Forever weeping and wailing, the complexities around the portrayal or women in Greek mythology has always been a fascinating topic. Mother, daughter, sister, wife, they are always defined by their relationship to a masculine heroic figure, but can never be the hero. She who speaks without restraint, like Medea or Athena, are either a monster or a goddess—neither can simply be a woman.
In this week's podcast, Kim leaps in excitement discussing Madeline Miller's brilliant novel, Circe, with a focus on the extract where Circe's sister Pasiphaë speaks for herself. Hà Trang gives a beautiful and heart-rendering reading of H.D's poem "Eurydice," to further highlight the fact that we have always forgotten that without Eurydice's death, Orpheus would never be able to achieve his immortality. These women in the rewritten tales are angry and outspoken; they are no longer weeping.
