Taban lo Liyong
After Troy, Taban lo Liyong’s book length poem, is an expansive and engaging elaboration of two classical Greek texts, Homer’s Odyssey and Aeschylus’s Oresteia. The poem is ultimately a philosophical enquiry into retribution and justice. Its focus is the homecoming from the Trojan war of two hero-kings, Odysseus and Agamemnon. In a sequence of poetic monologues, lo Liyong recreates their thoughts and speech, introducing dialogue from other characters, most of them women, who are not given a voice in the ancient texts.
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Always light-hearted and yet philosophical, Taban lo Liyong’s poetry flows effortlessly, [opening] technical and thematic frontiers that energise the modern African poetic tradition. Lo Liyong’s poetry is a fresh harvest of wit, humour, and wordplay that any reader will feel happy to indulge in.
– Tanure Ojaide
