Making the Most of Atwood’s Penelopiad

Lorina N. Quartarone (University of St. Thomas)

Margaret Atwood’s recently published (autumn 2005) post-modern antidote to the Odyssey – the story told retrospectively by the shade of Penelope – has received somewhat mixed reviews.  While her treatment may appear lacking and demonstrates odd choices in some respects (e.g., her presentation of Penelope’s character seems weak and sometimes banal, the ‘choral interludes’ are strangely burlesque), the narrative moves at an easy pace, will appeal to many of today’s students, and offers a flip side (so to speak) of the Odyssey which will inspire interesting discussions.  In this presentation, I will first offer my own interpretations of Atwood’s work, noting particularly where I stand in disagreement with reviewers like Simon Goldhill and David Flusfeder.  Then, with an eye to teaching the Penelopiad as a sequel to the Odyssey in literature, epic and myth courses, I will focus on ways to help students tease out important matters of gender and genre.  I intend to demonstrate how the Penelopiad’s brevity, format, focus and tone make it a useful contrast and complement to Homer’s epic.