lfreaton
asked
Madeline Miller:
Thank you for being a writer in my day and age. I literally gobbled up/read Circe then Song of Achilles in a week. These stories' are worlds, perhaps divinely inspired, helping this reader transcend today just enough to be remembered to life, itself: magic and mystery, virtue and its pains in discovery and, above all, love. What other classics did you rely on to write?
Madeline Miller
Hello, and thank you for the lovely note and question! Along with the Iliad and the Odyssey, I also drew on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Vergil's Aeneid, the Argonautica, the Telegony (an ancient epic which we have only in summary), Euripides' Medea, Sophocles' Philoctetes', Tennyson's poem Ulysses, Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, and lots of small pieces from all kinds of other scattered places. I like to throw open the doors, and read everything I can about all the different figures, not just the protagonist. I never know where I might find the key detail that animates the character in my imagination, so I try to look everywhere.
More Answered Questions
Jason Stenger
asked
Madeline Miller:
I just finished the audiobook of Circe and was absolutely enthralled throughout. Your storytelling is amazing and the characters are so vivid. On top of that I felt Perdita Weeks did an incredible job bringing a voice to Circe and real life to an already moving story. Did you have any input on who would narrate this book and either way do you feel she captured the voice you were looking for?
Gaby Ott
asked
Madeline Miller:
Hi! I adored reading The Song of Achilles and Circe. I love your writing style, the way you take these Greek Myths into an understandable story is awesome. I have been wanting to read Galatea by you, but I am having trouble finding a hard copy. Where could I find one?? Thanks!!!
Spinebender Reviews
asked
Madeline Miller:
What books are comfort reads for you? Not necessarily books that hold any literary or artistic merit (although those can be comfort reads too). I'm thinking of books that you come back to again and again, when you're in need of a good read that you know you'll enjoy and will lift your mood.
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