I remember as a child visiting The British Museum in London on a school trip and being told the story of Theseus and Aegeus. Theseus, the princee of Athens, volunteers to slay the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Before he left he tells his father King Aegeus that on his safe return he would change the sails to white. If he did not survive the sails would stay black.
Despite his success defeating the Minotaur he forgets to change the sails. I’m sure I was told he had fallen asleep, but what I have read since contradicts this. Instead he just forgets.1
That forgetful mistake costs him his father’s life. Watching from the cliff edge Aegeus sees the black sails and assumes his son is dead and throws himself into the sea (how the Aegean Sea apparently got its name).
Since then though I’ve not been able to find the artwork that this story relates to that would have been on display in London at that time.
Anyway, that sparked the start of my journey into Greek mythology. I dipped into reading stories here and there and even based textile and art projects on some of the myths I enjoyed. Needless to say teenage me didn’t produce anything worth keeping.
I see greek myths as my indulgence when it comes to books. I hate thrillers and rom coms, but a greek myth, which is usually overly dramatic, is the perfect palette cleanser and for me the ideal summer read.
My biggest frustration with the greek myths is how forgetful I am. Particularly with the names, who derives from whom. Who kills or avengers who etc! This month I plan to try and get through all of the greek myth stragglers on my bookshelf. As well as a few that I have on hold at my library.
Books
Read along book - anyone out there who would like to join me in a read along an together discuss the book I’ve chosen Medusa by Jessie Burton - a feminist retelling of Medusa. Who in my eyes has one of the most heartbreaking and misrepresented stories. I’ve read a few about her and i’m interested to see how this one compares. (full review to come)
The last few weeks I’ve really jumped in to reading the myths. It started with The Odyssey by Stephen Fry a book that has been on my bookshelf for a couple of years. Personally I had a very up and down experience. Fry is an amazing story teller, his knowledge is expansive to say the least. I did find though, that the specific way that he wrote dialogue was extremely jarring. It reminded me of the time I read The Penelopaid by Margaret Atwood at the time I found Penelope insufferable and I couldn’t understand why she was waiting around for Odysseus for so long. I would be intrigued to read it again since reading Fry’s novel exploring the other side of this story.
It sparked me to pick up Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth by Natalie Haynes a more narrative non fiction breaking down and retelling Goddesses through myth to modern day retelling using people like Katniss Everdeen (usually associated with Artemis). I really enjoyed her style of writing which felt extremely informative but also bought to life. After this I went straight into reading Pandora’s Jar By Natalie Haynes which did feel a little repetitive. But I did find reading so close together rather than feeling that there was duplication it was nice to revisit some of the goddesses and build on the knowledge. I enjoyed divine might more but only because I read it first.
I’ve heard that Madeline Miller should be releasing a new book Persephone this year, but we’re past halfway and I’ve not seen anything more on it. Miller is an author who I love. Both Song of Achilles and Circe are powerful and beautiful retellings. Song of Achilles is such a beautiful love story and Circe is an incredible retelling of a girl finding herself and becoming a powerful woman. At times unkind and misguided but we all make mistakes right!
I’m intrigued to see how Jessie Burtons Medusa compares to Natalie Hayne’s Stone Blind, the only other retelling that I have read so far. This takes Medusa’s history carefully weaving all the threads together. It also gave the back story to what lead Perseus to Medusa which I liked having another layer to why he did what he did.
What’s next?
Looking at my bookshelf I have Elektra by Jennifer Saint to read, but I’ve heard mixed reviews so I’m not really rushing to grab it.
I recently had the luxury of perusing daunt books in Marylebone and this caught my eye!
I’ve heard that Circe is becoming a TV show which I’m very excited for. Miller also has another book out very soon but no release dates that I can see!
Sorry, but he just forgot? It’s not like taking out the bins…! All I’m saying is a woman would not forget!
Splendid, more books for my endlessly sprawling TBR list! 😂
Medusa does sound intriguing, as do some of those others.
I remember when I was learning about Greek mythology, the story of Theseus and the Minotaur was one of the earliest I can recall, and I was so devastated when Theseus failed to change the flag, I was like 'nooooo, how could you be so careless?!?!' I think I was even angry with him over it, and that sort of scarred me (in a healthy way).