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The Private Life of Helen of Troy [1] by John Erskine was a novel published in 1925 by Bobbs Merrill. It was the best-selling work of American fiction in 1926, according to the Publishers' Weekly. [2] [3] The book was adapted from the Greek legend of Helen of Troy and follows the famous woman's life after the burning of Troy.
In the beginning, Menelaus - Helen's husband - leaves Troy in search of her and plans to kill her for all the trouble her beauty has caused. Instead, the two set out on a week-long voyage back to Sparta. Menelaus questions why his wife ran away from Sparta to begin with, saying that he didn't believe her involvement with Paris was enough. Once at home, Helen talks with Charita and tells her that in the beginning, she thought she loved Paris and that is why she ran away with him, but she realized she only loved something he made her think of, and in the end, she only felt sorry for him. She goes on to say that she felt sorry for Paris because she could see he was "lost in the madness" just as she was. She tells her that marriage starts with love, but the people in the marriage get lost along the way and calls marriages fatal errors. [4]
The book follows Helen's family and how she navigates friendships, her marriage, and parenting her children after what many in her life call, 'the scandal.'
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Helen is a progressive woman by American standards in the 1930s, and would certainly be considered radical in ancient Greece. She defends her decision to run away with Paris and even encourages other women in the book to embrace their sexuality. Because of this, many have read the book as a satirical nod to gender politics. There is also a common feminist reading of the book because of Helen's attitude toward marriage and sexuality.
Because the book was published only five years after the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, it can be argued that a cultural focus on feminism and women's suffrage influenced why this book was so well received. Helen, in the book, represented a new kind of woman, who did what she wanted rather than what she was told, and defied male authority, which can be argued perpetuated the book's success.
The book was adapted into a silent film The Private Life of Helen of Troy in 1927, written by Gerald Duffy and directed by Alexander Korda. The film, and Duffy, were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Title Writing in 1929 (the first year the awards were held).[ citation needed ]
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The core of the Iliad describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
In Greek mythology, Menelaus was a king of Mycenaean (pre-Dorian) Sparta. According to the Iliad, Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Prominent in both the Iliad and Odyssey, Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting and Greek tragedy, the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House of Atreus.
Paris, also known as Alexander, the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, is a mythological nobleman that appears in a number of Greek legends.
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, Helen, Helena, also known as beautiful Helen, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, was said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was the sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux, Philonoe, Phoebe and Timandra. She was married to King Menelaus of Sparta "who became by her the father of Hermione, and, according to others, of Nicostratus also."
In Greek mythology and later art, the name Hesione refers to various mythological figures, of whom the Trojan princess Hesione is most known.
In Greek mythology, Tyndareus was a Spartan king.
In Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris. Deiphobus killed four men of fame in the Trojan War.
Troy is a 2004 epic historical war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. Produced by units in Malta, Mexico and Britain's Shepperton Studios, the film features an ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom. It is loosely based on Homer's Iliad in its narration of the entire story of the decade-long Trojan War—condensed into little more than a couple of weeks, rather than just the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year. Achilles leads his Myrmidons along with the rest of the Greek army invading the historical city of Troy, defended by Hector's Trojan army. The end of the film is not taken from the Iliad, but rather from Quintus Smyrnaeus's Posthomerica as the Iliad concludes with Hector's death and funeral.
The Private Life of Helen of Troy is a 1927 American silent film about Helen of Troy based on the 1925 novel of the same name by John Erskine, and adapted to screen by Gerald Duffy. The film was directed by Alexander Korda and starred María Corda as Helen, Lewis Stone as Menelaus, and Ricardo Cortez as Paris.
In Greek mythology, Hermione was the daughter of Menelaus, king of Sparta, and his wife, Helen of Troy. Prior to the Trojan War, Hermione had been betrothed by Tyndareus, her grandfather, to her cousin Orestes, son of her uncle, Agamemnon; she was just nine years old when Paris, son of the Trojan king Priam, arrived to abduct her mother, Helen.
Helen is a drama by Euripides about Helen, first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia in a trilogy that also contained Euripides' lost Andromeda. The play has much in common with Iphigenia in Tauris, which is believed to have been performed around the same time period.
Paris is a rock musical written by Australian rock musician Jon English and David Mackay between 1987 and 1990, based on the myth of the Trojan War. A concept album was released in Australia in 1990 with the first stage production taking place in Sydney in 2003.
Helen of Troy is a 1956 Warner Bros. WarnerColor epic film in CinemaScope, based on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It was directed by Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr.
Helen of Troy is a 2003 British-American television miniseries based upon Homer's story of the Trojan War, as recounted in the epic poem, Iliad. This TV miniseries also shares the name with a 1956 movie starring Stanley Baker. It stars Sienna Guillory as Helen, Matthew Marsden as Paris, Rufus Sewell as Agamemnon, James Callis as Menelaus, John Rhys-Davies as Priam, Maryam d'Abo as Hecuba, as well as Stellan Skarsgård as Theseus. The series was entirely shot on location in the islands of Malta.
King Priam is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's Iliad, except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the Fabulae of Hyginus.
Die ägyptische Helena, Op. 75, is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928. Strauss had written the title role with Maria Jeritza in mind but, creating quite a sensation at the time, the Dresden opera management refused to pay Jeritza's large fee and cast Elisabeth Rethberg instead as Helen of Troy. Jeritza eventually created the part in Vienna and New York City.
Troy is a young adult novel by Adèle Geras, published in 2000. It is based on events in The Iliad, incorporating original stories set in the heart of the city towards the end of the Trojan War. The novel was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Award.
Cassandra is a 1983 novel by the German author Christa Wolf. It has since been translated into a number of languages. Swiss composer Michael Jarrell has adapted the novel for speaker and instrumental ensemble, and his piece has been performed frequently.
Goddess of Yesterday is a 2002 novel by Caroline B. Cooney based on the Trojan War from Greek mythology. The book was nominated for the South Carolina Junior Book Award, and was a 2003 ALA Notable Children's Book for Older Readers
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