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Loading... The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseusby Margaret Atwood
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Meh...read Madeline Miller's "Circe" for a far more engaging retrospective account of the journey of Odysseus as told by a woman in his life. You'll still meet Penelope there, as well, and Miller makes her lots more interesting than does Atwood. ( ) DNF at 70% I cannot believe I am DNFing this! I am just so painfully bored and underwhelmed, which is truly tragic because I love all the ingredients here, but this is a spiceless dish. Let me be explicit. I thoroughly enjoy Atwood's writing. I love Helenistic myth. I adore feminist retellings. I think the project is a wonderful and important and worthwhile endeavour. This one just doesn't do it for me. I don't know if I've been spoilt by other retellings and stories from marginalised creators, but I just didn't get anything more out of the book itself than the very good premise. And this is Margaret Atwood doing Peneolpe's perspective of the Odyssey, but it's just fine, very light and one note on the feminism when there is a whole lot more to say, particularly with the handmaidens as many others have pointed out, as well as it not being very sex positive or sympathetic to the plight of slaves - which wouldn't be as big a deal of this wasn't a feminist retelling and technically being told from a modern time with Peneolpe reflecting on two thousand years. It's just kinda very white middle class feminism and boring to boot. I'm sorry Margaret and to anyone who thinks this makes me a bad feminist. I just think we deserve more interesting stories and a greater grasp of kyriarchy and intersectionality in our post-millennium feminist literature. I am always confused when I read mythological retellings to give voice to the (usually voiceless) women in myth and then that one woman whom the author has given voice to spends a great chunk of her time talking about how awful all the OTHER women in myths are. In a brief 199 pages, Atwood manages to throw nearly every other female player in the orbit of Odysseus under the bus for seemingly no reason. Additionally this retelling somehow failed at giving Penelope any type of personality. She truly was like the water her mother told her to be - formless and pliant.
She channels Penelope by way of Absolutely Fabulous; one can imagine her chain-smoking and swilling wine between cracks about the weakness of men and the misery they visit upon women. Atwood has done her research: she knows that penelopeia means "duck" in Greek; that ribald stories about a Penelope - whether "our Penelope" or someone else - were circulated; and that virginity could be renewed by the blood of male sacrifice. Is contained inCanongate Myth Series: A Short History of Myth, The Penelopiad, Weight, and Dream Angus by Karen Armstrong The Myths (A Short History of Myth / The Penelopiad / Weight / Dream Angus / Helmet of Horror / Lion's Honey) by Karen Armstrong Margaret Atwood Collection - The Handmaid's Tale, The Penelopiad, Life Before Man, Cats Eye, Murder In The Dark by Margaret Atwood Has the adaptationWas inspired byThe Odyssey by Homer Has as a reference guide/companion
Now that I'm dead I know everything - The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus retold on audio. Margaret Atwood gives Penelope a modern and witty voice to tell her side of the story, and set the record straight for good. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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