"Witty, informative and contemplative."
New York Times
A Short History of Myth
Karen Armstrong
Human beings have always been mythmakers.
The history of myth is the history of humanity; our stories and beliefs, and our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, link us to our ancestors and each other. Taking us from the Palaeolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the 'Great Western Transformation' of the last 500 years and the discrediting of myth by science, Karen Armstrong discusses the continuing importance of myth - and why we dismiss it only at our peril.
"A crisp and lucid exploration of mythmaking from the Palaeolithic period to its relevance to the present day. I hope this visionary series runs and runs." David Mitchell, Sunday Herald
"Elegantly argued and consistently thought-provoking."
David Flusfeder, Daily Telegraph "Respectful without being reverential, knowledgeable without being
pedantic and, above all, readable." The Economist PS6.99 pbk
1 84195 703 8 (10-digit ISBN); 978 1 84195 703 6 (13-digit ISBN) www.canongate.net
"A masterpiece ... rewrites and reconfirms what fiction
is, was, and might become." Scotland on Sunday
Weight
Jeanette Winterson
Forced to bear the weight of the earth and the heavens for eternity, Atlas is finally given a break when the only person with the strength to share the burden - Heracles - offers to shoulder the world for a while, in exchange for one of the golden apples of life. Will Atlas return to face his destiny, or will wily Heracles have to take his place forever?
With her typical wit and verve, Jeanette Winterson asks challenging questions about the nature of choice and coercion. Visionary and inventive, her skill in turning the familiar on its head and showing us a different truth is put to dazzling effect.
"With promiscuous wit and exuberant fantasy ... [Winterson] produces some exquisitely filmic prose that is almost mythopoetic."
Independent
"An original and challenging approach to the myth of two men who bear the weight of the world on their shoulders ... profound and provocative." Critics Choice, Daily Mail "A touching meditation on the difficult journey to self-knowledge,
and also extremely funny." Guardian PS6.99 pbk
1 84195 775 5 (10-digit ISBN); 978 1 84195 775 3 (13-digit ISBN) www.canongate.net
The Myths
"Canongate launches its series with small beautiful books by three wise women. Karen Armstrong provides a critical rationale for the project ... In The Penelopiad Margaret Atwood plays Armstrong's game with vigour and ingenuity ... Jeanette Winterson, retelling in Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles the story about holding up the world, beautifully sympathises with the natal globe."
Observer
"One of the most ambitious acts of mass story-telling in recent years, and one transcending racial and historical borders."
Metro
"A feat of mythic proportions ... far-reaching and ambitious."
Los Angeles Times "A feat even the gods would marvel at ... a glittering pantheon of the most esteemed contemporary writers breathe bright golden light into the world's classic tales."
Vanity Fair "With her succinct, thoughtfully elucidated A Short History of Myth, religious historian Karen Armstrong supplies the brilliant anchor work for a vast new series in which dozens of writers are refashioning myths ... The first two novels in the series, Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad and Jeanette Winterson's Weight, offer provocative mythical recastings ... this unprecedented undertaking is one for the ages."
Elle
THE PENELOPIAD
Nominated for the inaugural 2005 Man Booker International Prize, which recognises one writer for his or her outstanding achievement in fiction, Margaret Atwood is the author of more than thirty-five internationally acclaimed works of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her numerous awards include the Governor General's Award for The Handmaid's Tale, and the Giller Prize and Italian Il Premio Litterario Internazionale Mondello for Alias Grace. The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, Alias Grace and Oryx and Crake were all shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, which she won with The Blind Assassin. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has been awarded the Norwegian Order of Literary Merit and the French Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and is a Foreign Honorary Member for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She lives in Toronto.
Also by Margaret Atwood
Fiction
Oryx and Crake (2003)
The Blind Assassin (2000)
Alias Grace (1996)
The Robber Bride (1993)
Good Bones (1992)
Wilderness Tips (1991)
Cat's Eye (1988)
The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Bluebeard's Egg (1983)
Murder in the Dark (1983)
Bodily Harm (1981)
Life Before Man (1979)
Dancing Girls (1977)
Lady Oracle (1976)
Surfacing (1972)
The Edible Woman (1969) For Children Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda (2004)
Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes (2003)
Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut (1995)
For the Birds (1990)
Anna's Pet [with Joyce Barkhouse] (1980)
Up in the Tree (1978) Non-Fiction Curious Pursuits (UK) (2005)
Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose:
1983-2005 (US) (2005)
Moving Targets: Writing with Intent 1984-2002 (2004)
Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (2002)
Two Solicitudes: Conversations
[with Victor-Levy Beaulieu] (1998)
Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian
Literature (1996)
Second Words (1982)
Days of the Rebels 1815-1840 (1977)
Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972) Poetry
Morning in the Burned House (1995)
Selected Poems II: Poems Selected and New 1976-1986
(1986)
Interlunar (1984)
True Stories (1981)
Two-Headed Poems (1978)
Selected Poems (1976)
You Are Happy (1974)
Power Politics (1971)
Procedures for Underground (1970)
The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970)
The Animals in That Country (1968)
The Circle Game (1966)
Double Persephone (1961)
Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives - they explore our desires, our fears, our longings, and provide narratives that remind us what it means to be human. The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include: Chinua Achebe, Margaret Atwood, Karen Armstrong, AS Byatt, David Grossman, Milton Hatoum, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Tomas Eloy Martinez, Victor Pelevin, Ali Smith, Donna Tartt, Su Tong, Dubravka Ugresic and Jeanette Winterson.
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2005
by Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2008
by Canongate Books Ltd Copyright (c) O.W. Toad Ltd, 2005
The moral rights of the author have been asserted British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84767 358 9
www.meetatthegate.com
Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
(Series: # )
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