•
Rating: Perhaps it would have been called "Diomedeide" if Homer had actually narrated the return of King Diomedes to Argos. A return that, like much of the Nostoi—the return journeys of the heroes of the Trojan War—ends in the worst possible way: some of the Achaean leaders do not even manage to return home—such as Ajax the Lesser who drowns during a storm at sea—and those who do, fall victim to treacherous conspiracies—Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean expedition, is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. However, there are exceptions: some manage to survive and are fated to return "Late and poorly" as prophesied by the seer Tiresias to King Odysseus; a prophecy which will indeed come true as a sad and exhausting return of the sovereign of Ithaca.
Diomedes, however, manages to return to Argos, but does not receive the welcome he would have deserved: his wife has betrayed him, his people have forgotten him. The king flees his city and sets off for Italy (Hesperia) where he will have to face an endless series of wanderings in an attempt to found a new homeland. But in battling wild tribes on land and bloodthirsty pirates at sea, Diomedes will again encounter the most powerful warrior he has ever faced, a man who carries within him a specter of the past in the form of the most bloodthirsty and heartbreaking conflict man has ever known. He is the powerful son of Anchises, patriarch of the glorious Roman lineage...Aeneas of Troy!
The Marshes of Hesperia is a fascinating journey into classical tradition, filling a gap that Homeric and Virgilian sources had left aside. Diomedes' adventure is, in fact, no less powerful than those of Odysseus or Aeneas: it is indeed very likely that it was often mentioned already during the Hellenic period, thanks to oral stories and the songs of the bards. Valerio Massimo Manfredi thus retells the story in a poetic and masterful way, giving voice to a mysterious narrator who recounts the story of the king of Argos, just as any preacher of the time would have done. He also adds many alternative and simultaneous events from a temporal point of view, like those involving Menelaus, king of Sparta, or Anchialus, companion of Diomedes, tasked with returning to Greece to inform compatriots of the menacing Dorian invasion—a people who, historically speaking, is responsible for the destruction of the Achaean cult.
The pace of the narrative is as always "Manfredi-style" that is technical, fluid, and refined to the point of inserting within the text the original terminology to identify cities and peoples of the era; therefore, the Phoenicians become Chnan and Troy becomes Vilusya. Everything is obviously specified in a handy dictionary found at the end of the narrative. At the beginning of the book, there is also an interesting topography of the ancient world that will thrill many non-specialist readers (like myself) who will be fascinated by the old appearance of our peninsula.
The novel indeed draws inspiration from the epos but presents unequivocal elements aimed at "historicizing" it to make it more distant from the imaginary and closer to a more sober and truthful narration. In this regard, the complete absence of divine entities—present in a metaphysical and not physical form—becomes a glaring testimony of this narrative choice. The atmosphere is very similar to that of Greek tragedy, meaning you never feel the boldness for adventure or the excitement of discovery; there is only the despondence and subjugation to all the obstacles that will appear on the characters' path. The virtue of arms and the glory of triumph, however, remain indispensable: we notice it in the epic final duel between Aeneas and Diomedes, a moment where the dark and treacherous pride of the Trojan conflict comes back to life in the misty marshes of Hesperia.
Recommended.
Federico "Dragonstar" Passarella
Loading comments slowly
