Chasing Odysseus
Page 25
THE CHILDREN OF AGELAUS return to the ruins of Troy to find disaster. The Amazons and the God of War have come to reclaim Hero. Once again the Herdsmen of Ida find themselves caught in an unfolding legend, as they fight great kings and ancient magic to face the gods themselves.
S.D. GENTILL
S.D. GENTILL SET OUT to study astrophysics, ended up graduating in law, and later abandoned her legal career to write books instead of contracts.
When the mood takes her, she paints, although she maintains that she does so only well enough to know that she should write. She grows French Black Truffles on her farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of NSW, which she shares with her young family and several animals (the farm not the truffles). Sulari was recently offered a Varuna Fellowship. She was commended in the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ 2008 Jim Hamilton Award, long-listed for the Hachette/Queensland Writers Centre Australian Manuscript Development Program for fiction writers and shortlisted for the 2008 New Holland Publishers and NSW Writers Centre Genre Fiction Award.
She has been writing for a couple of years, and thinking about it most of her life. She’s pretty sure now that writing is what she’s supposed to do.
S.D. Gentill is the author of A Few Right Thinking Men.
1. Is this a work of historical fiction? Discuss the part Mythology plays in Ancient History.
2. How true has Gentill stayed to Homer’s original tale? Could Chasing Odysseus and The Odyssey exist side by side as accounts of the same events? Consider perspective when responding to this question.
3. How has Gentill paid homage to Homeric poetry in her novel?
4. Gentill has in many cases reversed the roles of hero and villain in her retelling of Homer’s tale. Has she changed actual events and characters or is the reversal simply an outcome of the change of perspective?
5. The gods play a significant part in the outcome of The Odyssey. Is that true for Chasing Odysseus?
6. It has been said that to the victor falls the privilege of writing history. Discuss in the context of both The Odyssey and Chasing Odysseus. Is that still true today? Discuss in terms of contemporary conflicts.
7. The story of Troy and its fall is at least three thousand years old. Why do you think that it still captures our imaginations?
1. How does the fall of Troy impact on the lives of the Herdsmen? Consider the good (if it exists) as well as the bad. How does it affect the identity of the Herdsmen?
2. In this novel Hero is often presented as a foil to her brothers. She is fearful whilst they seem to have boundless courage, she is devout whilst they are irreverent, she is physically handicapped by the weakness of her eyes whilst they are strong and able. And yet Machaon says “Our Hero is aptly named.” What does he mean? Is he right?
3. Short-sightedness is a common problem. Consider how it would have impacted life in the ancient world. Discuss the implications of other (nowadays minor/treatable) physical ailments (eg: asthma, epilepsy, ADHD) on survival in Homeric times.
4. The issue of supplying besieged cities is not one which has been left in the ancient past. How are those who breach blockades regarded today? Discuss.
5. Consider the differences in the way characters in Chasing Odysseus deal with their gods. Does this reflect contemporary differences in religious devotion? explain your answer.
6. Do you think Troy existed? Why? Why not?