Books Read: Mythos by Stephen Fry

August 13, 2019, South Amboy, NJ.

Paperback 2018, 442 pages.

Subtitle: The Greek Myths Retold

This book tries to recast the Greek myths as told by authors like Homer and Hesiod in a way that is more accessible, mostly by using contemporary language, and adding various touches to make the episodes more realistic. I picked up the book at the British Museum during our trip to London in late May.

The bottom line is I finished the book, which is a lot more I can say about my prior attempts. That is high praise from me.

I do wish the author had made it clearer which parts of the story he made up. Since myths get embellished and edited every time it is retold, there are no intrinsic problems with that. However, the reader might want to know if there are substantial variations from Homer's and Hesiod's versions of the stories.

Greek myths are so complex, and there are multiple versions of stories, so there shouldn't be any expectations that the book would be able to provide a definitive account. Indeed, the booked started with Chaos, Erebus and Nyx, the Titans, the second order, and the Olympians. The cast of characters is limited enough that one could trace how each individual came to be (barely). After that the book concentrated on individual characters and their stories. What I didn't get was how limited the scope of the book was, compared with the totality of myths out there, and whether they were selected because of their prominence or their storylines.

Still, the book helped with my understanding of some of the stories, such as how Venus came on the shore of Cyprus (Botticelli), the statue of Eros and Pysche, and the roles Prometheus and Pandora played in the fate of the human race. Perhaps when I see art related to Greek myths in the future I will have more appreciation?