Odyssey

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I have recently been meditating on several ironies in the world, most pointedly the argument in mainstream cinema that there are too many reboots and remakes and not enough films being made from original content. On the opposite side of the coin, in the world of literature there are seemingly endless fonts of (at least) semi-original content, and isn’t it funny to consider the joy of reading something that is essentially a reboot of a classic work? What is it about literature that makes the remake more enjoyable than cinema? This train of thought was prompted after I closed the cover on this week’s book of choice: the fourth instalment in Stephen Fry’s Ancient Greek series – Odyssey

As the name suggests, the book is a retelling of Homer’s epic poem of Odysseus and his dramatic adventures on a ten-year journey home from the Trojan War. As the Olympian gods fidget uncomfortably at the idea that mortals are moving on without them, petty squabbles turn deadly when Poseidon sends a great storm to punish Ajax. While the other fleets survive and make it home, poor Odysseus’ ship is buffeted from shoreline to shoreline with the cunning king and his men faced with many trials and tribulations that waylay them for over a decade.

Odysseus’ story is a mighty one that really highlights the idea that home is where the heart is. Like its predecessors – Mythos, Heroes, and Troy – Odyssey retells the story, jumping from kingdom to kingdom, in a clever and concise modern voice that not only expertly conjures the scenes in the mind’s eye but also simplifies them and powers through them with a pace that pushes the reader further and further along in the story – like Poseidon’s stormy seas.

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While primarily a tale about the allure of home and the anchor that a steadfast home and hearth is to morals, the book also explores the human nature of evolution and social progression and delivers a tickling truth in the idea that ‘the times are a ‘changin’ is actually an idea that has been around for millennia. Added to this at the very end is an indulgent little social commentary on the current progression of mortals and storytelling: the evolution of AI.

While I didn’t find Odyssey as compelling as his other books in the series, I can’t deny that the hero’s journey narrative archetype is a classic for a reason and it’s really nice (and relatable) to read a book about a hero going through epic adventures just so he can sleep in his own bed at the end.

Author: Stephen Fry, 2024

Published: Penguin Random House UK, 2024

Troy

 

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After going as far as I could down the rabbit hole of Delaney’s Wardstone Chronicles, I felt that a different tone of adventure was much needed this week. Enter Stephen Fry’s latest instalment in his Greek mythology series: Troy. Having absolutely adored Mythos and Heroes, when I saw this on the New Release table of my local bookshop, it was a pocket of sparkling joy in a grey end of the year. 

The narrative of Troy is self-explanatory. Fry, with his signature eloquence and sharp wit, excitingly details every aspect of the Trojan War, from its humble beginnings to its central players, and the eventual bloody conclusion. Various tales of romance, prophesy, betrayal, trickery, war, and heroism fill the pages, complete with delightful footnotes that both refresh our memories as to the cast of players as well as provide various splashes of humour, as Fry veers off on a tangent and inserts some personal opinions. 

More than an exciting and intelligent retelling of the one of the most famous/infamous battles in ‘history’, Troy explores the story and backstories of the battle with an artistic interpretation. What I mean by that is, Fry goes on a sort of speculative and somewhat provocative exploration into the artistic and legendary meanings and messages that come from the story and how/why certain parts of it have transcended generations to take up root in our modern language, education, entertainment, and even narrative genres. So much of the Trojan War remains in words and phrases that we use day-to-day and this is what Fry explores as he describes the various rapes, pillages, and battles that pad out the story.

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While Fry writes with a succinct and fiercely intelligent prose, there is also a slightly mournful tone that gets dropped into the mix as the dark side of mankind begins to take over the story, strong enough to make the gods themselves turn away. There’s a lot happening in this book that causes the reader to really go on a rollercoaster of feels and that it what I loved about it!

Author: Stephen Fry, 2020

Published: Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House

Norse Mythology

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Continuing on the mythology bender theme of the week, this week saw me nestled down on the couch enjoying the magical tales from Norse mythology as retold by one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman.

Norse Mythology chronicles a number of well-known stories concerning the gods, giants, and monsters of Norse mythology, the numerous tricks of Loki, the various adventures of Thor (including how he got his signature hammer), and the uncountable bouts of wisdom from Odin the all-father, all leading up to the inevitable Ragnarok, the end of things. A glorious mixture of fantasy, creation myth, and fun bedtime story, this book is a wonder; very easy to read and highly enjoyable.

Like Stephen Fry’s Mythos and Heroes, Norse Mythology really shows Gaimain’s love for the content and characters. As is depicted in a number of his other books, namely Good Omens and American Gods, his fascination with myth and creation stories that early people created to make sense of the world is what makes this book so consumable, as the excitement and admiration is gloriously apparent in the prose, like a small boy retelling his favourite story, only with a better vocabulary and use of grammar.

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The stories he tells with a modern twist of inflection and voice, but they still retain their traditional short and predominantly oral tone, which would make this book a perfect one to read out loud to the younglings at story time or bedtime. It’s a truly wonderful book!

Norse Mythology is a collection of short stories and myths as retold by Neil Gaiman. It was published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc in 2017.

Heroes

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Continuing on the Stephen fry bender, this week saw me curled up on the couch reacquainting myself with those most fabulous of timeless tales, those of the Ancient Greek heroes. A brilliant collection of magic, murder, misdeeds, and meanders, Heroes is a wonderful continuation of Fry’s loving exploration into the ancient world while also being a delightfully exciting and entertaining examination of some of the most classic tropes and genres of storytelling.

With the loving nurture of man by Prometheus being mused over by the Gods on Olympus and the titan on a rocky hillside being continuously (and torturously) devoured, mankind is fast taking their place in the world, indeed they are making it their own. A time when the Gods no longer reign seems inevitable, as people like Heracles, Orpheus, Jason, Atalanta, and Theseus run about performing incredible feats of strength, wit, and will. With heroes like these, who need deities?

Perhaps what I adore most about this book and its predecessor, Mythos, is that they are both wonderful, fresh, and modern retellings of some of the oldest and classic stories, and the books really show Fry’s love for the subject. Mythos and Heroes are more than just a collection of sparkling bedtime stories, they are a celebration of theatre, performance, and cultural arts. Fry injects the tales with fun little pops of his own opinions and jokes, giving them new life, as well as footnotes that don’t just explain how to pronounce some of the more confusing Greek names, but highlight just how much these myths and stories have influenced theatre, poetry, and the arts over the centuries.

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The stories themselves he retells with that lovely, intelligent and sophisticated wit that he’s got, which just makes everything sparkle and another thing that I really love about these books is that they so beautifully tell the well-known stories (e.g. that of Heracles), as well as a number of the smaller and less well-known ones (like that of Atalanta, of whom I have never heard).

Heroes is the perfect way to while away the hours in a delightful, voyeuristic swirl of excitement, danger, suspense, and hilarity. I would highly recommend both of Fry’s books on the myths of Ancient Greece, as they tick all the boxes for a truly wonderful reading experience.

Heroes is the follow-up book to Mythos, written by Stephen Fry. An exciting anthology of tales, it was published by Michael Joseph in 2018.

Mythos

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Fairytales and myths have been around for millennia; indeed they are the oldest form of entertainment and making sense out of the world around us. Amongst the most celebrated stories in human history are the myths from Ancient Greece that feature Gaia and Ouranos, the Titans, and, of course, the Olympian gods. Many, many, many interpretations and retellings of these stories have been passed down through the ages and, this week, I took a wander amongst the olive groves and vineyards with Stephen Fry and his beautiful retelling of the ancient stories, Mythos.

The book is a chronological, at least as chronological as can be established through laborious research, narration of all the well-known (and not so well-known) ancient Greek mythology beginning with Chaos, then moving through the Titanomachy (rule of the babe-eating Kronos and his kind) before moving on to the war between the Gods and the Titans and finally ending on the high notes of the creation and government of mankind.

It doesn’t matter who’s narrating, the myths of the Ancient Greek world have always been and will always been incredible, and enrapturing experiences that excite the imagination as well as provide explanations for the world around us. We’ve all been exposed to the wondrous stories of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Aphrodite, etc… usually in primary school where the watered down stories of magic immortal beings instil us with awe, but Fry brings new life to them for a wider range of readers that, not only keep the ‘educational’ tone (e.g. the story of Persephone and its establishment of the calendar seasons), but regale readers with the tales told in  a little more adult and risqué way (as all great fairytales were before they were watered down by Disney and the arrival of animated cinema).

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Fry’s eloquent and sophisticated vocal tone makes for a wondrous voice in which to read these tales, and his inclusion of personal remarks within the text and the footnotes, make the book unique reading experience, mixing the exciting, story-time tone, with one of passionate dinner conversation.

While the collection of stories can ultimately speak for themselves, Fry’s fascination and regard for the tales, their characters, and their morals/lessons, makes Mythos a highly enjoyable read that is perfect for either binge-reading or just coming back to every now and again. I absolutely adored it.

Mythos was written my Stephen Fry and published by Penguin Random House in 2017. It’s a glorious and succinct collection of stories coupled with beautiful images of artists renditions through the ages; a true celebration of ancient Greek mythology.