Illustrations by Janet & Anne Grahame Johnstone For Jason And The Golden Fleece

Hey friend,

Just curious about some greek retellings you like? I tried to get through 'Clytemnestra' by constaza casti but even the first few chapters felt so anachronistic and out of character I returned the book.

i love till we have faces by c.s. lewis. not encouraging to me that no one** has come up with anything better in that vein (that is, "more or less straightforward retelling from an overlooked female character's perspective") since a white english man in the 50s.

**no one i've READ YET, i should say

but if you step away from the formula of narrative fiction, there's good stuff! denis o'hare and lisa peterson's "an iliad" and derek walcott's "the odyssey" are both interesting plays. of course, my beloved hadestown. alice oswald's poems "memorial" (drawn from the iliad) and "nobody" (drawing much more loosely on the odyssey) are [kisses fingers]. in louise glück's poetry collection meadowlands, she uses the odyssey throughout as a way of exploring marriage and parenthood; it's excellent. the lost books of the odyssey is a short story collection by zachary mason; like most short story collections, i found it very mixed, but it has a few stories i've returned to again and again.

When I saw this picture, I knew I had to draw it with Hektor and Andromache, it's perfect for them~

I just think they’re neat

Jon Bernthal / Rossy de Palma / Sevdaliza / Adrien Brody / Tamino / Sofia Coppola / Elisabeth Moss / Andy Samberg / Damiano David / Alba Flores

i straight up do not believe that odysseus did everything he did to get back to penelope and telemakhos. or even that he did everything he could. wanting to return to them is not the whole story. i like the myth about odysseus pretending to be mad to get out of the war for lots of reasons, but one of them is because it's an attempt to escape the narrative, foiled by his love for his son, but also because there is contrast to what we know of him long after the narrative has sucked him back in. odysseus is no less kleospilled than anyone else! he fights for his pride; he makes mistakes; he gets worn down; he delays his homecoming, in ways that are and aren't his fault, all the time. he wants to go home. he doesn't just want to go home.

but he does try. by leaving ogygia he willingly goes back into the narrative one more time, and he never gives up until he finally returns. isn't that compelling enough? do we have to sand it down?

Halbrand + text posts

everyone shhh for a second and look at this ink doodle of diomedes and glaucus hugging by 18th century painter antoine-jean gros

Just living out my Princess Mononoke dreams~

Pelops and his ivory shoulder

Max Klinger, 1857-1920

Penelope, 1895, etching and aquatint, printed in colors (Singer 276, iv/VI), 7 7/16x11 13/16 in

Source: Conrad R. Graeber Fine Art