That’s no way to speak to God
Here we have Helen’s cuckolded husband Menalaus screaming at God in the most colourful terms. I like the idea of...
Here comes Hera
One goddess you should never cross, quick to rouse to wrath and terrible in her exactions. Divinely, drop-dead gorgeous, of course.
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Love among the rubble
This refers to a love affair that burgeons in the grimness of Stalingrad, and I like how Grossman expands the...
Of time and mind
A beautiful story about a Jewish school teacher in a town subjected to Nazi massacre. Rosenthal defends his right to...
Nestor berates the Greeks
Old Nestor has a few choice words to say to his fellow Greeks for their unwillingness to take on the...
Torment-filled pupil
This doesn't refer to a struggling school child but rather the traumatic last moments of a horse in a war...
The shape of things to come
Leigh Fermor's walk across Europe in the early 1930s captures many things that would be swept away in the following...
Flailing blades and razored vanes
This reminds me of pictures of ancient war chariots in children’s history books, with blades poking out of the wheel...
On pointless hatred
In with the gore and glory of Homer's war-words, there are repeated expressions of sorrow at human hatred. 'Soul-perishing' echoes...
Ugly birds and beautiful plumes
An odd image this. Gleaming helmets topped with bobbing plumes of beautiful birds can create mirages of battlefield glamour, building...
War and letters
Letters were a lifeline for people in war, whether fighting it or waiting for someone who was, or simply trying...
Free trade and British decency
Winder breezily lobs perspective into cosy schoolyard us-and-them memories. Britain had a role in triggering the first world war (among...
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