Very sad to learn of the death of the poet Christopher Logue, whose War Music is a magnificently contemporary reworking of the Iliad, unfortunately unfinished. He had a singular poetic voice and was an interesting and lively character, writing for Private Eye, and appearing in Ken Russel's `The Devils', among other things.
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Christopher Logue: 1926-2011
I was sorry to read of the death on Friday of Christopher Logue, whose War Music radio dramatisations of Homer were so powerful, the words viscerally evoking the violence of the Trojan war. Sad to think, too, that it is almost inconceivable to think of R3 mounting such a project nowadays.
Here is the Guardian obituary.
(Thanks for merging this, ff)Last edited by aeolium; 05-12-11, 11:40. -
oh that makes me feel old ...... how fresh this was then ...According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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He appeared with the wonderful Alan Howard on-stage at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London NW6 'doing' bits of War Music No costumes (they were in casual jackets and trousers), two chairs, no scenery, just their voices & the text to power along a great evening. Logue was quite short & florid, Howard taller and paler and I remember the hair standing up on the back of my neck several times with the effects they created.
His contributions to Private Eye made me chortle too.
Sad news.Comment
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I am a Conservative.According to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.Comment
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Ironic to think that some of his writings once shocked...Comment
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Do boarders know this brief verse of his :
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It’s too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
And he pushed
And they flew…
Usually it is attributed to Apollinaire. I could never understand why this is so. And then, one day, in a second-hand bookshop in York, I fell into conversation with the owner, who knew Logue. This is what he told me. Logue had been commissioned to write the words for a poster for an exhibition of Apollinaire’s work. Being a literary magpie, in this case he took a stanza from a lengthy poem of his own (published in New Numbers in 1969) and used it on the poster.
So from thenceforth, it became part of Apollinaire’s public heritage, repeated constantly on the net. How ironic that is, given that Logue stole from all and sundry throughout his career.
As mentioned by others, Christopher Logue is perhaps best remembered now for his version for radio of Homer’s Iliad. This is a brief passage from Part One, War Music:
The battle swayed.
Half-naked men hacked slowly at each other
As the Greeks eased back the Trojans.
They stood close;
Closer; thigh in thigh; mask twisted over iron mask
Like kissing.
Dramatic stuff!Comment
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Free Thinking tonight is on Logue’s War Music:
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