The Penelopiad is a novella by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as part of the first set of books in the Canongate Myth Series where contemporary authors rewrite ancient myths. In The Penelopiad, Penelope reminisces on the events of the Odyssey, life in Hades, Odysseus, Helen of Troy, and her relationships with her parents. A Greek chorus of the twelve maids, who Odysseus believed were disloyal and whom Telemachus hanged, interrupt Penelope's narrative to express their view on events. The maids' interludes use a new genre each time, including a jump-rope rhyme, a lament, an idyll, a ballad, a lecture, a court trial and several types of songs.
The novella's central themes include the effects of story-telling perspectives, double standards between the sexes and the classes, and the fairness of justice. Atwood had previously used characters and storylines from Greek mythology in fiction such as her novel The Robber Bride, short story The Elysium Lifestyle Mansions, and poems "Circe: Mud Poems" and "Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing." She used Robert Graves' The Greek Myths and E. V. Rieu and D. C. H. Rieu's version of the Odyssey to prepare for this novella.
The book was translated into 28 languages and released simultaneously around the world by 33 publishers. In the Canadian market, it peaked on the best seller lists at number one in Maclean's and number two in The Globe and Mail, but did not place on the New York Times Best Seller List in the American market. Some critics found the writing to be typical of Atwood or even one of her finest works, while others found some aspects, like the chorus of maids, disagreeable.
Publisher Jamie Byng of Canongate Books solicited author Margaret Atwood to write a novella re-telling a classic myth of her choice. Byng explained it would be published simultaneously in several languages as part of an international project called the Canongate Myth Series. Atwood agreed to help the rising young publisher by participating in the project.[3] From her home in Toronto, the 64-year-old author made attempts at writing the Norse creation myth and a Native American story but struggled.[4] After speaking with her British literary agent about canceling her contract, Atwood began thinking about the Odyssey.[3] She had first read it as a teenager and remembered finding the imagery of Penelope's twelve maids being hanged in the denouement disturbing. Atwood believed the roles of Penelope and her maids during Odysseus's absence had been a largely neglected scholarly topic and that she could help address it with this project.[4][dead link]
The novel recaps Penelope's life in hindsight from 21st-century Hades; she recalls her family life in Sparta, her marriage to Odysseus, her dealing with suitors during his absence, and the aftermath of Odysseus's return. The relationship with her parents was challenging: her father became overly affectionate after attempting to murder her, and her mother was absent-minded and negligent. At fifteen, Penelope married Odysseus, who had rigged the contest that decided which suitor would marry her. Penelope was happy with him, even though he was mocked behind his back by Helen and some maids for his short stature and lesser developed home, Ithaca. The couple broke with tradition by moving to the husband's kingdom. In Ithaca, neither Odysseus's mother Anticleia, nor his nurse Eurycleia, liked Penelope but eventually Eurycleia helped Penelope settle into her new role and became friendly, but often patronising.
Shortly after the birth of their son, Telemachus, Odysseus was called to war, leaving Penelope to run the kingdom and raise Telemachus alone. News of the war and rumours of Odysseus's journey back sporadically reached Ithaca and with the growing possibility that Odysseus was not returning an increasing number of suitors moved in to court Penelope. Convinced the suitors were more interested in controlling her kingdom than loving her, she stalled them. The suitors pressured her by consuming and wasting much of the kingdom's resources. She feared violence if she outright denied their offer of marriage so she announced she would make her decision on which to marry once she finished her father-in-law's shroud. She enlisted twelve maids to help her unravel the shroud at night and spy on the suitors. Odysseus eventually returned but in disguise. Penelope recognised him immediately and instructed her maids not to reveal his identity. After the suitors were massacred, Odysseus instructed Telemachus to execute the maids who he believed were in league with them. Twelve were hanged while Penelope slept. Afterwards, Penelope and Odysseus told each other stories of their time apart, but on the issue of the maids Penelope remained silent to avoid the appearance of sympathy for those already judged and condemned as traitors.[5]
No sooner had I performed the familiar ritual and shed the familiar tears than Odysseus himself shambled into the courtyard[...] dressed as a dirty old beggar.[...] I didn't let on I knew. It would have been dangerous for him. Also, if a man takes pride in his disguising skills, it would be a foolish wife who would claim to recognize him: it's always an imprudence to step between a man and the reflection of his own cleverness.
The Penelopiad, pp. 135–137.
During her narrative, Penelope expresses opinions on several people, addresses historical misconceptions, and comments on life in Hades. She is most critical of Helen whom Penelope blames for ruining her life. Penelope identifies Odysseus's specialty as making people look like fools and wonders why his stories have survived so long, despite being an admitted liar. She dispels the rumour that she slept with Amphinomus and the rumour that she slept with all the suitors and consequently gave birth to Pan.[5][6]
Between chapters in which Penelope is narrating, the twelve maids speak on topics from their point-of-view. They lament their childhood as slaves with no parents or playtime, sing of freedom, and dream of being princesses. They contrast their lives to Telemachus' and wonder if they would have killed him as a child if they knew he would kill them as a young man. They blame Penelope and Eurycleia for allowing them to unjustly die. In Hades, they haunt both Penelope and Odysseus.[5]
Style
Judge (leafing through book: The Odyssey): It's written here, in this book— a book we must needs consult, as it is the main authority on the subject[...] it says right here— let me see— in Book 22, that the maids were raped. The Suitors raped them. [...] Your client knew all that— he is quoted as having said these things himself. [...] However, your client's times were not our times. Standards of behaviour were different then. It would be unfortunate if this regrettable but minor incident were allowed to stand as a blot on an otherwise exceedingly distinguished career. Also, I do not wish to be guilty of an anachronism. Therefore, I must dismiss the case.
A court trial acted out by the maids, The Penelopiad, pp. 179–180, 182.
The novella is divided into 29 chapters with introduction, notes, and acknowledgments sections. Structured similarly to a classical Greek drama, the storytelling alternates between Penelope's narrative and the choral commentary of the twelve maids.[7] Penelope narrates 18 chapters with the Chorus contributing 11 chapters dispersed throughout the book. The Chorus uses a new narrative style in each of their chapters, beginning with a jump-rope rhyme and ending in a 17-line iambic dimeter poem. Other narrative styles used by the Chorus include a lament, a folk song, an idyll, a sea shanty, a ballad, a drama, an anthropology lecture, a court trial, and a love song.
Penelope's story uses simple and deliberately naive prose.[8] The tone is described as casual, wandering, and street-wise with Atwood's dry humour and characteristic bittersweet and melancholic feminist voice.[9] The book uses the first-person narrative, though Penelope sometimes addresses the reader through the second person pronoun.[10] One reviewer noted that Penelope is portrayed as "an intelligent woman who knows better than to exhibit her intelligence".[11] Because she contrasts past events as they occurred from her perspective with the elaborations of Odysseus and with what is recorded in myths today, she is described as a metafictional narrator.[12]
Major themes
Perspectives
The novella illustrates the differences perspectives can make. The stories told in the Odyssey by Nestor and Menelaus to Telemachus, and Odysseus to a Scherian court make Odysseus into a hero as he fights monsters and seduces goddesses. According to Penelope in The Penelopiad, Odysseus was a liar who drunkenly fought a one-eyed bartender then boasted it was a giant cannibalistic cyclops. Homer portrays Penelope as loyal, patient, and the ideal wife, as he contrasts her to Clytemnestra who killed Agamemnon upon his return from Troy.[13][14] In The Penelopiad, Penelope feels compelled to tell her story because she is unsatisfied with Homer's portrayal of her and the other myths about her sleeping with the suitors and giving birth to Pan. She rejects the role of the ideal wife and admits she was just trying to survive. The Odyssey makes the maids into traitors who consort with the suitors. From the maids' perspective, they were innocent victims, used by Penelope to spy, raped and abused by the suitors, and then murdered by Odysseus and Telemachus. Atwood shows the truth occupies a third position between the myths and the biased points of view.[13]
Feminism and double standards
The book has been called "feminist",[15][16][17] and more specifically "vintage Atwood-feminist",[9] but Atwood disagrees, saying, "I wouldn't even call it feminist. Every time you write something from the point of view of a woman, people say that it's feminist."[18]The Penelopiad's antagonistic relationship between Penelope and Helen is similar to the relationships of women in Atwood's previous novels: Elaine and Cordelia in Cat's Eye, and Iris and Laura in The Blind Assassin, and follows Atwood's doubt of an amicable universal sisterhood. The story does endorse some feminist reassessments of the Odyssey, like Penelope recognizing Odysseus while disguised and that the geese slaughtered by the eagle in Penelope's dream were her maids and not the suitors. Using the maids' lecture on anthropology, Atwood satirizes Robert Graves' theory of a matriarchal lunar cult in Greek myth. The lecture makes a series of connections, concluding that the rape and execution of the maids by men represent the overthrow of the matriarchal society in favor of patriarchy. The lecture ends with lines from anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss' Elementary Structures of Kinship: "Consider us pure symbol. We're no more real than money."[19]
Double standards between genders and classes are exposed throughout the novella. Odysseus commits adultery with Circe while expecting Penelope to remain loyal to him. The maids' relations with the suitors are seen as treasonous and earn them an execution. Penelope condemns Helen for her involvement in getting men killed at Troy. At the same time, Penelope excuses her involvement in getting the maids killed even though, as Atwood reveals, Penelope enlisted the maids to spy on the suitors and even encouraged them to continue after some were raped.[19]
Narrative justice
Penelope's story is an attempt at narrative justice to retribute Helen for her erroneously idealised image in the Odyssey as the archetypal female.[10][13] Penelope acts like a judicial arbiter, a position she held in Ithaca as the head of state and, during Odysseus' absence, as head of the household. The ancient form of justice and punishment, which was swift and simple due to the lack of courts, prisons, and currency, is tempered by more modern concepts of balanced distributions of social benefits and burdens. Penelope's chosen form of punishment for Helen is to correct the historical records with her own bias by portraying her as vain and superficial,[12] as someone who measures her worth by the number of men who died fighting for her.[10]
The maids also deliver their version of narrative justice on Odysseus and Telemachus, who ordered and carried out their execution, and on Penelope who was complicit in their killing. The maids do not have the same sanctioned voice as Penelope and are relegated to unauthoritative genres, though their persistence eventually leads to more valued cultural forms. Their testimony, contrasted with Penelope's excuses while condemning Helen, demonstrates the tendency of judicial processes to not act upon the whole truth. When compared with the historical record, dominated by the stories in the Odyssey, the conclusion, as one academic states, is that the concepts of justice and penalties are established by "who has the power to say who is punished, whose ideas count", and that "justice is underwritten by social inequalities and inequitable power dynamics".[10]
Influences
[...] myths cannot really be translated with any accuracy from their native soil— from their own place and time. We will never know exactly what they meant to their ancient audiences.
Margaret Atwood, "The Myths Series and Me" in Publishers Weekly.[3]
Atwood's use of myths follows archetypal literary criticism and specifically the work of Northrop Frye and his Anatomy of Criticism. According to this literary theory, contemporary works are not independent but are part of an underlying pattern that re-invents and adapts a finite number of timeless concepts and structures of meaning. In The Penelopiad, Atwood re-writes archetypes of female passivity and victimization while using contemporary ideas of justice and a variety of genres.[10]
Atwood seems to have been unaware of A D Hope's earlier intense moral questioning of the story of Odysseus hanging the maids. In Hope's 1960s poem "The End of the Journey" Penelope and Odysseus pass an unhappy night after the slaughter of the suitors and the maids, and wake to a scene of horror: "Each with her broken neck, each with a blank,/Small strangled face, the dead girls in a row /Swung as the cold airs moved them to and fro".[23]
Atwood had previously written using themes and characters from ancient Greek myths. She wrote a short story in Ovid Metamorphosed called The Elysium Lifestyle Mansions re-telling a myth with Apollo and the immortal prophet the Sibyl from the perspective of the latter living in the modern age.[9] Her 1993 novel The Robber Bride roughly parallels the Iliad but is set in Toronto. In that novel the characters Tony and Zenia share the same animosity and competition as Penelope and Helen in The Penelopiad.[19] Her poem "Circe: Mud Poems", published in 1976, casts doubt on Penelope's honourable image:
Atwood published "Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing" in her 1996 collection Morning in the Burned House in which Helen appears in a contemporary setting as an erotic dancer and justifies her exploitation as men fantasize over her:
The hardcover version of The Penelopiad was published on 21 October 2005 as a part of the launch of Canongate Myth Series, which also included A History of Myth by Karen Armstrong and a third title chosen by each publisher (most chose Weight by Jeanette Winterson).[26]The Penelopiad was translated into 28 languages and released simultaneously around the world by 33 publishers,[15] including Canongate Books in the UK, Knopf in Canada, Grove/Atlantic Inc. in the US, and Text Publishing in Australia and New Zealand. The French translation was published in Canada by Éditions du Boréal and in France by Groupe Flammarion.[27] The trade paperback was released in 2006. Laural Merlington narrated the 3-hour unabridged audiobook which was published by Brilliance Audio and released alongside the hardcover. Merlington's narration was positively received, though sometimes upstaged by the unnamed actresses voicing the maids.[28]
Some reviewers like Christopher Tayler and David Flusfeder, both writing for The Daily Telegraph, praised the book as "enjoyable [and] intelligent"[35] with "Atwood at her finest".[36]Robert Wiersema echoed that sentiment, adding that the book shows Atwood as "fierce and ambitious, clever and thoughtful".[37] The review in the National Post called the book "a brilliant tour de force".[38] Specifically singled out as being good are the book's wit, rhythm, structure, and story.[36][37][39]Mary Beard found the book to be "brilliant" except for the chapter entitled "An Anthropology Lecture" which she called "complete rubbish".[22] Others criticised the book as being "merely a riff on a better story that comes dangerously close to being a spoof"[40] and saying it "does not fare well [as a] colloquial feminist retelling".[16] Specifically, the scenes with the chorus of maidservants are said to be "mere outlines of characters"[40] with Elizabeth Hand writing in The Washington Post that they have "the air of a failed Monty Python sketch".[15] In the journal English Studies, Odin Dekkers and L. R. Leavis described the book as "a piece of deliberate self-indulgence" that reads like "over-the-top W. S. Gilbert", comparing it to Wendy Cope's limericks reducing T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land to five lines.[41]
Theatrical adaptation
Following a successful dramatic reading directed by Phyllida Lloyd at St James's Church, Piccadilly on 26 October 2005, Atwood finished a draft theatrical script.[42] The Canadian National Arts Centre and the British Royal Shakespeare Company expressed interest and both agreed to co-produce. Funding was raised mostly from nine Canadian women, dubbed the "Penelope Circle", who each donated CAD$50,000 to the National Arts Centre.[43][44] An all-female cast was selected consisting of seven Canadian and six British actors, with Josette Bushell-Mingo directing and Veronica Tennant as the choreographer.[7] For music a trio, consisting of percussions, keyboard, and cello, were positioned above the stage. They assembled in Stratford-upon-Avon and rehearsed in June and July 2007.[45] The 100-minute play was staged at the Swan Theatre between 27 July and 18 August at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa between 17 September and 6 October. Atwood's script gave little stage direction allowing Bushell-Mingo to develop the action. Critics in both countries lauded Penny Downie's performance as Penelope, but found the play had too much narration of story rather than dramatisation.[46][47] Adjustments made between productions resulted in the Canadian performance having emotional depth that was lacking in Bushell-Mingo's direction of the twelve maids.[48][49] The play subsequently had runs in Vancouver at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage between October 26 and November 20, 2011,[50] and in Toronto, produced by the Nightwood Theatre and staged at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre between January 10–29, 2012.[51] The Nightwood Theatre show was directed by Kelly Thornton with choreography by Monica Dottor and starring Megan Follows. A review in The Globe and Mail gave the play 3.5 of 4 stars.[52]
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the Iliad, the poem is divided into 24 books. It follows the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the Trojan War. After the war, which lasted ten years, his journey from Troy to Ithaca, via Africa and southern Europe, lasted for ten additional years during which time he encountered many perils and all of his crewmates were killed. In his absence, Odysseus was assumed dead, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus had to contend with a group of unruly suitors who were competing for Penelope's hand in marriage.
In Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle.
Penelope is a character in Homer's Odyssey. She was the queen of Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius and Asterodia. Penelope is known for her fidelity to her husband Odysseus, despite the attention of more than a hundred suitors during his absence. In one source, Penelope's original name was Arnacia or Arnaea.
Telemachus, in Greek mythology, is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who is a central character in Homer's Odyssey. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited Pylos and Sparta in search of his wandering father. On his return to Ithaca, he found that Odysseus had reached home before him. Then father and son slew the suitors who had gathered around Penelope. According to later tradition, Telemachus married Circe after Odysseus’ death.
In Greek mythology, Eumaeus was Odysseus' slave, swineherd, and friend. His father, Ctesius, son of Ormenus, was king of an island called Syra, although it has also been suggested that Eumaeus may have referred to Syracuse, Sicily.
In Greek mythology, Eurycleia, or Euryclea, is the daughter of Ops and granddaughter of Peisenor, as well as the wet-nurse of Odysseus.
In Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, Phemius is an Ithacan poet who performs narrative songs in the house of the absent Odysseus.
In Greek mythology, Theoclymenus was a prophet from Argos.
The Telemachy is a term traditionally applied to the first four books of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. They are named so because, just as the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, they tell the story of Odysseus's son Telemachus as he journeys from home for the first time in search of news about his missing father.
The Telegony is a lost ancient Greek epic poem about Telegonus, son of Odysseus by Circe. His name is indicative of his birth on Aeaea, far from Odysseus' home of Ithaca. It was part of the Epic Cycle of poems that recounted the myths of the Trojan War as well as the events that led up to and followed it. The story of the Telegony comes chronologically after that of the Odyssey and is the final episode in the Epic Cycle. The poem was sometimes attributed in antiquity to Cinaethon of Sparta, but in one source it is said to have been stolen from Musaeus by Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene. The poem comprised two books of verse in dactylic hexameter.
The Odyssey is a 1997 American mythology–adventure television miniseries based on the ancient Greek epic poem by Homer, the Odyssey. Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, the miniseries aired in two parts beginning on May 18, 1997, on NBC. It was filmed in Malta, Turkey, parts of England and many other places around the Mediterranean, where the story takes place. The cast includes Armand Assante, Greta Scacchi, Irene Papas, Isabella Rossellini, Bernadette Peters, Eric Roberts, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeroen Krabbé, Christopher Lee and Vanessa Williams.
In Homer's Odyssey, Amphimedon was the Ithacan son of Melaneus and one of the suitors of Penelope.
In the Epic Cycle, Antinous or Antinoös, was the Ithacan son of Eupeithes, best known for his role in Homer's Odyssey.
The Returns from Troy are the stories of how the Greek leaders returned after their victory in the Trojan War. Many Achaean heroes did not return to their homes, but died or founded colonies outside the Greek mainland. The most famous returns are those of Odysseus, whose wanderings are narrated in the Odyssey, and Agamemnon, whose murder at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra was portrayed in Greek tragedy.
Home Sweet Homer is a 1976 musical with a book by Roland Kibbee and Albert Marre, lyrics by Charles Burr and Forman Brown, and music by Mitch Leigh.
In Greek mythology, the suitors of Penelope are one of the main subjects of Homer's Odyssey.
In Greek mythology, Mentes is the name of the King of the Taphians and the son of Anchialus. He is mentioned in the Odyssey.
Return to Ithaca is a 1946 novel by Swedish author Eyvind Johnson. It is based on the story of Odysseus as he returns home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
Odysseus, Verbrecher. Schauspiel einer Heimkehr is a play by the Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr, first performed in 2010. It is based on an episode toward the end of Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus returns to his kingdom and slaughters his wife's suitors, who are called reformers in the play. Odysseus, Verbrecher was commissioned for the Ruhr.2010 campaign as one of six new plays based on the Odyssey.
↑ Though not linguistically related, Pan's name (Πάν) is virtually identical to the ancient Greek word πᾶν, meaning "all"; the apparent equivalence between the two words seems to have inspired the myth that Penelope slept with "all" the suitors, resulting in the god's birth.
↑ Hiller, Susanne (2005-10-22), "A weaver's tale", National Post, p.WP4.
1 2 3 Suzuki, Mihoko (Spring 2007), "Rewriting the Odyssey in the Twenty-First Century: Mary Zimmerman's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad", College Literature, 34 (2): 263–278, doi:10.1353/lit.2007.0023, S2CID170575257 .
↑ Dekkers, Odin; Leavis, L. R. (December 2007), "Current Literature 2005. New Writing: Novels and Short Stories", English Studies, Routledge, 88 (6): 671, doi:10.1080/00138380701743578, S2CID164015625 .
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