Rewriting Epics: Homer’s Penelope and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad
Rewriting Epics: Homer’s Penelope and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad

Summary/Abstract: Myths, which fall under the rubric of religion, enable people to form a worldview and to conceptualize reality. As major narratives, once meant to shape people’s belief system, they are now subjected to postmodern critical rewritings, revolutionary challenges aimed against former accepted ideas and norms. These usher in a certain change in the narrative pattern, which in turn emphasizes the change in the belief system. This paper explores this type of rewritings and the debates they have engendered. Therefore, the first half of the paper will discuss the act of rewriting as such, through a survey of literary theories and critique. The second half will approach Homer’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad from a comparative perspective. The aim is to focus on Penelope’s point of view and show how the postmodernist novel questions the societal norms designed for women, their position in society and their role in the household, as well as the challenges faced today by a writer retelling myths.

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