Mythos

I wanted to read Odyssey and came across the retelling by Stephen Fry, only to realize that it’s 4th in a series by him on Greek mythology, and ended up listening to this. I’m glad I did because I didn’t realize it at first, but this book is a great complement to Will Durant’s Life of Greece, which I’m currently reading.

The book starts from the time when there was no time, and no Gods–from a Greek mythological viewpoint, of course. It first follows the advent of the true nature gods, then the Titans, and finally, the story revolves around the escapades of the 12 Olympians. The story flows naturally for the first half, the second half, though, reads more like an anthology, but it remains thoroughly entertaining.

Greek mythology has such an astonishingly pervasive influence on modern culture, and Fry makes it one of the key pillars of his retelling. He connects legends to common words, objects, flowers, or animals that we see around us today. Of course, you are never encouraged to lose sight of reality when he mentions Ampelos turning into a vine, which Dionysus later turns into wine. Connecting mythological lore to practical concepts is not something unique to Greek mythology; you can find this pattern in almost every religion, I believe (there’s a simple reason for that as well, but not pertinent to the discussion of this book). But the Greek gods are more humanlike than perhaps the humans who invented them. To that extent, treachery, infidelity, brutality, and even incest are some of the concepts that make up the Greek mythology.

Lastly, Fry’s narration here is perfect – comic insertions never felt out of place, and I found myself laughing hysterically several times while listening, sometimes at odd hours. Mimicry felt appropriate, and modern references only added to the whole experience. It’s extremely well written, narrated, and produced; a true audiobook experience. I was delighted and oddly relieved to know that Stephen Fry has done narration for the complete Harry Potter series and some of Charles Dickens’ work.