Our Little Duckie 
Thomas Jones
- The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood’s new novel is a reworking of the Odyssey, told largely from Penelope’s point of view. The Penelopiad is presented by its publisher as a retelling of a myth, but it isn’t quite that. The story of Odysseus’ return home from the Trojan War would qualify as a myth, but the Odyssey does not, if a myth is a story that doesn’t depend for its resonance and power on the details and language of any one version. The Penelopiad is written very precisely in response not to the myth of Odysseus, but to the Odyssey.
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Thomas Jones is one of the London Review’s contributing editors.
Other articles by this contributor:
Whisky and Soda Man · J.G. Ballard
swete lavender · Molesworth
This Is Not That Place · David Eggers escapes from Sudan
Rut after Rut after Rut · Denis Johnson’s Vietnam
Diary · My Life as a Geek
Intimate Strangers · Thomas Jones reads A.L. Kennedy’s new novel
Welly-Whanging · Alan Hollinghurst
Forget the Dylai Lama · Bob Dylan
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