fajrdrako | The Persian Boy...

Did I mention that my Bagoas icon is by the talented

_ming? To whom I am very grateful.

At lunchtime, I started to reread The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. I know how I loved that book, but I haven't read it for a number of years, and what a treat to be immersed in it again. I remember how much I especially liked the beginning, the part about Bagoas' life before he met Alexander, about life in Persia. I had forgotten what horrible sexual abuse he underwent, but I remembered Oromedon very clearly.

I was reading again on the bus on the way home, and got so immersed I missed my bus stop and had to walk back a couple of blocks. It won't be the first time.

Among other things, I wanted to see (because I couldn't remember), how Mary Renault handled the language issue when Bagoas and Alexander met. This is something I was struggling with in the story I wrote. She had Bagoas already able to speak Greek, which he had learned from Greeks living in Susa. Is this plausible? Since she makes a case for a considerable Greek contingent in Persia, and in Bagoas' sphere of reference... I guess so. The more I think of it, the more unconvincing I think it is, but that's okay, she set it up skillfully and it removes a lot of story problems.

I can't use that route, though.