Ancient Historian Reads Greek Myth Retellings From 2022
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Check out my Classical Myths retellings database: www.jeanmenzie...
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That's my TBR sorted! I would love to watch a video on Percy Jackson. I love how Rick Riordan has modernised the myths and put a humorous spin on them, like how the fauns are free spirits, i.e. hippies.
The library hold is in so hopefully soon ;)
Oh, Jean! This video couldn't have been more convenient! I currently do a uni course about ancient reception on European lit, and we are to finish the course with an analysis of a piece of literature that is in some way in contact with the ancient world. I'm thinking of doing my paper on The Silence of the Girls and maybe work in the more broader sense with this new tendency on the literary scene. I just love how these new retellings explore the source material.
The Silence of the Girls is probably my favorite myth retelling.
@@ellenkarlsson9490 Oh, that's wonderful! Thanks for making me more excited about reading it!
@@annachristensen6054 There's a sequel as well: The Women of Troy
Don't know if you have listened to Natalie's latest podcast she's done an abbreviated version of The Odyssey in her unique way. It is hilarious and is brilliantly done, definitely worth a listen. 🥰
What’s the name of the podcast please ?
fr pls share😭🤲
Love this video and would love to see more. I’m new to historical fiction and mythology so any hints about ‘where to start’ are always great fully received. I have your book and it gets used a heap!! ❤
Thank you thank you for this! I love your perspective - it really enhances the reading experience for me, having some of the things pointed out to me. ❤
Aw I am so pleased to hear that!
Thank you 💕 very much for the database you have created for the myth retellings. I'll definitely be a frequent visitor. Been a fan since I was 12 😻🧙💜🌹now 35 and have built my own library.
Just stumbled across your channel today. Stone Blind has been on my list for a while. Really enjoyed all you shared. Ty
Have you heard of Create My Own Perfection by E.H. Timms? It's a short story that came out last year that's a modern fantasy retelling of an aroace Medusa. I absolutely loved it and would love to see your thoughts on it.
Omg Jean you should do an ancient historians thoughts on the Percy Jackson series. I don't know if that's something you'd want to do but it would be so fun!
Ahaha funny you should say that 🤣 I’ve actually put a hold on Percy Jackson at my library so I can do exactly that!
@@JeansThoughts yeah i was so excited when I heard you mention Percy Jackson in the end. I mean, so many of us have read Percy Jackson but I'm sure we've missed some things that you as a historian can help frame for us. So much fun
Love this concept.
And thank you for the databasen!
No problem! Glad it's useful ^_^
Ok now I'm sold on reading Pandora!!
YAY I hope you enjoy!
As I said in the Live Chat...I would love to see you do more of these. I really enjoyed hearing your perspective. WOW ....that database is INCREDIBLE. Thank you Jean 🙌🙌🙌
Also I've been meaning to read Ovid's Metamorphosis for a while but don't know which translation is the best/most accessible? Help!
David Raeburn published by Penguin! perfect blend of colloquial and high language (never too stuffy never jarringly modern) and approximates Greek metre to give a sense of the original's rhythm and flow, plus helpful extras like summaries at the start of each book pointing out some of the clever structuring that's easy to miss when you get caught up in the stories ~
I have a stupid question-
Having read all the myths and and so many retellings written over all this time since antiquity - how do you not confuse what’s “real” and what has been added by the author of a retelling you once read and enjoyed?
It must be confusing keeping all those separate.
Btw loved this thank you!
Aha I think the fact I work with the original material in a different way is what makes the difference. I've read the originals more times than any retelling and they are very distinctive ones you've analysed them and studied them in various contexts. So it starts to be quite easy to tell the difference between a democratic athenian myth, a medieval myth and a modern version of a myth. Well, easy in the sense of its taken a long time to become so well acquainted with them but now that I am it feels easy. I hope that makes sense!
@@JeansThoughts it does, thank you! Hope you continue this series ❤️
If you really liked the book by Natalie Haynes you might enjoy her radio series Standing Up for the Classics - basically a comedic look at all sorts of different figures and things from classical history
Another Medusa retelling is by Rosie Hewlett. This was a really helpful review of Stone Blind and Pandora, both Ive been interested in getting.
oo the Medusa-as-shield perspective is intriguing - sounds like Haynes took a page out of Miller's "Patroclus-as-urn" book, perhaps?
Oh my gosh I'm so happy to have found you! I'm just finishing up my MA in archaeology and ancient history so it's a wee moment of serendipity to have found your channel Jean 🥰
Jean may not pressure you to buy her book but I will! It's really good and GORGEOUS and you need it.
Completely agree, I home educate my 2 boys and Jean’s book was our number one go to - fantastic
Wow, that database is amazing!
Aw thank you so much - I'm really proud of it!
Excited for the Medusa video essay! And this video was interesting. I think I'll be checking out Pandora. Would be interesting to see you do Percy Jackson as I actually DNFed the series in the third book after there was a line that basically said people sometimes think Helios is the sun god but Apollo actually is and I just threw the book across the room as yes Apollo is associated with the sun but ahhhh Helios. But that was probably just me
Watching this with interest because I have read both Jennifer Saint and Madeline Miller and I am not sure where to go next. I have Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes but I feel a bit daunted by it. I have also looked at Pat Barker's books too. I felt that Jennifer Saint's writing style made the myths very accessible and I loved that. Madeline Miller I felt was giving me a deep dive into the myths without bogging me done in language and padding.
Silence of the girls was my intro. Then Song of Achilles. I have loads on my TBR shelf!
Honestly, the breadth of your knowledge is amazing and thank you so much for the database! Can I ask, I realise this is off topic somewhat; have you read Piranesi? I have tried twice and it did not capture me.....what am i missing?!
I have! I really enjoyed it but honestly it does strike me as a marmite book. I didn’t find much interesting about the few classical refs but if you read up on the history of Aleister Crowley the parallels are uncanny. I think that’s the only thing I could suggest that might make it more engaging.
I want to read Stone Blind so bad but Waterstones are still holding it hostage 😭
Waterstones is driving me mad at the moment, all these shipping delays. Both my partner and I have cancelled orders after waiting almost a month for already out books and no respond via email.
@@JeansThoughts oh no 😭 I'm so sad about it because I love the waterstones sprayed edges but I wish I'd ordered the independent exclusive now... gets more tempting to cancel by the day just because of how they're handling it (aka not at all)
Yeah girl - you go ahead and own that Phd!! It's a lot of work, time and effort and you deserve being called an expert in your field. Be proud of your amazing accomplishments. That said, I am currently getting to know mythology and your videos are quite helpful, so thanks for that.
Those myths are complex symbolic allegories not primitive attempts at explaining things they didn't understand to change any part is to take away its soul
The ancients literally changed them depending on the decade and context.
@@JeansThoughts well I follow the Norse tradition and our myth cycle comes from the havamal and prose Edda.. by tradition I mean the ancient mysteries. They remain unchanged.. In the mysteries of elusis their myth cycle revolves around Persephone and Demeter.. in Egypt they followed Osiris.. You do know what the "underworld" is symbolic of? Why if was used in Mesopotamia (innana) Ugarit (ba'al) or perhaps the Aztec hero twins? Did they teach you in school what (more correctly where) the underworld is or the hero needs to escape? What you're catching glimpses of in these myths is nothing less than the remnants of the ancient mystery tradition.. the ones I've followed for 30 years never changed nor were the meaning behind each of the symbols ever changed or "made up" for when you know what the symbols truly represent the entirety of the mysteries are laid before your feet. To not see the myths in this light is to not see them at all in my humble opinion but what do I know, I'm just an initiate not a scholar
I’m reading Stone Blind right now and I feel it showcases my personal problems with using Medusa as the main focus point in retelling. People love retellings that are “true to the source” and particularly from someone else’s perspective. Medusa is a problem here because there is so much variety to her character from her origins as absolutely being a straight up monster to more classical ideas of beauty and passivity and you even have ancient sources that just made things up about her (like Ovid).
Very excited 🙌🙌 Thank you Jean !!
Excited to chat myths!
I LOVE this Jean!! X
Thank you so so much!
Very interesting video. I would love a video with a juxtaposition of ancient Greek and Roman mythology and Tolkien
Oooh so I actually have a podcast episode that touches on that: soundcloud.com/user-591915376/the-ancient-inspiration-behind-fantasy
💛💛💛
WOW! What a fabulous database! If you are interested in adding a slightly steamy contemporary romantic fantasy to your list, my 4-book Cupid's Fall series works up to a modern retelling of the Cupid & Psyche myth. Fair warning - it's an irreverent mashup of Roman & Greek (but that's all explained in book 1).
Aha mash ups as accepted as is steamy so I will pop this on!
@@JeansThoughts How wonderful! Thanks so much! You're going to need Adult, Ancient, Modern, and Queer tags for the series!😁
What exactly is a historian? Is it just someone who studied history, like once a historian always a historian? Or is it someone who specifically works in history, like at a school or museum?
Typically someone who has studied it to a high level, I don't want to say you have to have a PhD but usually some sort of postgraduate study, and then continue to research/write/work in a parallel field. Myself, I've studied and researched history for 12 years to a PhD level, researched material that has otherwise been overlooked as well as written, published, and spoken at conferences on said material. I have also published books, edited books and articles, continued to read and engage in my field and what others are writing and publishing. Plus I have taught at a university level. I think more than anything it is a constant thing, it's about continual engagement with history not just studying it for three years then never interacting with it again. Obviously this can take various forms. I hope that makes sense.
@@JeansThoughts it does make sense! Particularly a continual engagement, that definitely seems like the best way to put it. I guess that takes it from a passive interest to an actual active title. Thanks for your answer!
That Stone blind cover is amazing. I realized that I might not like myth retellings. I read The song of Achilles and the more I think about it I hate it more, then read The silence of the girls and it was a quick read but nothing special (for me). I still have A tousand ships on my tbr and if I don't like that either then I will not read any more of retellings.