Mythology Greek Love Stories You Should Read
This list of books nigh Greek or Roman mythology is sponsored past Little, Chocolate-brown and Visitor, publisher of Circe by Madeline Miller.
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a girl is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which tin can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
A daring, dazzling follow-up to the bestseller The Song of Achilles, novelist Madeline Miller has created an epic story of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.
Ane affair that I am certain to teach at the start of every English grade is that literature (in the Western world, at least) alludes to 3 big bodies of piece of work: Shakespeare, the Bible, and Greek or Roman mythology. Because the Greeks came before either of the other bodies of work, they're our master staple. We reuse those narrative endlessly to testify new points. 1 of my favorite short works is a tiny poem from Muriel Rukeyser in the California of the 1960s, chosen "Myth," in which Oedipus gets the Sphinx's riddle wrong.
If you are like me, you dearest revised fairytales, and the revision of Greek or Roman mythology to new purposes is but equally satisfying. Below is a list of books about Greek mythology or Roman literature based on or inspired past these myths.
THE PENELOPIADPast MARGARET ATWOOD
Based on:The Odysseypast Homer
This novel retells the story of Penelope from Homer'southwardThe Odyssey,but from the perspective of Penelope, the wife who waits for Odysseus to return home from war for 20 years. In this version, Penelope is haunted past her 12 hanged maids, and many of the inconsistencies in the original ballsy are fix straight.
Margaret Atwood retells one hell of a story. Check out her poem, "Siren Vocal," as well, if you similarThe Penelopiad.
Cold Mount by Charles Frazier
Based on:The Odyssey by Homer
This novel too retells Homer'sThe Odyssey,just its re-visioning focuses more on the plot points. Inman nearly dies in the American Civil State of war, but his love for Ada—a adult female he barely knows—propels him homeward and instills in him a volition to survive. This novel traces both his return and Ada's life at abode, much likeThe Odysseyitself.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Reminiscent of: Medeapast Euripedes
The narrator of this novel, Esch, identifies with Medea in the story. Both characters are in trigger-happy love with someone who spurns them, and the reasons both women are spurned accept little to practise with them personally. The other two main connections betwixt Esch and Medea are their meaning land and their willingness to do any crazy thing for the men whom they beloved.
Belovedby Toni Morrison
Reminiscent of:Medeaby Euripedes
Toni Morrison'southward novelHoneyfeatures a protagonist that many associate with Greek and Roman myth's Medea, but she and Sethe take dissimilar rationalizations for her deportment. Medea kills her children out of spite for her spurned lover. They are objects. Sethe kills her kid to prevent her from existence sold into slavery. The kid's ghost haunts her and her remaining, living children, throughout the novel.
Gods Behaving Badlypast Marie Phillips
Based on: the gods on Mount Olympus
In this novel, the Greek gods live in a London townhouse together in the 21st century, and each of them has a crappy job that applies to their godly powers. (Artemis walks dogs, Aphrodite is a telephone sex operator, and Apollo is a Goggle box psychic.) The problem is that their powers wane each time the gods use them.
the Hole-and-corner History by Donna Tartt
Based on: Dionysus & the Bacchanalia
This novel is a offense/thriller/mystery in which six students studying the classics are led into a world of relative morals by their charismatic professor. It loosely retells the story of Dionysus and the Bacchanalia.
Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare
Based on: Pyramus & Thisbe
What nosotros forget when we read Shakespeare is that—while he is one of the huge bodies of allusion that the Western world references—he's constantly alluding to Greek or Roman mythology, equally well. The mistaken suicides at the end ofRomeo & Juliet,every bit well equally the forbidden love between them, was inspired by the original star-crossed lovers, Pyramus & Thisbe.
"The Mermaid in the Tree" by Timothy Schaffert
Based on: the Sirens ofThe Odysseyand Pyramus & Thisbe
This story is a loosely retold fairy tale that incorporates multiple retellings. Pyramus & Thisbe'due south star-crossed lover archetype creates the plot of this narrative, and the mythology of the Sirens fromThe Odysseyfills in much of its graphic symbol-development. This story was originally published in the anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Male parent He Ate Meedited by Kate Bernheimer. If you lot want more than Siren-y stuff, check out Margaret Atwood's poem "Siren Vocal," too, which retells the mythology of the Sirens from the perspective of a Siren herself.
Frankensteinby Mary Shelley
Based on: Pygmaleon & Galatea and Icarus & Daedalus
Nigh everyone is familiar with Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature he creates, thereby placing himself in the position of God. In the Greek or Roman mythology, Pygmaleon pines abroad for the statue of the perfect adult female that he has sculpted. His story has a happy ending, though, unlike Frankenstein's, whose Animate being haunts him rather than loves him.
Every mad scientist trope is based loosely on Icarus and Daedalus, likewise, and the Romantics seized on this thought: these men create wings that let them wing, and the gods smite them from the heaven for their arrogance. If you similar the myth of Icarus and Daedalus, check out West.H. Auden'south poem, "Musee des Beaux Arts," Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark," or even Edgar Allan Poe'due south "Berenice."
"Children'southward Reminiscences of the West Migration" fromSt. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolvesby Karen Russell
Based on: Theseus & the Labyrinth
One story in Karen Russell'southward collectionSt. Lucy's Dwelling for Girls Raised by Wolvesdetails an American westward migration from the perspective of a family unit of Minotaurs. The Minotaur has been repurposed in this story—he's no longer the beast that patrols Theseus in the labyrinth. Instead, he's their father.
If you like Minotaurs—and who doesn't?—Steven Sherrill'southward The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Breakmight be fun for yous…and you tin can e'er revisitBeauty and the Brute,too.
If you're interested in the origins of some of these myths, or if y'all want to endeavour your hand at rewriting them yourself, Edith Hamilton'sMythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroesis a smashing, comprehensive place to get-go…and brand sure you let me know when you finish drafting.
Ed.'s Notation: The original post misattributed the author of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Pause to Neil Gaiman.
Source: https://bookriot.com/books-about-greek-mythology/
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