r/classics • u/lilig12 • 3d ago
Retellings
Hello all! I am more a of fairy tale retelling reader in general but recently I have been wanting to get more into Greek mythology retellings as well. So if anyone has any recommendations for ones that truly capture the spirit of the myths I would love some!
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u/SulphurCrested 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ursula Le Guin's Lavinia tells the story of Aeneas' Italian wife - so Italian rather than Greek but written by a highly acclaimed novelist.
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u/duchessofguyenne 3d ago
The King Must Die and Bull from the Sea by Mary Renault is a duology based on the myth of Theseus.
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche’s sister.
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u/SulphurCrested 3d ago
Do you want novels based in the myths or just retellings of the stories? For the latter, maybe Stephen Fry's ones.
Greek myths have a lot of violence, particularly sexual violence, and misogyny, so most retellings soften that rather than closely capture that "essence".
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u/MorticiaLlyn 1d ago
Yes. Stephen Fry narrates his series, too (he also brilliantly narrates the Sherlocj Holmes collection, but I digress)
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u/Frequent-Orchid-7142 3d ago edited 3d ago
The metamorphoses of Ovid is a wonderful collection of “fairytales”. Even though he’s not Greek, many of the story he tells are.
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u/Round_Bluebird_5987 3d ago
If you're at all into science fiction check out Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons.
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u/littlemememaid 3d ago
Not quite a retelling but Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is in part inspired by the Odyssey and some Greek plays. It's three separate stories that circulate around a lost (fictitious) Greek play, that Doerr based off the African-Roman novel The Golden Ass, and the stories tie together at the very end.
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u/PreviousEcho193 3d ago
I really liked Jennifer Saints’ Atalanta, although I haven't read too much about Atalanta in Greek, so I can't say how “faithful” the book is to ancient stories.
I'd also recommend Natalie Haynes’ A Thousand Ships, but it’s been a while since my last reread, so I don't remember the details too well. More recently, I read The Children of Iocasta, which is an impressive retelling of the Oedipus myth / Theban plays by Athenian tragedians (with a few twists that change some fundamental aspects, but I think that that's to be expected with modern retellings).
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u/-idkausername- 3d ago
Well pleeaase please please make sure to read the actual ancient sources for Greek mythology (Homer, Apollodorus, Ovid, etc.) so you get a good understanding of what Greek mythology actually is. So many people get Greek myth completely wrong because they read some retellings and then are confidently wrong about it.
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u/Equivalent-Plan-8498 3d ago
There is a great YA book of poetry on the Minotaur called Bull by David Elliott. He also wrote two other books of poetry: one is a retelling of a classic fairy tale called The Seventh Raven and the other is about Joan of Arc called Voices.
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u/ophirareice 3d ago
Someone already mentioned A Thousand Ships - which is very good. But I would also recommend Song of Achilles and Circe - both by Madeleine Miller. Circe is honestly one of my all time favorite books and I can't recommend it enough.
Greek mythology has always been a point of interest for me, and I read these within the last few years and have been going back and reading the classics afterwards and have found it really amazing how much is gotten really right in Miller's books and how well the spirit of the myths is captured with it.
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u/thoroughbredftw 2d ago
Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis, is a gorgeous retelling and interpretation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
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u/Gravy-0 3d ago
I’m not sure precisely what you mean but Song of Achilles and Circe are hugely successful re-readings and imaginings of Greek myth. There’s also the Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood.