The Æneid
Virgil
Gavin said that he tried to read at least one classic a year as a way of
broadening his reading about other cultures and times. He commented that he
was surprised to find how unsympathetic the main characters (and in particular the Trojan Æneas) were. The author describes Æneas as being "The True" despite his running out on Dido. He was also surprised at the portayals of the wars in Italy caused by the arrival of the Trojans. It was hard to
imagine how the Romans could look back on this mythic piece of colonisation
and not be ashamed.
Finally, Gavin commented that when he had read the book he had a strange sense of déja vu as the story of the Æneid forms the background to and the model for so many other stories that he had read before.
Gavin 16/01/00
The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.