group A, Week 2 Blog Post
In Italo Calvino’s article on what is a classic, he writes several suggestions on what defines a classic. One of them is “A classic is something that tends to relegate the concerns of the moment to the status of background noise, but at the same time this background noise is something we cannot do without.”
In the Iliad, there is a strong interplay between what the concern of the moment is on a micro and macroscopic level. When the the Iliad begins, we are thrown into the middle of the Trojan War. This is the macroscopic conflict. The Trojan war has been going on for several years and the soldiers are “praying to flee death and the grind of war” (Il. 2.476). On the microscopic level, though, the conflict is between Achilles and Agamemnon. The two have gotten into a fight, and Agamemnon chooses to take Achilles’s prize, Briseis (Il 1.228). Achilles is left with bitter anger because he has been cheated by Agamemnon.
The entirety of the Iliad seems to focus on how the Achaeans defeat the Trojans. But this is not how the Iliad finishes. The the Iliad finishes when Achilles gives Priam Hector’s body. This is when Achilles’s “longing for it had left his mind and body” (Il. 24.601)—it being Achilles’s rage for the loss of Briseis and Patroclus. It can be said that a national war was entirely caused by one soldier, for Achilles prays to his mother Thetis for the Trojans to beat the Achaeans until respect is restored to Achilles. From this perspective, the macrocosmic struggle between the Archaeans is hinged on the individual struggle of Achilles.
For this reason the Iliad exemplifies a classic. It keeps the human aspect persistent even when the main event in some of the chapters is the war. And the war is a grand story that deals with the question of athleticism in relation to finding balance—balance of a country and balance of the mind.
In the Iliad, there is a strong interplay between what the concern of the moment is on a micro and macroscopic level. When the the Iliad begins, we are thrown into the middle of the Trojan War. This is the macroscopic conflict. The Trojan war has been going on for several years and the soldiers are “praying to flee death and the grind of war” (Il. 2.476). On the microscopic level, though, the conflict is between Achilles and Agamemnon. The two have gotten into a fight, and Agamemnon chooses to take Achilles’s prize, Briseis (Il 1.228). Achilles is left with bitter anger because he has been cheated by Agamemnon.
The entirety of the Iliad seems to focus on how the Achaeans defeat the Trojans. But this is not how the Iliad finishes. The the Iliad finishes when Achilles gives Priam Hector’s body. This is when Achilles’s “longing for it had left his mind and body” (Il. 24.601)—it being Achilles’s rage for the loss of Briseis and Patroclus. It can be said that a national war was entirely caused by one soldier, for Achilles prays to his mother Thetis for the Trojans to beat the Achaeans until respect is restored to Achilles. From this perspective, the macrocosmic struggle between the Archaeans is hinged on the individual struggle of Achilles.
For this reason the Iliad exemplifies a classic. It keeps the human aspect persistent even when the main event in some of the chapters is the war. And the war is a grand story that deals with the question of athleticism in relation to finding balance—balance of a country and balance of the mind.
I like how you contrast the macro and microscopic conflicts found in the Iliad. I hadn't thought about how the "background noise" affect the ongoing conflict that is central in this poem. The battle between in the Achaeans and the Trojans is the background of the main theme of Achilles' rage. The theme of balance in this story is also integral in defining what it truly means to be athletic.
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