Book #9: Nobody's Prize, Esther Friesner
Feb. 11th, 2010 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityGreek mythology, girl power, definitely not "Percy Jackson for girls".
One of the last classes I ever took at Wilfrid Laurier was a senior classics seminar. It's a rotating subject, depending on who is around to teach it, and that year it was called the History of Greek Religion. Even though I didn't have the pre-reqs, I requested admission into the class, and got it. It was something of a gong show: the prof was a raging misogynist, his marking schemes were less "schemes" and more "totally random" and he refused to believe me when I said that Battlestar Galactica was based on Mormonism (Judaism, was his claim, on account of Adama, which is, like, the ONE WORD OF HEBREW I REMEMBER, but also: he was WRONG).
The lectures, though, were amazing. He took Greek Religion apart and put it back together again, showing us how our ideas of white marble and sun-dappled mountainsides hid the much darker, more dangerous precepts of the World of Ancient Greece. It was fascinating, and I know beyond doubt that it has forever changed my idea of Greek Religion (and is probably what enabled me to get to the end of BSG so enthusiastically). He taught us to look beyond myth, and how looking beyond myth is something we, academically, have only recently begun to do.
Esther Friesner looks beyond the myth. More interestingly, she has Helen look beyond the myth. So we see Jason as a dude from a broken family who just wants his kingdom back and is willing to stir up some serious shit to do it. He uses the myth to play people like lutes, and it's AMAZING to watch because even though he wants what he wants, he's still a decent guy. We see Herakles as a raging, egocentric maniac who falls in love again and again, and keeps going crazy. His imbalance is as huge as his reputation, and Jason knows exactly when to call him on it. We see Orpheus actively creating myths when the stories around him aren't exciting enough. And Theseus...well, Theseus is a jerk. But I already knew that.
I really, really hope that this is a trilogy. I want to see Helen when she's "of Troy". I want to see behind the myth of that as well. I want to see Clytemnestra murder Agamemnon (because that never gets old). I want to see if Menelaus is cool or a moron (it goes either way sometimes). I want to see Odysseus, who always had the best grasp on myth and gods. But most of all, I want to see this girl, this Princess who belongs to no one, not even the gods, make her way through one of the messiest futures of all time.
(And for the record, I totally don't care that Milo cut his losses and married someone else. The farther he stays from Helen, the better his chances, and frankly I am glad to see him happy. Plus, girls in fiction do this all the time. I'm glad to see a boy do it.)
One of the last classes I ever took at Wilfrid Laurier was a senior classics seminar. It's a rotating subject, depending on who is around to teach it, and that year it was called the History of Greek Religion. Even though I didn't have the pre-reqs, I requested admission into the class, and got it. It was something of a gong show: the prof was a raging misogynist, his marking schemes were less "schemes" and more "totally random" and he refused to believe me when I said that Battlestar Galactica was based on Mormonism (Judaism, was his claim, on account of Adama, which is, like, the ONE WORD OF HEBREW I REMEMBER, but also: he was WRONG).
The lectures, though, were amazing. He took Greek Religion apart and put it back together again, showing us how our ideas of white marble and sun-dappled mountainsides hid the much darker, more dangerous precepts of the World of Ancient Greece. It was fascinating, and I know beyond doubt that it has forever changed my idea of Greek Religion (and is probably what enabled me to get to the end of BSG so enthusiastically). He taught us to look beyond myth, and how looking beyond myth is something we, academically, have only recently begun to do.
Esther Friesner looks beyond the myth. More interestingly, she has Helen look beyond the myth. So we see Jason as a dude from a broken family who just wants his kingdom back and is willing to stir up some serious shit to do it. He uses the myth to play people like lutes, and it's AMAZING to watch because even though he wants what he wants, he's still a decent guy. We see Herakles as a raging, egocentric maniac who falls in love again and again, and keeps going crazy. His imbalance is as huge as his reputation, and Jason knows exactly when to call him on it. We see Orpheus actively creating myths when the stories around him aren't exciting enough. And Theseus...well, Theseus is a jerk. But I already knew that.
I really, really hope that this is a trilogy. I want to see Helen when she's "of Troy". I want to see behind the myth of that as well. I want to see Clytemnestra murder Agamemnon (because that never gets old). I want to see if Menelaus is cool or a moron (it goes either way sometimes). I want to see Odysseus, who always had the best grasp on myth and gods. But most of all, I want to see this girl, this Princess who belongs to no one, not even the gods, make her way through one of the messiest futures of all time.
(And for the record, I totally don't care that Milo cut his losses and married someone else. The farther he stays from Helen, the better his chances, and frankly I am glad to see him happy. Plus, girls in fiction do this all the time. I'm glad to see a boy do it.)
