the penelopiad the myth of penelope and odysseus

Written in two alternating forms - in a narration and in varying styles of poetry, for isn't Atwood known for both? - The Penelopiad is the story of the loyal and cunning Penelope, Odysseus' wife, who really isn't all that popular or well-known in Greek literature as her husband (I didn't even know about her until I read the book, but then again I haven't read The Odyssey - such a shortcoming, I know). 'Half-Dorothy Parker, half-Desperate Housewives,' so says the blurb from The Independent (UK), and while I haven't read anything by Dorothy Parker and am no big fan of Desperate Housewives, I will go on a limb here and assume they must be really great, to be half-and-half of something as wonderful as this book. I have yet to read your award-winning books, but I will hold on to The Penelopiad and claim it as my favorite of yours (so far). Show More - and still I know for certain I will love the rest. The author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin presents a cycle of stories about Penelope, wife of Odysseus, through the eyes of the twelve maids hanged for disloyalty to Odysseus in his absence. I've always been haunted by the hanged maids and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself. The maids form a chanting and singing Chorus, which focuses on two questions that must pose themselves after any close reading of the Odyssey: What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? The story as told in the Odyssey doesn't hold water: there are too many inconsistencies. I've chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. I have drawn on material other than the Odyssey, especially for the details of Penelope's parentage, her early life and marriage, and the scandalous rumors circulating about her. Mythic material was originally oral, and also local - a myth would be told one way in one place and quite differently in another. Homer's Odyssey is not the only version of the story.

The penelopiad the myth of penelope and odysseus