"The Penelopaid"
I was always fascinated by Greek Mythology. My first exposure to Greek Mythology was my browsing through some Junior Encyclopaedia books from my grandpa's collection. I used to cruise through those books for any article written in a story-like fashion. I came upon one entry, and then followed the links to other articles to discover that a thing like Greek Mythology existed. The different gods and goddesses, their kids, their relationships with mortals - made me think both worlds had collided too often in the mythological realm. It was amazing, really. I was also interested in Hindu Mythology. Talk about Ramayana and Mahabharath. I always used to pester my hindu friends into explaining about the different gods and goddesses and used to read any literature I could find that had any story related to Hindu Mythology. I always got confused with one particular god, and asked many of my friends to explain the same thing to me again and again. It still isn't in my head though.
Anyway, getting back to Greek Mythology. There are two original works of Homer that explain the tale of the Greek gods and goddesses, The Illiad and The Odyssey. The Illiad is about the Trojan war, how it started, why it started, how it ended; the link happens to have the whole book online. If you have seen the movie "Troy", it would give you an idea about the book.
The Odyssey talks about events that happened after the Trojan war. One of the main characters who led the war to victory was Odysseus. After the war, he had many adventures before he finally returned to his wife Penelope. The Odyssey talks about his adventures. But there is no record of what his wife Penelope had gone through during that time. There are mentions of Suitors trying to woo her to marry them because of her wealth, assuming that Odysseus had died during his travels. But that being less exciting than the life of Odysseus, nobody wrote anything about it. So Margaret Atwood took upon herself to write about Penelope, and her life. And thus "The Penelopaid" came into existence. I happened to come across it and I read it.
The name Margaret Atwood rang a distant bell in my head, and when I flipped in to check on what she had written before, I knew why. I had read one of her books "The Handmaid's Tale" when I was in Ethiopia. If there is anything I want to say about that book, its this: don't even think about reading that book even if you are dead bored. I didn't like "The Handmaid's Tale" vey much; the story-line was crap (according to me), though I liked the style of writing. I wouldn't say the same for "The Penelopaid".
Its mainly because of my interest in Greek Mythology that I think that this book is good. The story is a narrative of the main character, Penelope, who tells her story after she dies and goes to Hades (that is the underworld in Greek Mythology). Penelope is cousin to Helen of Troy, the beauty who was much sought after by all the eligible bachelors in the world, the lady who caused countless souls to depart from their bodies on her behalf, the only reason of the Trojan war. The book talks about how Penelope felt about Helen, how Helen had invariably been a reason for Odysseus to fight in the Trojan war, and thus be separated from her for twenty years. Also, there is the story of the twelve maids, maids of Penelope, who are excecuted mercilessly by Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, upon the return of the former from his travels.
I still haven't read Homer's works, so this book was a very interesting read. It gave me an insight into the other two books. If you are interested in Greek Mythology, this book would be a great start. Just so you know, there aren't any adventures of daring men or battles of different countries in this book. It has just the story of a wife who is separated from her husband, who stays true to him when he doesn't.
Anyway, getting back to Greek Mythology. There are two original works of Homer that explain the tale of the Greek gods and goddesses, The Illiad and The Odyssey. The Illiad is about the Trojan war, how it started, why it started, how it ended; the link happens to have the whole book online. If you have seen the movie "Troy", it would give you an idea about the book.
The Odyssey talks about events that happened after the Trojan war. One of the main characters who led the war to victory was Odysseus. After the war, he had many adventures before he finally returned to his wife Penelope. The Odyssey talks about his adventures. But there is no record of what his wife Penelope had gone through during that time. There are mentions of Suitors trying to woo her to marry them because of her wealth, assuming that Odysseus had died during his travels. But that being less exciting than the life of Odysseus, nobody wrote anything about it. So Margaret Atwood took upon herself to write about Penelope, and her life. And thus "The Penelopaid" came into existence. I happened to come across it and I read it.
The name Margaret Atwood rang a distant bell in my head, and when I flipped in to check on what she had written before, I knew why. I had read one of her books "The Handmaid's Tale" when I was in Ethiopia. If there is anything I want to say about that book, its this: don't even think about reading that book even if you are dead bored. I didn't like "The Handmaid's Tale" vey much; the story-line was crap (according to me), though I liked the style of writing. I wouldn't say the same for "The Penelopaid".
Its mainly because of my interest in Greek Mythology that I think that this book is good. The story is a narrative of the main character, Penelope, who tells her story after she dies and goes to Hades (that is the underworld in Greek Mythology). Penelope is cousin to Helen of Troy, the beauty who was much sought after by all the eligible bachelors in the world, the lady who caused countless souls to depart from their bodies on her behalf, the only reason of the Trojan war. The book talks about how Penelope felt about Helen, how Helen had invariably been a reason for Odysseus to fight in the Trojan war, and thus be separated from her for twenty years. Also, there is the story of the twelve maids, maids of Penelope, who are excecuted mercilessly by Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, upon the return of the former from his travels.
I still haven't read Homer's works, so this book was a very interesting read. It gave me an insight into the other two books. If you are interested in Greek Mythology, this book would be a great start. Just so you know, there aren't any adventures of daring men or battles of different countries in this book. It has just the story of a wife who is separated from her husband, who stays true to him when he doesn't.
posted by Grace at 6:16 AM
0 comments
