Ever since I took up dressmaking I have been ‘reading’ more fiction. How is that possible? Easy peasy. I listen to audiobooks. I will not bore you with details of my unsteady progress in the art of making clothes, I am still getting acquainted with my sewing machine, often addressing it directly and swearing profusely - I never knew I had internalised such a complex vocabulary of profanities, they seem to gush out of their own accord when I get really angry, like when I nearly stitched my own finger! It’s a bit touch and go, though I have managed two simple skirts which I will probably never wear and a totally useless pinafore made out of some embroidered scrap of fabric.
Anyway as I try to stitch seams there is nothing more pleasing than listening to a wonderful tale narrated by a skilled actor.
And so it is that I have been listening to Circe (2018) by Madeline Miller and Vanity Fair, by Thackeray - the new ITV series sent me straight back to the book, one of my very favourites.
And so it is that I have been listening to Circe (2018) by Madeline Miller and Vanity Fair, by Thackeray - the new ITV series sent me straight back to the book, one of my very favourites.
Circe is a great take on the ancient Greek myths, from a female perspective though I would not call it feminist, as some reviewers have done. Circe, daughter of the god Helios, is not as beautiful as her sisters and sounds like a mortal, with a voice that the gods despise. But she has a special gift, she is adept at pharmakeia, the science of herbs and plants, hence magic and witchcraft, which even the gods fear.
The story of the Minotaur, of Jason and the tragic Medea, are retold sensitively and with newer twists by Circe - the book is narrated in the first person. But the most interesting part of the novel is taken up by Circe's relationship with Odysseus who stayed with her for many years while trying to return to Ithaca and then that very difficult myth cycle whose main actors are Telemachus, son of Odysseus, Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Telegonus, son of Odysseus and Circe, whom Odysseus never knew of having fathered. The myth sees Telegonus, brought up by Circe on Aeaea, her secluded island, go to Ithaca in search of his father, Odysseus, whom he had never met. When in Ithaca he accidentally kills Odysseus, who does not recognise him, and then goes back to Aeaea, taking both Telemachus and Penelope with him. Circe gives them immortality and subsequently marries Telemachus, whereas Telegonus marries Penelope. Greek mythology is full of incest tales, Hera and Zeus were brother and sister as well as husband and wife.
Odysseus and Circe Etruscan vase, Museum of Parma, Italy
Madeline Miller does not dwell on the marriage of Penelope and Telegonus, turning instead Penelope into an apprentice witch, still a mortal, on Aeae. And it seems that by taking Telemachus - a man well over thirty when he and Circe meet - as her lover and partner Circe, who is an immortal divinity and therefore forever young, also chooses to take on mortality. So in Miller's retelling, Circes swaps her divine immortality for human mortality; the other three continue to be mortals.
Overall, it's a clever way of handling a very difficult subject, as to our contemporary sensibilities incest is unacceptable, turning the tale into one that speaks to us today. Miller's Circe is, predictably, an exemplary single mother, a goddess who is always more like a woman than a goddess - in contrast, her sister Pasiphae is depicted as a capricious and heartless creature, quite unbelievable as a character. But it's just a tale, there are no gods, we know that gods symbolise our fears and terrors and Miller is a consummate storyteller.
Overall, it's a clever way of handling a very difficult subject, as to our contemporary sensibilities incest is unacceptable, turning the tale into one that speaks to us today. Miller's Circe is, predictably, an exemplary single mother, a goddess who is always more like a woman than a goddess - in contrast, her sister Pasiphae is depicted as a capricious and heartless creature, quite unbelievable as a character. But it's just a tale, there are no gods, we know that gods symbolise our fears and terrors and Miller is a consummate storyteller.
There were times when the prose was a little too purplish for my liking but I enjoyed listening to the story of Circe and a retelling of the Odyssey in which Odysseus is revealed in all his faults and cunning. Miller includes the stories of Odysseus after his return to Ithaca, and in her depiction he seems to be a returning soldier suffering from PTSD.
As for Vanity Fair, I will write about it in a subsequent post. I am still listening to it and of course, I am watching the series. A very modern tale, that's what I will say for now.
Interesting blog. Quite a breadth of topics you touch on!
ReplyDeleteThank you Fergal. I have been blogging for years, always resisting offers of sponsorship to preserve my freedom. My blog maps out nine years of my life, duly adapted for public consumption. It does not mean I lie but I am careful not to violate people's privacy - hence nameless friends and unspecified relatives populate my posts. I enjoy writing it, it's good to know that there are people who enjoy reading it.
DeleteYou clearly do enjoy it - it is evident in your writing. I can understand your need to refine or filter for public consumption, particularly with the current dynamics of social media; although on reflection, that does leave me feeling quite intrigued as to what may have remained unpublished, or perhaps unwritten. Don't stop.
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