The magic and darkness of the 'Iliad' want to conquer the youngest readers

BarcelonaThe elevator that goes up to the headquarters of Combel, a seal of children's literature from the Casals publishing house, is a gateway to another dimension. Upon reaching the corresponding floor, the visitor comes face to face with the cardboard version of the characters that delight the youngest readers at home: Agus Pianola, protagonist of the series Agus and the Monsters, the robot Bitmax, the endearing cat Mixifú, and the mysterious Ticniks. Inside a small room are the creators of the seal's latest and tempting proposal, the adaptation of the Iliad prepared by translator Pau Sabaté (Barcelona, 1989) and illustrator Arnal Ballester (Barcelona, 1955). The volume condenses, in just under 200 pages, all the magic and darkness of one of the literary classics par excellence. The epic poem attributed to Homer and dating from the 8th century BC aims to win over new generations of fans as it did, in 2008, with the adaptation for Combel of the Odyssey by Albert Jané and illustrated by Pep Montserrat.

"The first time I read the Iliadthe latest verse translation of the more than 15,000 verses of the poemWhat lies behind Achilles' wrath?

The Iliad delves into Achilles' wrath during the Trojan War. "Why did Achilles and Agamemnon fight? –we read at the beginning of the Combel volume–. They had been fighting together for nine years under the walls of Troy; Agamemnon, as supreme commander of the Greeks, Achilles, as their best warrior. What god drove them to become enraged with each other?". Achilles decides to abandon the battlefield because the war no longer makes sense to him, but his decision will lead to the death of Patroclus, his soulmate. Driven by wrath, Achilles will seek Patroclus's murderer, none other than Hector, son of the king of Troy, to put an end to him.

Arnal Ballester was captivated by the Odyssey when he read it years ago, but the Iliad proved difficult for him. "I found it more demanding –he comments–. If you approach it superficially, you see mainly battles and violence, but beneath this wrapper I have been able to verify, thanks to Pau's version, that there is a very fine vision of the characters' psychology and human contradictions". To give his vision of the epic poem, Ballester did not want to consider the illustration of classics. "It is very fin-de-siècle and Noucentist, it moves away from my aesthetic approaches –he says–. I started from the Greek imaginary that everyone has in mind, which basically comes from ceramic painting, to arrive at a place that is neither a copy nor a pastiche". Although this Iliad is intended for an audience that has not yet reached adolescence, Ballester did not want to spare violence or cruelty: "Young people are surrounded by aggression and it cannot be hidden that there is some in the book. The other element is cruelty: Achilles is not content with killing Hector, he also wants to humiliate him as the enemy and adversary he is". The armor that Ballester draws is not spotless. Although in Homer's poem the warriors end up soaked in blood, the illustrator has limited himself somewhat when showing it: "I allow myself splashes and that's it", he says.

One of the favorite characters for both Ballester and Sabaté is Helen. When Paris kidnaps the queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus and takes her to Troy, he triggers the war in which Achilles will end up participating. "It's easy to blame Helen as the culprit of the conflict, but whenever she speaks in the Iliad she says interesting and powerful things – recalls the translator–. In Homer's work she is not judged, it is later Greek literature that somehow condemns her." The sympathy that Ballester shows for Helen in the illustrations consists of "ridiculing Paris", her abductor: "I think he's a pathetic guy," he says.

Sabaté also likes Hector: "He dedicates himself to defending his wife, his young son, and the city. He is admirable, but his psychology is not as interesting or as complex as Achilles', who is the center of the story." Ballester admits that Achilles is unlikeable to him, "even though he expresses more contradictions and tells more truths." "He is an adolescent – he admits–. He lives on an emotional roller coaster, just like many young people. That's why I think he can still connect with him right away."