Monday, April 19, 2021

Mythology and Mythology Retellings


Within the past 5 years, there have been quite a few mythology retellings. I am completely here for these mythology retellings, but I did want to talk about them a little bit. Here are some of the mythology retellings I've read: Circe by Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Cursed by Thomas WheelerThe Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White, and Lore by Alexandra Bracken.

I think that mythology is a fantastic way for a community to connect with itself. Individuals can see how they relate to each other one a deeper level. It's also a way for people to explain what's not explained by our 5 senses or by science.

For a general understanding of mythology, please check out these two books:

As with my thoughts on historical fiction, I don't think that mythology retellings have to be told exactly like the original myth was told. They're retellings for a reason - authors can take some creative license with the myth(s) they're retelling. Yes, you need homages in your retelling. In my opinion, the homages to the original myth/legend in the retelling should be overt, mainly due to the fact that the author is retelling the myth (i.e. keep the names, cities, and core parts of the story).

However, if you're not familiar with mythology, please do some research before reading a mythology retelling. It can be confusing to read a book like Madeline Miller's Circe if you're not familiar with the mythology behind Circe's (the woman's) tale. Even if you know a person's name or know the basics of a myth, it's still a good idea to do a bit of Googling to get some more details about the mythology retelling.

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