Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
by Bettany Hughes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bettany HughesEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2005-10-04
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
Book Review: Sweet Helen
Summary: 5 Stars
Bettany Hughes' "Helen of Troy" might well have been called Helen of Troy and What People Think About Her, for both the historical Helen (if such a person actually existed) and people's reactions to the idea of Helen are at the heart of Ms. Hughes tale.
The author, an Oxford-trained historian, is also guest lecturer, writer, and the creator of PBS/BBC television specials, such as "The Spartans" and "Athens: Dawn of Democracy." In describing her "Helen," she says, "There is no single arterial route to the truth of Helen of Troy, but a number of paths that wind across time..." Her own quest begins by sifting through remaining Bronze Age shards and stories and then continues with a literate romp through evolving Western thought and opinion since that long ago time until our own.
Ms. Hughes calls her work an "historia." Those whose words or images are woven into its tapestry include: Euripides, Goethe, Yeats, Rimbaud, Camus, Ovid, Dante, Sappho, Rupert Brooke, Dorothy Parker, William Blake and Christopher Marlowe.
Her chronicler in chief, of course, is Homer. The masterworks we attribute to him were created during a time when a pre-literate oral tradition of singers was giving way in Greece to the written word. She describes this as a "fault-line in the development of European Literature." Those amazingly apt words give some idea of Ms. Hughes own writing skill.
She needs the skill. At 458 pages, "Helen" is stuffed text-book dense with facts, ideas and conjecture. As such, it could be a soporific far more potent than the largest turkey dinner. Instead, it's a joy to read. Even the notes are interesting. While Ms. Hughes writes about the past, her effort will, almost certainly, become the definitive "Helen" for the foreseeable future.
Because Helen's is a story that involves love, hate, lust, greed, fear and power, and because its origins are Greek, Ms. Hughes gives us (in passing) a somewhat more eclectic Greek vocabulary lesson than the ones probably contained in the syllabus at the local bible college.
Using Helen as the exploratory vehicle for her word journey, Ms. Hughes does indicate that women in general have been somewhat put upon in Western society. Other reviewers, in other places, have suggested that she views history through a Feminist lens. That may be true, but her rich, creamy English charm, her enthusiasm and the sheer weight of the evidence she presents prevent her story from devolving into a feminist tract. Instead, she brings even a Neanderthal male, such as this reviewer, much closer to her own viewpoint.
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