The Penelopiad
 Book cover of the first U.K. edition | |
| Author | Margaret Atwood |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Canongate Myth Series |
| Genre | Parallel novel |
| Publisher | Knopf Canada |
Publication date | October 11, 2005 |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 216 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 067697418X Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The Penelopiad is a 2005 parallel novel by Margaret Atwood, and one of the first books to be published in the Canongate Myth Series, a book series in which ancient myths are rewritten by contemporary authors. The story takes an alternative view of the story of Odysseus by focusing on Odysseus's wife, Penelope, and her twelve hanged maids. Most of the novel follows Penelope's struggle when Odysseus takes twenty years to return from Troy.
Atwood uses material from The Odyssey, along with present-day feminist voices, to spin a yarn about how Penelope waited twenty years for Odysseus to return, giving clues as to what she did to evade the suitors: did she collude with the maids to evade them, or did she herself fall for the suitors, betray Odysseus, and, when he returned, get the maids killed to save herself?
The novel, like Greek drama, uses a chorus: the twelve maids, sometimes playing Odysseus's sailors; sometimes characters in a 21th-century trial of Odysseus, for killing the suitors and them; mostly as themselves, minor characters in a story controlled by more important people.
Theatrical Adaptation
In July 2007, the Royal Shakespeare Company premiered The Penelopiad at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The stage version, a co-production with Ottawa's National Art Centre, was adapted by Atwood herself and has received generally positive reviews.
External link
References
- Washington Post review by Elizabeth Hand (accessed: January 11, 2006)
- Daily Telegraph review by Christopher Tayler (accessed: January 11, 2006)
- Globe & Mail review of theatrical production by Kamal Al-Solaylee
(accessed: August 4, [2007]])
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