Review: Spud Spicolli versus Achilles, or why to read the Iliad

And this book would be another of the one’s that I would give away to Goodwill–another casuality of my desire to shed some weight before moving. I suppose my decision to give it away has more to do with my desire to give away books that I will never feasibly read again rather than anything I have personally against the book. What really made me like this book? Perhaps my connection with the book is not so obvious–after all, it’s not even really a book in the classical sense. It’s a poem that has been recited and passed down over some 3,000 years. It’s history transformed by literary tactic, politics, and the desires of an audience. What made me really enjoy this book is the lectures one of my professors John Paul Russo gave about this book. He had a way of really bringing to life the heroic elements of the book. I loved, for example, his explanation of Achilles as the first “anti-hero”. Wow! What an insight. Is there a connection between Spud Spicolli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Achilles. Was Achilles telling Agamemnon to cram it similar to good old Mr. Spicolli telling Mr. Hand to take it easy? There is quite a lot to love about this book, but I think the book only really works these days if you have someone well-versed in the history guiding you through it. For one of the first literary masterpieces, its characters are surprisingly complex, the landscapes very vivid, and the political and historical implications very profound–but you need someone to open these aspects up to you before you can really enjoy the book. I just hope whoever ends up with my copy of the book enjoys the experience as much as I did.

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