Penelopiad (Canongate Myths) [Paperback]

Margaret Atwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2006 | Series: Canongate Myths

In Homer's "Odyssey", Penelope - wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy - is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan War after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumours, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and - curiously - twelve of her maids. In a splendid contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids, asking: 'What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?' In Atwood's dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit and verve, drawing on the storytelling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality - and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Atwood takes Penelope's part with tremendous verve ... she explores the very nature of mythic story-telling.' Mary Beard, Guardian 'In this exquisitely poised book, Atwood blends intimate humour with a finely tempered outrage at the terrible injustice of the maids.' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Sunday Times 'Penelope flies with the help of the sardonic, deadpan voice Atwood lends her, a tone half-Dorothy Parker, half-Desperate Housewives.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent '"Spry" is a word that could almost have been invented to describe Margaret Atwood, who beadily and wittily retells the events surrounding the Odyssey through the voice of Penelope. Pragmatic, clever, domestic, mournful, Penelope is a perfect Atwood heroine.' Sam Leith, Spectator 'An enjoyable, intelligent variation on Penelope's story.' Christopher Tayler, Sunday Telegraph 'Margaret Atwood, with characteristic dryness, acuity and wit, takes on The Odyssey in The Penelopiad, which gives us the wife's point of view.' Erica Wagner, The Times

About the Author

MARGARET ATWOOD is the author of more than thirty internationally acclaimed works of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her numerous awards include the Governor General's Award for The Handmaid's Tale and the Giller Award and Iralian Premio Mondale for Alias Grace. She won the Man Booker Prize with The Blind Assassin in 2000. She lives in Toronto.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (April 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841957046
• ISBN-13: 978-1841957043
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in over thirty-five countries, is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. In addition to The Handmaid's Tale, her novels include Cat's Eye, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; and her most recent, Oryx and Crake, shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize. She lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh Out Loud Funny, September 9, 2006

By 

Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus (Paperback)

Many readers find that Atwood's writings have too much edge or are just too dark and raw. The same cannot be said about this new feature. Yes, Atwood is the Queen in the Canadian Publishing Industry, and yes she is a good writer, but her stories for many are just not entertaining. I myself am not normally a fan of Margaret Atwood's writings. Yet this book will rock your socks. It is funny, satirical, and a laugh-out-loud tale.

This is a story that most of us know, the story of Odysseus and Penelope. Yet unlike most tellings of this tale, it is told from Penelope's perspective and she has a great vantage point on the whole `Helen' affair. However our story is told from outside of time. There is an old saying that "dead men don't tell tales" and that may be true, but in this inventive retelling, a dead woman and her chorus of dead girls do just that.

Turning this myth on its head by telling it through women's eyes, Atwood has given us a unique view. Maybe she will challenge us to look at our world and our situations through different lenses from time to time.

How do a dead woman and her twelve maids tell a story with a great deal of jest and a smattering of dark humor? How else could a tale be told by 13 dead women from across the river Styx? Penelope gives us some biographical information about herself seldom included in this tale, and it helps us to understand some of her decisions, and her mistakes. Yet the main focus remains Odysseus' long absence during the war against Troy, and his brutal behavior upon his return.

The story is written as a morality play, or in the format of a Greek Tragedy, however it is done with the humor and temperament of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Our twelve dead maids are our chorus and whenever they appear, laughter will follow; but our laughter is at twelve young women who were hung-tied together, and died, and now in death, still tied together, seek justice upon Odysseus for what he did to them. They appear from time to time, in song, dance, or mock plays and trials, to re-enact events from their lives to punctuate Penelope's story, and thus their own plight in it.

The farce and fun in the way this story is told will make you laugh out loud. Much fun will be had with the ghosts of our 13 dead ladies, if you give this book a try.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wise, witty, sharply pointed retelling of mythology., March 11, 2007

By 

Miles D. Moore (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Penelopiad (Canongate Myths) (Paperback)

In Homer's "Odyssey," why were twelve of Queen Penelope's handmaidens hanged along with Penelope's unsuccessful suitors? In "The Penelopiad," Margaret Atwood endeavors to answer this unsettling question by allowing Penelope herself to relate the tale from beyond the River Styx, with the twelve hanged maidens acting as chorus in alternating chapters. In Atwood's retelling, the answer has a great deal to do with the violent, patriarchal structure of Greek society, along with the character of Penelope's husband Odysseus, the ultimate con man disguised as hero. "I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just didn't think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on me," Penelope says of him. As for Penelope herself, she struggles to keep herself, her son Telemachus and her kingdom of Ithaca intact during her husband's twenty-year absence. This effort includes making covert allies where and when she can, and blinding herself to a great deal. "I wanted happy endings in those days, and happy endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked and going to sleep during the rampages," she says. The maidens, meanwhile, relate through poetry, sea chantey, courtroom sketch and anthropological lecture their side of the tale, and their undying outrage at having been scapegoated and judicially murdered. Throughout this short book, Atwood demonstrates her renowned mastery of both prose and poetic style, her tart and sometimes biting wit, and--above all--her zealous sympathy for the victims of history, who are just as tragic today as they were in Homer's time.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A great idea, poorly executed, February 7, 2008

By 

T. Hudson (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Penelopiad (Canongate Myths) (Paperback)

Oh, Margaret Atwood, I love your work, but this was just...inexplicable. I was eagerly anticipating a feminist, or at least Atwood-esque revisionist, retelling of the Odyssey. There were brief glimpses of that in "The Penelopiad," but the promise was unfulfilled. The book--novella, really--felt very incomplete, and not simply because of its length. Atwood normally does an excellent job developing her characters, but here I had no idea who Penelope was by the end of the book. She barely skimmed the surface of the myth, and augmented the skimpy narrative with filler of Penelope's contemporary reflections from the underworld and choral interludes. The chorus is another idea that could have worked, had the story been more cohesive. Instead, just filler. In fact, at multiple moments I had a nagging suspicion that Atwood was playing some kind of literary prank. Is she laughing at the readers trying to figure her out? The conventions of mythology? Should I be laughing with her? Is this clever parody, or is she going senile? Hard to tell. After finishing the book, though, I couldn't help feeling like the joke was on me. I think this is the first of her novels I've actually disliked.