The Iliad

To kick off my foray into the Great Books of Human Civilization, I’ve been reading the Iliad. During my freshman year of high school I read the Odyssey, so I’m getting flashbacks to that mediocre year of my life.

I’m just over halfway finished, and it’s not really doing much for me. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be getting out of it; it’s basically a big war between the Achaeans and the Trojans, and there’s not much of a plot, and I don’t really know what the big deal is. But seeing as how it’s apparently the foundation for all of Western literature, I’m going to persevere. I prefer to have read it than actually to be reading it, though.

Anyway, if any of you more academic- or literature-oriented people out there know of any good commentaries on the Iliad, let me know. I’m reading the 1990 translation of it by Robert Fagles, which contains an introductory essay by Bernard Knox. I’m going to read the essay when I’m done with the Iliad itself, but I’d like to know what I’m supposed to be getting out this.
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