James Russell
Something of the spirit of Virgil’s poem has been transposed to southern England in1959. All of the major and most of the minor events and characters are here, the events refracted through modernity or new narratives, the characters thinly disguised (Laocoön is Loud Colin; the harpies are Mrs Harpic; Pallas is Patsy), and the relocations easy to spot (Troy is in Richmond; Carthage is a village in Wiltshire; the games are in Weymouth; the nascent Rome is Bristol). But readers need to know nothing of The Aeneid (or even to have heard of it) to enjoy this freewheeling, humorous, and socially reflective verse novel. In an addendum, Virgil’s founding myth of the Roman Empire becomes the founding myth of the digital world.
