(1) Moby-Dick by Herman Melville ~ Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
(2) The Bible story of Jacob ~ The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
(3) King Lear by Shakespeare ~ A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
(4) The Odyssey by Homer ~ The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
(5) The Iliad by Homer ~ The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
(6) Le Morte d'Arthur ~ The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
What do these pairs of books have in common?
(2) The Bible story of Jacob ~ The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
(3) King Lear by Shakespeare ~ A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
(4) The Odyssey by Homer ~ The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
(5) The Iliad by Homer ~ The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
(6) Le Morte d'Arthur ~ The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
What do these pairs of books have in common?
(1) Melville gives us Ahab's story about the hunt for Moby-Dick, and Naslund presents his wife's point of view.
Ahab's Wifeby Sena Jeter Naslund
(2) The Bible tells us about Jacob and his sons, while Diamant gives us the perspective of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter.
The Red Tentby Anita Diamant
(3) Shakespeare tells us what the king and his daughters said and did, but Smiley's 20th-century characters show us reasons for the daughters' actions.
A Thousand Acresby Jane Smiley
(4) Homer gives us the story of Odysseus, who finally makes it home to Penelope and promptly kills her suitors and twelve of her maids; Atwood lets Penelope and her twelve hanged maids tell the tale as a 21st-century retrospective by the ghost of Penelope.
The Penelopiadby Margaret Atwood
(5) Homer tells us the story of the Trojan Wars, with all the men and "heroes" fighting. Bradley shows us how it was lived by Cassandra, one of the many daughters of King Priamus of Troy. She was a psychic and unmarried, thus "making" her unpopular with the men. (Thanks to Margreet for this pair.)
The Firebrandby Marion Zimmer Bradley
(6) The legend of King Arthur recounts the battles of the knights of the Round Table, while Bradley's version is told from the perspective of powerful women characters like Morgaine, more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay, and Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh spelling of Guinevere. (Thanks to Chris for this pair.)
The Mists of Avalonby Marion Zimmer Bradley
So the answer to my question is that the second of each pair of stories gives us the women's viewpoint. And the stories change vastly when viewed through the eyes and experiences of women. His and hers stories. Ha! It's about time we got the women's side of things, huh? Do you know any other pairs of stories like these?
Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteI don't see a review of the book you referred to at my photo blog, so I'll just comment here. Thanks for visiting! Do you have a swimmer in your family? We are, indeed, in Vicksburg and our coach is Marc Bucat. :)
I have another example for you:
ReplyDeleteThe Iliad, by Homer vs. The Firebrand, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Homer tells us the story of the Trojan Wars, with all the men and 'heroes' fighting.
Zimmer Bradley shows us how Cassandra lived it. Cassandra was one of the many daughters of King Priamus of Troy. She was a psychic, and unmarried, so she was unpopular with the men..:)
I had to look back over at your blog to see which book I had mentioned: Simon's Family by Marianne Fredriksson. I'm not using my "Bonnie's Books" blog to record everything I read, but you can read about Simon's Family in my "Around the World in 80 Days" group. We discussed it in December 2006. Here's the URL:
ReplyDeletehttp://boards.oprah.com/WebX?14@@.f1189be!skip=0&view=C
Now to your question about swimming: "Do you have a swimmer in your family?" No, but I was looking at all of your photos, which included those of your son's swim meets.
Hi Bonnie
ReplyDeleteThe only pairs I can think of is:
Mort d'Arthur (The Arthurian Legend)
Mists of Avalon (the same legend but from the women's point of view)
Love the blog. I'm adding it to my "Readers" list on Book-a-rama
Mort d'Arthur ~ Mists of Avalon
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris, I should have thought of this pair since Mists of Avalon is one of my favorite books.
LifetimeReader (Lifetime Reading Plan) didn't like Atwood's The Penelopiad:
ReplyDeletehttp://lifetimereadingplan.blogspot.com/2011/04/margaret-atwoods-penelopiad.html