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Black Ships by Jo Graham
Oct. 14th, 2009 06:47 pmBased on the Aeneid, Black Ships attempts to retell the story from a more historical standpoint, with mixed results. The main character is Gull, the daughter of a refugee of Wilusa (Troy). Gull is the Pythea, here the head priestess of the Lady of the Dead (Persephone, though she’s never referred to by name), who leaves her home to follow Neas (Aeneas).
The book follows the general outline of the myth but, while some supernatural elements remain, attempts to do it from a purely historical standpoint. Unfortunately, you can almost see Graham trying to reconcile myth and history throughout, and the result is almost too stripped of myth to really work on some levels. I’m also not really fond of the trend to take women who already existed in a text and minimize or erase them from the new version. Most recorded history is about men, and so, often, it seems that the easiest and most effective way for writers to increase female presence in these tales and settings is to either create a new character or expand on the role of a woman who was always there, with the result being along the lines of “man’s tale through the eyes of a woman.” This isn’t exactly something I object to, until we get to the women who were already there being pushed aside for a new woman.
This is all rather critical of me, but the book is actually pretty good, and is both well written and well characterized, it’s just taking an approach to retelling myth that doesn’t quite work for me. I suspect I’d like Graham more dealing with history instead of trying to make myth fit specific ideas about history, and focusing more on the people already there, instead of new ones.
The book follows the general outline of the myth but, while some supernatural elements remain, attempts to do it from a purely historical standpoint. Unfortunately, you can almost see Graham trying to reconcile myth and history throughout, and the result is almost too stripped of myth to really work on some levels. I’m also not really fond of the trend to take women who already existed in a text and minimize or erase them from the new version. Most recorded history is about men, and so, often, it seems that the easiest and most effective way for writers to increase female presence in these tales and settings is to either create a new character or expand on the role of a woman who was always there, with the result being along the lines of “man’s tale through the eyes of a woman.” This isn’t exactly something I object to, until we get to the women who were already there being pushed aside for a new woman.
This is all rather critical of me, but the book is actually pretty good, and is both well written and well characterized, it’s just taking an approach to retelling myth that doesn’t quite work for me. I suspect I’d like Graham more dealing with history instead of trying to make myth fit specific ideas about history, and focusing more on the people already there, instead of new ones.
