Zaubermärchen

The story launches with a flamboyant protest against the way ancient poets have been reshaped by later whims. A narrator, part scholar and part jester, denounces the absurd claims that Homer once roamed as a dromedary in Bactria and that a careless prophecy of a dandy Ovid still haunts the hills of Troy. In doing so, it sets a tone of irreverent humor that constantly riffs on the myths we think we know.

From there the narrative stages a series of vivid tableaux: Homer, lute in hand, recites verses beside his campfire while Apollo storms the scene with a bow of divine arrows; Odysseus is forced to choose between the rival poets, and Achilles’ legendary spear shatters in a desperate assault on Troy’s walls. The book weaves these episodes into a kaleidoscopic satire, blending scholarly footnotes with absurd dialogues, inviting listeners to hear the old epics as if they were being performed in a modern circus of ideas.