Series | Lexis Supplements
Edited book | Classic and Contemporary Agamemnon
Chapter | Quando il mito perde i suoi dèi
Quando il mito perde i suoi dèi
La storia degli Atridi in House of Names di Colm Tóibín
Abstract
Colm Tóibín’s novel House of Names proposes an engaging reinterpretation of the ancient myth of the Atreidae, which becomes an occasion for bitter reflections on political oppression and violence. It is at the same time a Bildungsroman of Orestes, whose childhood is protected against the violence of his mother and Aegisthus by his stay, together with two young friends, Leander and Mitros, in a totally isolated place, a house without time where ancient myths are still alive in the narrations of an old woman. This essay deals with Tóibín’s complex relationship with his ancient sources, that are sometimes directly referred to, while in other occasion they are freely manipulated with the introduction of new characters and a substantial redefinition of traditional ones, such as Iphigenia, Cytemnestra, Orestes, Electra and Aegisthus.
Submitted: Dec. 22, 2021 | Accepted: March 7, 2022 | Published Dec. 13, 2022 | Language: it
Keywords Iphigenia • Atreidae • Tóibín • House of Names • Clytemnestra • Orestes • Aeschylus • Oresteia
Copyright © 2022 Enrico Medda. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-632-9/009
