276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Greek Myths: A New Retelling, with drawings by Chris Ofili

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

This New Noise, a book based on her nine-part series of reports on the BBC, was published by Guardian-Faber in 2015. My favourite is the story of Arachne’s weaving contest with Athene when the misguided mortal tells Athena, “Explain it to me: the gods make laws for humans, and then refuse to follow those same laws themselves.

Andromache who knows that she's destined to lose her husband Hector all because of his awful brother and the woman who launched a thousand ships, Helen. It is their voices, it is their weaving fingers of experience, which gives these myths of old a vibrant new texture that readers will be able to feel as well as behold. Now my big shot out is to Penelope, construction wise her chapter doesn't do anything as interesting, but I love her! Charlotte Higgins's previous books include the acclaimed Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain, which was shortlisted for awards including the Samuel Johnson (now Baillie Gifford) Prize for non-fiction, and Red Thread, which was a Radio 4 Book of the Week and won the Arnold Bennett Prize 2019.A god can spy on a woman as much as he likes, it seems, though a man may no, even by mistake, glimpse a naked goddess. Inside the palace, Clytemnestra led her husband through to the bath, and, with smooth assurance, helped him strip off his clothes. At the sight of her, the mob fell back--they were blinded, burned, by the deadly, shimmering heat that came from her. Oh, except a few times the men are given a pass for their terrible behaviour and attempts are made to cast them as good guys. I’ve never read a compendium of Greek mythology quite like this; written variously from the POV’s female characters such as Penelope and Helen — they narrate their own myths as well as those of ancient gods and goddesses (and famous heroes, too!

Absolutely not, not even as a first-time reader of the myths, since the author manages something that I didn’t ever think it was possible: she makes Greek mythology terribly boring and unengaging. CONTENT WARNING - the classical myths are full of repulsive behaviour, mostly on the part of male gods. She includes deft Homeric epithets (“the deathless goddess”), unobtrusive embedded quotations of resonant couplets from Sophoclean tragedy, and luscious Homeric similes at unexpected moments.My favourite was definitely the perspective of Eurydice as she descends into the Underworld and spends time down there before Orpheus arrives- especially as I’ve never read the underworld from Eurydices POV before - I very much enjoyed her travels with Hermes. Some women are again, just background stories and the guys who pop up in myths are reinvented rather than the woman. This book claims to be female centered, however, the female characters are no more central than any other retelling. Charlotte Higgins reinterprets some of the most enduring stories of all time in this beautifully produced, spellbinding new collection, featuring original artworks by Chris Ofili. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy View image in fullscreen Penelope weaves a design ‘as intricate as her own involved, withheld mind’ … Detail from Penelope and the Suitors by John William Waterhouse.

Orpheus sings a heart-rending lament for Eurydice; a pale narcissus nods in the breeze, “throwing up its delicate scent”. The myths themselves are extremely easy to read, and while the chapter title may focus on one particular character, the stories follow the characters all the way down their family trees so that you get a much clearer idea of just how interconnected they all are with each other. Higgins describes how, when Penelope must finally complete the shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes – a fabric with “a design as intricate as her own involved, withheld mind” – she folds it up and puts it away.Each chapter is dedicated to a woman using weaving to tell their own story and stories that they’ve heard. If you want to read an actual female academic’s translation of Greek text (spoiler: THIS IS NOT THAT BOOK) please go read Emily Wilson and exalt her work on high. This technique is powerfully employed by Charlotte Higgins to play on the intertexuaoity of these stories, on the notion of women weaving their own stories and as a brilliant way of introducing the ways in which these women reflect on the stories they themselves would have known. She is an associate member of the Centre for the Study of Greek and Roman Antiquity at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and is on the board of the Henry Barber Trust.

For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. Higgins does this without giving any woman vitality, voice, agency, or any quality that makes them less blurry than any ubiquitous story with a woman in it. And what a fitting ending you gave us with the trial of Orestes and the reasoning of Penelope – am I expected to be a human version of Odysseus’ loyal dog Argos? A the death of their king and his daughter the Corinthians started rioting; they were a mob, terrifying in their cries for vengeance. We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from.In any pre-industrial society, textile production is socially conspicuous, if only on account of the sheer number of hours required to transform parts of plants and animals into sails, tents, fishing and hunting nets, clothing, carpets, blankets, awnings and ornamental wall hangings, with elaborate scenic designs. There are so many wonderful retellings by women, but as an overarching introduction to all the stories and the way they interact and bounce off each other, this is the one to read. This book was so good in that it retells most (of not all available) Greek myths through the eyes of the women, working the loom, to tell these stories. This is a retelling that brings a wonderful, overdue female perspective to the world of the Greek myths. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment