen for Puss. The poor peasant/Marquis is handsome, Puss is handsome, the princess is beautiful, the castle is gorgeous, clothing is awesome, the ogre is ugly. Look again. The artwork is reminiscent of paintings from the Renaissance when perspective was "invented" and all artwork was perfect and detailed. Is Marcellino saying that Puss was placed in a perfect setting to display his perfect skills of ledgerdemaine, so to speak?

Notice also the location of "viewer," another aspect of perspective. The viewer is always part of the action, looking up or down or around or through or under, sometimes in a humorous view or scary or bold, but always right there, almost as part of the action.

If those qualities of his artwork aren't enough, what really stands out are the facial expressions Marcellino gives his characters, especially Puss. Two standouts are the picture of Puss shouting orders to the hay cutters and his totally relaxed pose at the end when his master has married the princess and confirmed a rosy future for the two of them. Puss has de-booted, or disarmed, himself for a fully deserved rest.

Marcellino should have won the gold for this book! (David Macauley won for Black and White. OK, tough call. As much as I love Puss in Boots, I have to go with Black and White. However, my sentence stands because it makes a catchy ending.)

I don't typically enjoy poetry. Maybe I'm too simple, but I usually need at least a modicum of a storyline and decent characterization in my literature. And most poetry I remember from school didn't have those aspects. Sure, lots of imagery and allusion, but not much on the storytelling.

That said, I was absolutely blown away by Logue's version of the Iliad. As another reviewer suggested, reimagining great works has a dubious past, but Logue is such a tremendous stylist his interpretation succeeds on every level. He maintains the emotion and power of the original, and he maintains plotline that has enthralled for thousands of years. But at the same time his English brings Homer directly to contemporary readers. For such a slim volume, it generated a lot of enjoyment.

My biggest disappointment is that so many of Logue's chapters of the Iliad are out-of-paint.

I've always been wary of people "reimaging" -- to use Hollywood's latest buzzword -- the classics but it's next to impossible to condemn Christopher Logue's work in reinterpreting Homer's Illiad. In All Day Permanent Red, Logue rewrites the first battles in the Illiad and the result is a fantastic updating of books 5 and 6. Mixing ancient and modern metaphors in his poetry, Logue brings home the juxtaposition in war both as horror and joy. I'm a traditionalist, I don't much care for people messing about with the books I love, but I have nothing but applause for Logue.

British poet Christopher Logue continues his decades-long rewriting of Homer's tale of war with this slim volume, which comprises books five and six of the Iliad. Since these books feature the first battles in the Iliad, this book is action-packed from first page to last. An online reviewer compared this book to the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan," and that's a very apt comparison. Like those twenty minutes of film, the fifty pages that make up All Day Permanent Red are a hectic, heart-pounding melee of bloodshed.

More importantly, this book marks the first appearance in action of my favorite character in the Iliad, Diomedes. Though here he is called Diomed, or the Child, as Logue occasionally refers to him. Diomedes is like a replacement Achilles; while that famous hero sulks in his ship, Diomedes takes up the mantle of "wartime hero" and destroys every Trojan in his path. Logue's handling of the character is excellent, especially in the way he is introduced. As Odysseus witnesses his Achaean fellows being slaughtered on the battlefield, he prays to the god Athena for help. What follows is the best line in the book:

Setting down her topaz saucer heaped with nectarine jelly,
Emptying her blood-red mouth, set in her ice-white face,
Teenaged Athena jumped up and shrieked:
"Kill! Kill for me!
Better to die than live without killing!"
Who says prayer does no good?

As you can see from this quote, Logue's is not a standard translation of the Iliad. As any reader of his earlier collection "War Music" knows, Logue re-writes and changes the Iliad to suit his tastes. In fact, the man can't even read Greek. But his version of the book is adored by Homer-ophiles. If you asked me, I'd rather read Logue's cinematic bursts of action-packed, freestyle verse over any of the more noted, straight-up translators, such as Fagles, Lattimore, and Fitzgerald.

This book is highly recommended to anyone who's read the Iliad, and wants to see a master writer at work. The only problem is that it's so short, and I fear that Logue won't be able to finish the whole of the Iliad itself. We can only hope.

Christopher Logue, All Day Permanent Red: The First Battle Scenes of Homer's Iliad Rewritten (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003)

All Day Permanent Red isn't a bad book, really; the gimmick everyone's been raving about, Logue's meshing of the story of The Iliad with modern idiom, works surprisingly well:

"Think of the moment when far from the land
Molested by a mile-a-minute wind
The ocean starts to roll, then rear, then roar
Over itself in rank on rank of waves
Their sides so steep their smoky crests so high
300,000 plunging tons of aircraft carrier
Dare not sport its beam.
But Troy, afraid, yet more afraid
Lest any lord of theirs should notice any one of them
Flinching behind his mask
Has no alternative."
(37)

The problem here is that Logue hasn't transplanted enough of the actual Iliad for anyone who isn't already intimately familiar with Homer's original to get terribly much out of it. I wouldn't recommend it until you've at least read the original; perhaps, as Logue publishes more books in the series, it'll get fleshed out enough to be able to be approached by the Homer novice, but it is not yet to that point by any means. ***

Christopher Logue has a lot of guts. He's gotten into the ring with the likes of Fagles, Lattimore, Fitzgerald, Pope, and most courageously, Homer himself - and acquitted himself well. Mr. Logue has pulled "The Iliad," into the 21st Century with less a translation than a re-write. It appears there are numerous volumes containing sections of Mr. Logue's work, and it's a little hard to keep track, but two editions offered on Amazon.com's website, "War Music," and the wondrously titled, "All Day Permanent Red," seem to contain it all.

Mr. Logue writes in a robust verse form that retains the epic language while exploring possibilities for a cinematic look on scenes and situations, as well as opening the field to modern metaphor. Unlike Barry Unsworth's interpolations in "The Songs of the Kings," Mr. Logue's don't jar, but rather deepen, and lift the story from some mythical past to something that is played out continually. A great device considering "The Iliad" is arguably the blue-print for every war story ever written.

I think "All Day Permanent Red" would work for readers with no pre-knowledge of the source, and though I've been through at least three previous translations it certainly worked for me.

Five Stars!

First "War Music", then "Kings" followed by "The Husbands" and now "All Day Permanent Red". Christopher Logue continues to dazzle and thrill with his books based on Homer's Iliad. It's the wonderful juxtaposition of classical images and modern day description that just works. It works when by all accounts all you should have is a hopeless mess. I can't rationally analyze why, but for me the poems operate on a almost physical level. I can feel that sun in the azure sky, so bright it hurts BEHIND your eyes, I can hear the crack of the oiled leather tack on foam-mouthed horses rolling their eye whites to Olympus, I can hear the flight of whispered arrows and I'm dazzled by the Sun God reflecting past glories off burnished armor.

What an achievement. And now there's a new volume to read, "Homer's Cold Calls" which is proving very difficult to find here in the USA and I will be having a buddy buy for me in the UK.