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On Atwood's the Penelopiad

Well, didn't love it. The narrator (Penelope) is annoying--whiny and weak. I think Atwood is aware of this, but I am unsure why we should care, or how this is new. She does speculate on the nature of Odysseus as trickster as in Lewis Hyde's "Trickster Makes the World." We love our tricksters in fiction--witness Sawyer on "Lost" but in reality I think con artists should get the death penalty. They destroy lives with complete malice aforethought, there is seldom going to be any confusion as to who they are, and they do it for money and power and nothing else. But we do love those who get money and power and so the con artist is venerated.

Having said that, it is nice to see her tread the same paths that I did in reading the Greek myths--see below. If we consider mythic heroes as real flesh & blood people who, sweat and have hang-nails, I find the interactions even more fascinating. In the same way as considering Jesus as I guy with way too much to live up to.
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