Song Of Achilles

"The Therapy of Epic" might be what this whole podcast network is about.

"Emo Superman" is a great characterization, though. But, yeah, that's really only a view we can have through our own cultural lens. And Odysseus has been getting quite a bit of reassessment lately, largely through the lens of feminism, and it's been really interesting to (very loosely) follow. I haven't read Emily Wilson's new translation yet, but I'm eager to check it out.

To follow up, I really like this book and I enjoyed your discussion about it. I had actually taken this as Patroclus narrating the story in real-time first person, including after his death. But I like your interpretation, that it's an after-the-fact telling by Patroclus' ghost.

This book and following Classics Discussions on Twitter has really turned me around on Achilles. I used to think Achilles was "emo Superman", with his whole pouty, "I'm not going to fight anymore because SAD!" vibe, but I see him much more sympathetically now. Also, I used to be a big Odysseus fan, because he's smart, but he's also a raging ass who ends up killing his whole crew and most of his household to get home and satisfy his weird sense of honor.

Recommend following Prof. Joel Christensen (@sentantiq on Twitter) as a starting point for classics on Twitter. I just got a copy of his book about Odysseus, The Many Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic. I expect it to be about three times too smart for me. He's a professor at Brandeis in Massachusetts. Might be interesting to get him on Agnus one of these days.

Song of Achilles is so good! I haven't read Circe yet, though that's how my wife and I came to know of Miller's work. I'll look forward to your thoughts in a few months!