Troie est tombée. Par-delà le ciel et les océans, la guerre aura détruit la vie de toutes les femmes. Les Troyennes dont le sort repose entre les mains des guerriers grecs. Telle Andromaque qui, de princesse, devient butin de guerre. La belle Hélène, tenue responsable de ce conflit Pénélope, condamnée à attendre le retour d'Ulysse. Clytemnestre, maudissant Agamemnon pour avoir sacrifié leur fille Iphigénie contre des vents favorables. Sans oublier les trois déesses Héra, Athéna et Aphrodite, dont la vanité a plongé le monde dans le chaos.
" Brillant, passionné, implacable. "
Margaret Atwood, autrice de La Servante écarlate
Certains monstres sont tout simplement de jeunes filles qui n'ont pas eu de chance. C'est le cas de Méduse. Violée par Poséidon, injustement punie par Athéna, c'est par la faute des dieux qu'elle fut changée en créature hideuse, aux cheveux de serpents et au regard pétrifiant.
Mais que sait-on de son coeur, sinon le récit qu'en a rapporté Persée, le héros qui l'a décapitée pour assouvir sa soif de gloire ?
Et si le monstre n'était finalement pas celui que l'Histoire retient ?
'Natalie Haynes is the nation's muse' Adam Rutherford The Greek myths are one of the most important cultural foundation-stones of the modern world. Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Virgil to from Aeschylus to Sophocles and Euripides. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men, and have routinely shown little interest in telling women's stories. Now, in Pandora's Jar , Natalie Haynes - broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist - redresses this imbalance. Taking Greek creation myths as her starting point and then retelling the four great mythic sagas: the Trojan War, the Royal House of Thebes, Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles, she puts the female characters on equal footing with their menfolk. The result is a vivid and powerful account of the deeds - and misdeeds - of Hera, Aphrodite, Athene and Circe. And away from the goddesses of Mount Olympus it is Helen, Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Antigone and Medea who sing from these pages, not Paris, Agamemnon, Orestes or Jason.
In Divine Might Natalie Haynes, author of the bestselling Pandora''s Jar, returns to the world of Greek myth and this time she examines the role of the goddesses.
We meet Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father''s head: goddess of war and wisdom, guardian of Athens. We run with Artemis, goddess of hunting and protector of young girls (apart from those she decides she wants as a sacrifice). Here is Aphrodite, goddess of sex and desire - there is no deity more determined and able to make you miserable if you annoy her. And then there''s the queen of all the Olympian gods: Hera, Zeus''s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy of his dalliances with mortals, nymphs and goddesses lead her to wreak elaborate, vicious revenge on those who have wronged her.
We also meet Demeter, goddess of agriculture and mother of the kidnapped Persephone, we sing the immortal song of the Muses and we warm ourselves with Hestia, goddess of the hearth and sacrificial fire. The Furies carry flames of another kind - black fires of vengeance for those who incur their wrath.
These goddesses are as mighty, revered and destructive as their male counterparts. Isn''t it time we looked beyond the columns of a ruined temple to the awesome power within?
A dark psychological page-turner about an inexperienced teacher who builds a powerful - and ultimately dangerous - connection with her students. We Need to Talk about Kevin meets Notes on a Scandal.
