Christa Wolf: Cassandra
Bio: Christa Wolf emerged from East Germany as an essayist and novelist. She was a part of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany from 1949 to June of 1989. Cassandra is seen as one of her most important books regarding the Battle of Troy as a shift of societal power and economic justice.
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Summary: Cassandra tells the story of a young girl who resources herself as a priestess of the God Apollo as she is awaiting her death. After this she is faced with untimely, harmful events that eventually lead to her death. She wanted to be a priestess from a young age but faces many misfortunes when it finally happens. Wolf explains in detail Cassandra's perspective on the war and uses different voices to provide more insight.
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Important Themes:
- Female empowerment - Objectification (female) - Suicide - Misfortune - Female Identity - War Brutality -Patriarchy These themes embed themselves with Wolf's writing and strike out the most to readers. They are the most relevant and the most easy to connect to, therefore presenting Cassandra as a work of rememberable and relatable German Literature. - Wolf leads off with her own voice at the start as a way to show how her own experiences line up with those of Cassandra. |
Historical Context: The Trojan War (The Fall of Troy) and Characters-- use this link to view more in-depth information regarding the war and a specific list of characters.
The Trojan War was a conflict between the Achaeans and the main people of Troy, coming from the mainland of Greece and Turkey. It started as a way for Zeus to adjust the size of the population and so save Helen* from Paris. There are too many characters in the Trojan War to write about, but the ones who survived went on into their own tragedies and adventures. Cassandra witnessed the brutality of this war and Wolf uses it as a way to connect with malicious events of her time. Homer's Iliad is another source of knowledge for the Trojan War in more detail. *Helen is also the wife of Menelaus. Menelaus is the King of Sparta and brother to Agamemnon |
"Wherever I look or cast my thoughts, there is no god, no judgement, only myself. Who is it that makes my self-judgement so severe, into death and beyond," (Cassandra 23).
This quote is one of the first looks into the engaging question as to why Cassandra never committed suicide. This question sets up for major discussion and points of view that one can only listen to try and understand.
This quote is one of the first looks into the engaging question as to why Cassandra never committed suicide. This question sets up for major discussion and points of view that one can only listen to try and understand.
Map of the Trojan War:
More Information About:
- Cassandra
- Christa Wolf
- Apollo in Cassandra
- Characters in Cassandra/Trojan War
- Cassandra
- Christa Wolf
- Apollo in Cassandra
- Characters in Cassandra/Trojan War
Colm Tóibín: House of Names
Bio:
Colm Tóibín is an Irish writer, playwright, and critic. He was a successful professor at the University of Manchester for creative writing and also taught humanities at Columbia University. He published numerous other books with similar themes to House of Names- his version of the Oresteia. It provides missing pieces of background information and adds vital details to stemming plots. Important Themes:
- Repression - Objectification - Revenge - Grief - Isolation - Dysfunction - Violence - Sacrifice - Failure While Tóibín's work is a rewrite, his own take leaves readers with a better understanding of the characters from the Orestia and their stories. The ideas of obsession and revenge explain mounds of reasoning behind their actions and matters of doing before thinking. Tóibín switches between perspectives to get as many sides of the story as possible. It is key to hear the other stories to put it all together. And, much like Cassandra there are moments of objectification. Moments where Electra feels she cannot survive in her world without a husband and feels hopeless. |
Summary:
Much like Christa Wolf's Cassandra justice and revenge play a huge role in discovering the plot of House of Names. Previously, Agamemnon sacrifices his and Clytemnestra's daughter, Iphigenia. In Aulis, Agamemnon lies to Clytemnestra and their children, Iphigenia and Orestes, about their attendance to Iphigenia's wedding. He sacrifices her and jails Clytemnestra for three days where she ten swears for revenge. After Agamemnon returns from war, he is brutally murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. For most of the novel, we follow Orestes in his many years of escaping from being kidnapped by Aegisthus' men. Following this, the point of view changes to that of Electra, Clytemnestra's other daughter who blames her for Iphigenia's death. This story provides more insight the background and plot holes from the Oresteia that readers itch to hear about. Historical Context: Agamemnon was the commander of forces in the Trojan War. While he was away fighting, Clytemnestra had an affair with another lover. This ties into Agamemnon's obsession with the Gods and sacrificing his daughter as a way to get his own revenge for her adultery. More information is provided in these links for more in-depth explanations: www.supersummary.com/house-of-names/summary/ www.behindthename.com/name/clytemnestra |
"In the years followed, as I began to abandon hope that I would ever see my brother again, I realized that, as a woman with no husband, I was powerless and would remain so" (House of Names 175).
- Here Tóibín is writing about the feeling of no power and hopelessness Electra is feeling when she does not have a husband or male figure. This represents that objectification and lack of empowerment Greek women faced in their years and how much is has changed since then.
- Here Tóibín is writing about the feeling of no power and hopelessness Electra is feeling when she does not have a husband or male figure. This represents that objectification and lack of empowerment Greek women faced in their years and how much is has changed since then.
Zachary Mason: The Lost Books of the Odyssey
Bio: Zachary Mason is not only a novelist, author of The Lost Books of the Odyssey, but also a computer scientist. He used this knowledge to write about artificial intelligence and is a New York Times Bestselling Author. He has also written many more novels within the science fiction genre.
Important Themes:
- Hubris - Heroism - Loyalty - Homecoming - Divine Intervention - Revenge - Deception - Free Will - Fate - Justice - Temptation - Death Much like Tóibín's House of Names, Mason puts his own twists on the original stories and rewrites it with his own details. Both of these novels are perfect examples of authors leaving room for interpretation and understanding in your own ways. Mason leaves helpful hints with asterisks in his work to provide knowledge and extra information on the Odyssey. These points allow readers to follow the original story of the myth, if they have not read or heard of the tale. |
Summary: The Lost Books of the Odyssey serves as a re-write, science fiction, and artificial intelligence novel of Homer's Odyssey. It tells the story of Odysseus and his journey back home from the Trojan War (fall of Troy). Mason strategically leaves out specific details in order for readers' interpretations to let their imaginations tell the story. Many say it follows the organization of multiple "what-ifs". Mason uses this novel to open up the iconic Greek myth for new, and old, eyes while following the plot and allowing for interpretation.
Odyssey Summary: Odysseus starts his journey home from the fall of Troy, which takes approximately a decade. He faces wraths from Gods and creatures and finds ways to protect his son and wife. |
"Death's eyes were cold and bright, his breath was frost, him for a man. Death leaned over Helen and whispered in her ear" (113).
Death is a common theme in Greek mythology and The Lost Books Odyssey is no stranger. This quote shows a personified version of death itself and ways it can communicate.
Death is a common theme in Greek mythology and The Lost Books Odyssey is no stranger. This quote shows a personified version of death itself and ways it can communicate.
Madeline Miller: Circe
Bio: Madeline Miller was a Latin and Greek teacher along with American novelist. She is most famous for her works in The Song of Achilles and Circe, which she spent ten years respectively writing. After graduating from Brown University, she went on to teach said subjects to high school students.
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Summary: Circe is completely despised by her family, especially when she comes to discover her God-like powers. She turns those of opposition into sea monsters or laid-back fisherman into Gods. She falls in love with a mortal, who is destined for the fate of death and she turns desperate to try to find ways to change him for a life together. The book follows the voyage to find answers and overcoming obstacles like the Minotaur.
Circe is the daughter of the total Helios and naiad Perse. |
Important Themes:
- Maturity - Feminism -Gender dynamics - Fate - Destiny - Death - Mortality Much like other novels about Greek mythology, feminism carves itself into the female characters along with the male leads. Circe falls into the main character perspective and Miller appropriately represents the culture of feminism and female empowerment through a female lead in a predominately male society. |
"Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep".
Miller effectively explains and represents the need for vulnerable female characters in plots and the importance of their representation.
Miller effectively explains and represents the need for vulnerable female characters in plots and the importance of their representation.
Margaret Atwood: The Penelopiad
Bio: Margaret Atwood is one of the most iconic novelists, poets, teachers, and critics. Born in Canada in 1939, she has spent her life writing short and long stories that become some of the most read and taught about books. She has won the Literary Peace Prize with her unique writing style and way of presenting storylines that she created of is retelling.
Important Themes:
-Womanhood -Feminism -Violence -Progress -Modernity -Loneliness -Heartbreak -Hardship Atwood perfectly explains and shows the importance of understanding feminism and its roles in society. Even in ancient Greece, women were treated poorly and constantly degraded for being without husband or male figure. This applies to today, which depicts the relevancy of feminism in today's society and the progress it can overcome with support. |
Summary: Told as another retelling of Homer's the Odyssey Atwood uses her own take on the iconic Greek myth in the point of view of more than one female. With reoccurring themes of feminism and womanhood, she uses Odyssey's wife, Penelope**, and her
**Image attached below of Penelope and Odysseus For more information regarding Atwood's representation of the afterlife and more details about the trials for Odysseus's crimes see the links below: https://outinjersey.net/concerns-about-the-afterlife-in-this-life/ https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Penelopiad/chapters-26-27-summary/ |
"Cleverness is a quality a man likes to have in his wife as long as she is some distance away from him. Up close, he'll take kindness any day of the week, if there's nothing more alluring to be had.”
"Happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked."
"What can a woman do when scandalous gossip travels the world? If she defends herself, she sounds guilty. So I waited some more.”
"Happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked."
"What can a woman do when scandalous gossip travels the world? If she defends herself, she sounds guilty. So I waited some more.”