The Penelopiad

There are so many fascinating characters in Homer that are delightfully drawn albeit that their roles are peripheral, walk on walk off roles to drive the main plot lines or to illustrate it's backdrop. Many deserve more. Penelope is one such. Her story, and through it the story of women, deserves to be more than a plot device, a final task for Odysseus to complete. Margret Atwood shines her formidable intellect on to the text of this final act. The words form shadows creating a palimpsest, revealing another less “heroic” aspect to Odysseus character but one which nevertheless gives him more complexity, a man of twists and turns doomed perhaps not just by Poseidon but also his flaws. But this is Penelope's story, just what would make her put up with an absent husband and defy a patriarchal society that sought to use her in his absence. But not just her. Her household is a matriarchal society under siege. How do the other women cope and survive? What is their fate?
The Penelopiad is an important addition to the Homeric cannon as is Pat Barkers “The Silence of the Girls”.