Orpheus: The Song of Life

Western icon and poets’ poet, Orpheus is so mutable that, like many figures of ancient religious traditions, it’s difficult to tell where reality leaves off and myth begins. Wroe (Being Shelley: The Poet’s Search for Himself), a writer and editor for the Economist, seeks out the archetypal dimensions of her exquisite figure, one discovered not only in Greek and Roman writings but also in Hindu Vedas, Babylonian scripture, and Irish stories. She is deliberately less clear in separating story from fact. Real or not, as supposed inventor of the alphabet, Orpheus remains male muse to writers and composers as diverse as Rilke, Anouilh, Valéry, Bacon, Plato (who was not known for worshipping at the gooey altar of art), Ovid, Cocteau, Milosz, Monteverdi, and more. Orpheus even passes from history in a Christ-like manner; overtly identified with Jesus by the fifth century, he is said to have been violently killed at sunset. It remains unclear whether the musician-poet is buried in the foothills of Mount Olympus or near lesser known Kardzhali in Bulgaria. Wroe develops her odd blending of real and unreal, somewhat reminiscent of the writing of Edith Hamilton, within seven chapters, one for each string of Orpheus’s lyre, and the book sings in a learned, singular manner. Agent: Andrew Wiley, The Wiley Agency. (June)