The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood"Homer's Odyssey is not the only version of the story. Mythic material was originally oral, and also local -- a myth would be told one way in one place and quite differently in another. 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. I've chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and to the twelve hanged maids. 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 always been haunted by the hanged maids and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself." -- from Margaret Atwood's Foreword to The Penelopiad
Location: Mugar Stacks PR9199.3.A8 P46 2005
Publication Date: 2005
Songs on Bronze; The Greek Myths Made Real by Nigel SpiveyA vivid, uninhibited retelling of the classic Greek stories "Songs on Bronze is the first major retelling of Greek mythology in half a century; a set of lively, racy, dramatic versions of the great myths, which, in a multicultural society, are recognized more than ever as stories without equal. Most of us would like to know the Greek myths better than we do, and books like Seamus Heaney's Beowulf have demonstrated the power of ancient texts to enchant and enthrall us. And yet the modern translations of the Greek myths have sought to instruct, to edify, or to impart a personal philosophy. "Songs on Bronze is different. With this book, Nigel Spivey--a young Cambridge classicist and rising star as a documentary host--gives us the Greek myths as the spellbinding stories they are. In bold, sensuous prose, he tells of Demeter and Persephone, of Jason and the Argonauts, of the wrath of Achilles and the travels of Odysseus, of Oedipus's crime and Orpheus's excursion into the underworld. In his hands, these stories are revealed anew as outsize tales of love and strife, of secret compacts and open rivalries, of lust and desire. "Songs on Bronze is a fresh revision of the classics that is likely to become a classic in its own right.
Location: Mugar Stacks PR6119.P585 S67 2005 and Online
Publication Date: 2005
The Odyssey: A Stage Version by Derek Walcott; HomerWith its inspired counterpointing of Homeric and Caribbean themes, Derek Walcott's play The Odyssey, commissioned by Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, springs from the same imaginative sources as his epic poem Omeros. "[The Odyssey features Walcott's] voluptuous metaphor making and severe truth telling."--Time Episodes of the story of Odysseus' protracted wanderings from fallen Troy to his island home of Ithaca are pungently interspersed with a commentary by the blind singer Billy Blue. Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, the giant Cyclops, Circe and her revelers, ghosts, and mermaids are among the cast. With its vast sweep and richly figurative language, The Odyssey confirms that Derek Walcott is as compelling a playwright as he is a poet.
Location: Mugar Stacks PR9272.9.W3 O297 1993 and Online
"In The Footsteps Of Ulysses." , directed by Jean Baronnet. , Ampersand, 2013. Alexander Street, https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/in-the-footsteps-of-ulysses.Following the capture of Troy, Ulysses didn't return home for ten years. The Gods argued over his fate: should they impede or ease his return, did he himself wanted to go home? Either way, that was an excuse for a great sea adventure: the Odyssey. From that story, Homer created a literary genre that has delighted readers for centuries, but an archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, was convinced that Homer’s work was based on historical facts. Accompanied by photograph Victor Berard, he followed on the footsteps of Ulysses across the Mediterranean to discover if the places described by Homer in the Odyssey had really existed. This is the film of their findings...
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