#Can you tell I recently read song of achilles

[jules-ln]

I've seen a post that seems to indicate to me that there are some people that think that Achilles "officially" has chestnut hair???

And like, first of all, I think this comes from Emily Wilson's translation of the Iliad, a very recent translation, that personally I don't like too much

But I want to beg everyone to stop, and for the love of God read "Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes. No, don't just read the title and imagine what the essay could be about, actually read it

Because I think that it would help a lot of people to understand a bit more of the Iliad

Now allow me to explain

The Iliad is soooo old, that the time in which the story is supposed to "happen" was waaay before the invention of paper, and we don't actually know how society worked back then in what today is Greece, we can only have "educated guesses" on how things might've worked (and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying or misinformed or a time traveler)

More than that, it's possible that some characters in the Iliad might be older than the story of the war itself and were later added to the Iliad because somebody liked the characters that much and said "my ancient blorbo must be in it too!"

Like some people even speculate that the name Achilles originally came from a pre Greek language that dissappeared with time and we can't be sure of it's meaning

Now that you know that, guess what, the Iliad is a book and it has always been a book, right?

❌️Wrong❌️

The Iliad originally was interpreted by a bard, and it was an oral tradition, that's right, the very first Iliad was a song

And by the mere nature of oral tradition, the "Iliad" changed more and more with each interpretation, and it's very likely that the different bards added or removed parts of it

Then it got written down, and guess whaaaat

The Iliad we have today, yeah, the one that everyone uses for translation, it isn't the first Iliad that got written down either

Because, you see, when an author writes something the fans don't like and the fans are like "I can fix it" that's a sentiment that has always existed in humanity

So the Iliad more likely than not had lots and lots of "editors" that added and subtracted things depending on what they liked or not

You can see that in the many inconsistencies the Iliad has

Like the part where Apollo makes Patroclus's armor fall off him, but then Hector later takes the armor off of Patroclus's body???

So the Iliad has changed so so so much that if there ever was an authorial intent to begin with, it has been washed away and buried between many different voices

Any meaning you want to find in, in part has been made up by yourself and your frame of reference (like what Roland Barthes said)

For all we know, the description of Achilles's hair might be one of the most "recent" edits of the story! So there's never going to be an "oficial" depiction of a character

The author isn't going to take your hand and guide you to a meaning because there's no such author to begin with, deal with it

But don't come here and say that a character has an "official" hair color because of one translation out of many that came out last year and then blame MM for a popular depiction that's been popular for years and then question her credentials and her intelligence (which funny how this always happens to her and never to a man) on top of everything

[johaerys-writes]

How did you get into your most recent patrochilles addiction? Was it Hades Game? The Song of Achilles?

I'm not sure what you mean by most recent because I've been obsessed with Patrochilles since 2020 when I read TSOA for the first time lol so not so recent, but I guess the last couple of years I've been writing mostly Patrochilles, and this year I've only had those two on the brain, so I don't really know what to tell you 😂 I feel like they've slowly but surely replaced all my other interests, and that’s partly because there's just so much stuff out there about them (tsoa, hades game, the iliad, a bunch of other myths and adaptations, non fiction books, academic papers etc) so there is no end to how much you can research/read/watch/think about. They are chatacters that have been loved, talked about, thought about for centuries, they are in a way part of our collective consciousness I feel, both when people engage with the Iliad directly, but also through the archetypes and themes/tropes that have filtered through western literature and philosophy as a whole. Like the iliad started as an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation, and then it was written down (the first ever text to be written down when the Greeks came up with their first widely used alphabet) and people haven't shut up about this story since. Like that's just so endearing to me, the way it still sparks discussion and discourse and yeah even drama lol can you imagine, like we're still getting into arguments about Achilles and Patroclus' relationship the way Phaedrus did about Aeschylus' interpretation in Plato's Symposium lmao that's just WILD. So yeah my obsession started with TSOA but it just kept growing to encompass every piece of media these two appear in lol.

[sleeping-academic]

september 15th, 2024

today was not very productive… most of my morning was just me sitting around. i’m at work right now tho, and it’s looking like a pretty boring shift, so i should have time to get some stuff done unless i’m given a surprise task.

unfortunately i did not find a red jacket on my thrifting excursion with my friend yesterday 😔 but i did see something in spirit halloween that inspired another halloween costume idea (one that’s much easier too!!) so i’ll keep pondering that.

today, i:

🫧 finished watching arcane with my roommate!! we’re both very excited for season 2 to come out in a few months :D

🫧 painted my nails (blue and pink… like jinx from arcane. can you tell i really like arcane rn??)

🫧 went to dutch bros before work and got a hot tea for my shift as a little pick-me-up treat (because i did NOT want to go to work)

to-do before tomorrow:

🫧 finish reading chapter 2 of the textbook for my archaeology of ancient italy class + take quiz 4

🫧 read the “doing gender” article for my intro to gender and society class

🫧 finish the page for the 8 of Wands in my tarot journal!! i’ve been very disconnected from that recently with the start of the new semester, but i’m gonna try and dedicate some more time this week to learn more about tarot <3

media:

🎧: “paint the town blue” - ashnikko

📖: the song of achilles - madeline miller

📺: arcane season 1 episode 9 - “the monster you created”

[werewolf-girlfriend]

thanks for the tag @dandy-dog!!! :D

Favourite color: ohhhhhhhhhh this is a hard question. if u look at my blog u might think it to be red and green but im also very weak for blue and yellow and orange and and and and... and i always wanna buy something if it has a rainbow on it :)

Favourite Song: god. i genuinely don't think i can pick just one. i couldnt even pick 10. theres too many songs i like a whole lot..! but i can tell u some of the stuff im listening to these days:

Phantom of the Opera covered by Ghost

ChuChu Lovely MuniMuni MuraMura PrinPrin Boron Nururu ReroRero by MAXIMUM THE HORMONE

Can You Feel The Sunshine? from Sonic (lol)

www.girl by Toy-Box

Given and Denied by Poets of the Fall

Lucid Dream by Owl City (i just found out recently hed released new music and like hooolllllyyyyyyyy shit)

Currently reading: SO GLAD U ASK i have been absolutely readingpilled this year so far. i just finished The Song of Achilles like 2 days ago (it was so good?? omg???) as a break from reading The Murderbot Diaries! Manga-wise ive been eating up Paru Itagaki's Sanda before i get back into my journey thru Junji Itou's mangaography which i wanna complete by the end of the year >:3

Currently watching: Dungeon Meshi like everyone else :) I've also been enjoying the You're Under Arrest OVA from '94 and that Prehistoric Planet docuseries!

Coffee or Tea: i only recently got into tea but even if i hadnt id still choose weird hot water with the slightest of taste to bitter coffee >:) that said i dont drink much tea either lol

Currently craving: oh my god i want some fucking fries. or a huge bowl of spaghetti with meat sauce and parmesan ohg.... i am writing this post right before lunchtime....

and im taggin @beastwife @yaboi-nate @rikke-m-a @1night-star1 @dragongirltail @freshdonuts @camiliark @beatcroc @smolsleepyfox @thrashz @adhdwerewolfgf @beastrogen @spearxwind !!

[hazbinsinners]

tagged by @diresang tagging @femmina-eroe @spider-slvt @mmorning-stars @suchaficklething @hotelbitches @themosthatedbeing @voodoodaaddy and YOU if you want to! :)

alias / name. nico, to most people :)

birthday. may 26th

zodiac sign. i'm actually ass at remembering my zodiacs despite being super interested in it but like i'm a gemini sun AND a gemini rising and that's all i can remember LMAO. i wanna say maybe i'm an aries moon but don't quote me

height. 5'6

hobbies. writing (rp + fics + og novels), reading, video games, music/singing, baking/cooking . . .

favourite colour. pink!! but like a really soft pastel pink

favorite book. as someone who reads a lot of dark romance and smutty adult romance books (oops but like also who is surprised really if you've ever read any of my threads) my absolute favorite book(s) will be going to the grave with me, HOWEVER whenever anyone asks me for book recs i typically give them "between shades of grey" by ruta septys :) a beautiful and important historical fiction novel. i adore it. as far as my typically preferred genre, my favorite author is ana huang, if that tells you anything :) while she actually hasn't written my favorite book of all time i find that i like a lot more of her works consistently. "twisted lies" & "king of wrath" are my favorites by her specifically! what a long-winded answer LMAO

last song. "just kidding" by waterparks haha. right as i typed that though "violet!" from the same band started playing. (bonus) fun fact waterparks is my favorite band and my chosen name was violet for a very long time because of that song :) i still like it tbh so if you're reading this, you officially have permission to call me violet if you'd like! (i'm not a stalker though i swear <3 LMAO lil waterparks reference. if you like waterparks we should 100% be friends i'm serious i'll show you my massive merch collection i've accumulated over the years. ALSO I'M SEEING THEM LIVE IN LIKE A WEEK? PRAY FOR ME Y'ALL. sorry anyways)

last film/show. helluva boss! been rewatching it to study blitzø's character for the like tenth time. i've been sorta tandem watching helluva & hazbin for blitzø's character and for alastor's in hazbin. i need to get better at writing him, gah

recent reads. i'm about halfway through "king of greed" by ana huang right now :') i have been in a HELL of a reading slump since last year when i read about 30 books lmao. it's a good book, i like it! but nothing seems to be holding my attention lately. i think the last book i finished outside of that that i truly loved enough to remember was a reread of "the song of achilles", which also goes down in history as one of my favorite books of all fucking time. i've read it about three times now? and i'm NEVER one to reread books haha

fun fact about me. uuuhhh . . . after asking poor maddox because i couldn't fucking think of a single goddamn thing about me, fun fact is that i have a dog who's 3/4 golden retriever and 1/4 poodle and i named her chica because she looks like markiplier's dog and i've been watching him since i was in 6th grade :))

[melestasflight]

Explore my bookshelf!

tagged, a million weeks ago, by @searchingforserendipity25!

An estimate of how many physical books I own: They are all over the place if that tells you anything.

Favorite author: Impossible question, but in recent years I keep coming back to Joy Harjo's poetry. It gives me life.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: Madeline Miller's Circe. Several people whom I trust have told me that I will be disappointed after her Song of Achilles.

A popular book I thought was just meh: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. It was fine. He has other, way more impressive books.

Longest book I own: Honestly? The Bible, lol. I have an illustrated version with annotations that's quite long.

Longest series I own all the books to: Does The History of Middle-earth count?

Prettiest book I own: The Apostolic Fathers printed in Venice in 1830 in Greek. A family heirloom I luckily inherited. Picture attached.

A book or series I wish more people knew about: Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo. It is, unfortunately, quite difficult to translate well and the English translation is only ok.

Book I'm reading now: The Left Hand of Darkness by Urusla Le Guin. Finally! A crime, I know, I should have read this 10 years ago.

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, along with... 100 others.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: Yup, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Macedonian (which I can read perfectly well), and French and Russian (which I read with assistance).

Paperback, hardcover, or ebook?: Ebooks for most things. I've moved too many times. Paperbacks also, because I do crave paper sometimes. Hardcovers for my classics, which I display and love.

I know people did this weeks ago, so you all have been tagged by now haha but I always welcome good book recs. Please comment or ping me if you have any must-reads

[nagumoshoma]

nine people i'd like to get to know better 🐳

i was tagged by rowan @sollucets, thank you sm <3

three ships

oh this is so hard bc there are so many good recent ones ! but i think i'll go with jom and yai from ifylita (because of the absolute devastation they caused me), gao shi de and zhou shu yi from we best love (bc come on, how can i not choose them?) & my all time favourites tang yi and meng shao fei from history: trapped because they were so rin coded, it was bonkers insane and crazy.

first ship

i think i remember telling u what my first ship was before and i'm sure it was daphne and thorn from the hex girls from scooby doo skjfhks they were my first ever pairing that i obsessed over when i was a kid.

last song

on spotify, it was evening glow by wave to earth

currently reading

i'm not reading any books rn, because i just got done with the song of achilles for the sixth time and i'm having feelings about it again so: paint smears on sunny days by snowshadowao3 which is teacher wei wuxian and single dad lan wangji, which is actually my kryptonite. i'm dead serious this is my favourite fic of all time. i read it all the time, and i'm in the middle of reading it again right now. it's tooth achingly sweet, and it feels like a warm hug in a fic. to sleep, perchance to dream by hyacinthssoul which is dean and pharm from until we meet again, but it's just so. so. good i can't describe it. it's not very long but it's a little fic that lingers in my mind when i read it and i would read 300k words from this author of dean being sweet on pharm like. i really truly would. you know i dreamed about you (before i saw you) by beelove which is a cute little magical au about yusuf and nicolo from the old guard! which is a fandom i was in for a long time and still hold dear to my heart. i decided to dive back into tog fics and found this gem in my bookmarks! i highly recommend, it's so cute.

last movie

i just watched mamma mia: here we go again! with my little sister and it was kind of good but i couldn't get into it for some reason dkfks i think bc it isn't lord of the rings </3

currently craving

oh um, i crave the ability to watch just one episode of a drama right now but my anxiety isn't letting me so instead i'm listening to music and experiencing dread for some reason skjfhs

i'm tagging @poonmitpakdee, @ongsasuns, @ueasking and anyone else who would like to do it omg i'm just shy about tagging people

[kebriones]

are you against mythology retellings? if yes, would you mind telling me why? (in my opinion they are harmless and each one of them adds something new to the ‘source material’) just asking since i’ve seen a lot of classicists harassing people just minding their business and having fun 💀

-Absolutely not at all! I came very near to spending all my savings to go watch hadestown a couple years back, and at the very beginning I even enjoyed lore olympous (the story lost me at some point).

-Do I think they're harmless? No story is harmless and all of them are. It depends on what you consider harm.

-I don't think they add to the source material. If we're talking about ancient greek mythology specifically, it's been dead and burried for centuries. Whatever new is created, is a modern thing and seperate, in my opinion.

-However, it is the very nature of mythology, that people are meant to make their own stories inside it freely. If anything, I enjoy retellings, and even more than retellings I absolutely love the taking of characters (heroes gods, whatever) and making completely new stories with them. "retellings" as a concept can fall into the trap of trying to fix myths, to make them more palatable and enjoyable to a modern audience, which is what rubs me the wrong way.

-But there's no storytelling police so that's up to me to avoid reading those stories of course. Others may enjoy them, and not everyone has to care about the historical contexts or original messages of specific myths. I certainly think there are benefits to it and personally I find it adds to the enjoyment , but each person enjoys different things. I have spent many years stewing in my overprotective feelings towards ancient greek mythology but recently I decided I just want people to have a nice time. I'm also trying to teach myself to understand that other people are completely different to me, so if I find somethign sickeningly bad and others like it, that's just how subjective things work. So I might complain, half-jokingly always, about stuff but it's just to blow off steam and deep down i'm chill about everything.

I specifically don't like what I've heard about the song of achilles, plus I'm extremely, extremely biased when it comes to the iliad, so I am very picky about retellings for that specific part of mythology. the iliad has been my baby since I was very young and it's the one thing I allow myself to be completely crazy over, so when I say I cannot get through the movie troy because it's too painful, I 100% mean it. if you enjoy it, that's great. I will complain and bitch about it forever. I slept with that book under my pillow for my entire childhood and to have some randos come and spend millions to butcher it and drag its corpse like achilles dragged hector, for the whole world to see is too much.

As a last point. I think sometimes with retellings, especially of ancient greek mythology, we're a bit too sensitive because it has been too oftenly taken out of its cultural context and used willy-nilly to tell stories that reflect nothing greek, be it modern or ancient. It is a flashy topic for people to use however they want, and it's been changed to fit western cultures so so much, that I wish people would just leave it alone. Ancient greek mythology isn't about flashy god powers, it's about the values and experiences of a culture (or more correctly, multiple cultures), whether those align with modern ones or not, but when "retellings" are first and foremost made to be sold as products, the stories have to be altered to hell, to be nice and tame for the audience, to sell well. Which is a whole other discussion.

so yeah that's why I prefer all-new stories that maybe use mythological characters, over straight up retellings. But, as most ancient greek myths were very regional, had a million variations of which we know a tiny amount of, and were told and made for a long period of time, I don't think that retellings now are in any way inherently bad. But all the nice marble aesthetics (tm) and hot dudes will not fix a bad story, is what I wish people understood. Also I wish they didn't think they know or even claim to like the mythology from having read only retellings.

Anyways I am not a classicist, I am a fine arts student, so I might be saying absolute nonsense, my brain is too fried. on the other hand, i am born and raised in greece, and I have grown up with these myths everywhere around me and I really like them, so I have a lot of feelings about them, but that doesn't really mean anything. And I haven't noticed much harassing going on (lots of complaining, but that's the lifeblood of the internet) but then again I'm here on tmblr only a very short time. That all said, I absolutely do not condone harassing people for what they enjoy, especially for things that can only "harm" the person doing it, like reading stories.

[loserchildhotpants]

okie for a question you can respond to (if you want) tell me about your favorite books! (either something you've read recently or your longtime favs whatever)

Tumblr won’t let me answer your first question 🤡 but just so you know, I’ve been TRYING to thank u profusely and also tell you that those pics ARE taken on water — I’m on a dock in the pictures 🥰

Hmm 🤔 a good question! My favorite book ever is Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya; I read it at just the right age, at just the right time in my life and it changed my brain forever. Genuinely life-changing for me.

Same w Song of Achilles tbh!

As a Grown Up™️ I’ve become more boring w my books lol I like true crime and like, informative books. I recently really enjoyed Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price and Deranged by Harold Schetcher

I also really enjoyed The Science of False Memory by CJ Brainerd and VF Reyna recently.

If we’re being reeeaaaaallllllllllly real tho I spend most of my reading energy on fic lol

[thatbookgirl1212]

Introduction

So, nice to meet you. I’m that book-obsessed girl. You can call me M, or whatever you want really. I like Taylor Swift, reading, Olivia Rodrigo, mysteries, writing and art. If you have anything you’d like to see me read, just tell me! I’ll add it to the ever-growing list below.

Where to read?

So you can’t afford to buy a ton of books. Me neither, well I just don’t want to. I have a couple websites I use for reading.

Pdfseva.com

Ebookscart.com

libgen.rs (use ad blocker)

libgen.is (use ad blocker)

libgen.st (use ad blocker)

oceanofpdf.com

My to-be-read list

now playing: london boy by taylor swift

1. Midnight Strikes by Zeba Shahnaz

2. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

3. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

4. The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L Walther

5. One of us is lying by Karen M. McManus

6. Better than The Movies by Lynn Painter

7. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

8. Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

9. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

10. American Royals by Katharine Mcgee

11. They both die at the end by Adam Silvera

12. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

13. Never Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzalez

14. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

15. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

16. If we were villains by M. L Rio

17. I am not your final girl by Claire C. Howard

Read

1. The Summer I turned Pretty, It’s not summer without you, We’ll always have summer by Jenny Han

2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

3. A good girl’s guide to murder, “Good girl, bad blood,” and As good as dead, by Holly Jackson

4. Percy Jackson’s series up to the trials of Apollo

5. Harry Potter

6. Heartless by Marissa Myers

7. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and A Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

8. The Playlist by Morgan Elizabeth

9. I am not your final girl by Claire C. Holland

And more that aren’t listed, these are just my favorites or most recents.

[kimium]

Hey friend, I love you so much and thank you for supporting me when my anxiety tries to take over. What are some book recs from what you’ve been reading lately?

Hi friend! You're welcome! I'm always here to be your support! Love you tons too!

Book recommendations! I am super excited to talk about those! Some maybe books I've talked about before. Sadly, even though I have a ton of books on my shelf, I haven't had time to read them.

Book Recommendations in no particular order

-The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

If you have not read this book, go read it now. Easily my favourite book in recent times, the retelling of the myth of Achilles and Patroclus is breath taking. The care, passion, and knowledge of Greek myths woven into the book is excellent. Achilles and Patroclus's love for one another, even if it is doomed, will keep pulling me back to the book.

This book has some of the most breath-taking, heart-wrenching lines ever. Seriously, so many sentences live rent-free in my brain.

(Also, every time someone uses a quote from this book for Satosugu my heart leaps twice in size.)

-The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

First, the entire premise of two magicians with actual magic performing magic and pretending they don't is amazing. Next, the imagery in this book is so beautiful. The scenery and magic is described is so vividly crafted and the enchanting element to a circus is captured well within the pages.

-The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye

Look, it's a modern day retelling of Hamlet where everything is the same except Hamlet (renamed Ben) is suffering the loss of his Broadway baron theatre father, Horatio and Ben 100% hooked up, and Ophelia has more of a role along with three sisters adding a Macbeth reference. What more could I want? I love this book and I highly recommend it, even if Shakespeare isn't your thing.

-The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I always love stories where the main premise is a character exploring the endless alternate dimensions where they can see how one decision altered their reality. Also love this as a story telling device for people to explore themselves and who they are as a person.

-The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

A murder mystery novel where it's a time loop and each reset of the loop the detective finds himself in the body of another character within the mansion? Sign me up. I Love this book so much.

-Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Yeah, I know most people recommend Good Omens, but this is my first Neil Gaiman book that I ever read, so it has a special place in my heart. (Not the first of his stories though: that was Stardust and Coraline.) Anyways, I love this book and the radio play is amazing too.

-Gideon the Ninth/Harrow the Ninth/Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

It's lesbian necromancers in space with a sci-fi magic system that breaks my brain and a narrator in 2/3 of the series that also breaks my brain. I ended Nona the Ninth going "OH NO" and also "My brain needs an 8 hour break NOW".

-The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefavter

I love the characters and I love the story. I love the magic in this series too. I highly recommend this series to everyone and its sequel with Ronan as the narrator.

[qworflordking]

Hey! Just to tell you I loved your critique against that Achilles Song book and I agree with you that I hate how Greek (and at lesser or more degree Roman or Egyptian) classics are changed in a nonsense way just to please the modern reader and give them a progressive agenda to the characters.

Just for curiosity, what do you think about fantasy media that is inspired in ancient Greek myths and legends like Percy Jackson books or Saint Seiya?

Dunno, those were my faves when I was a kid (but I have not checked them since at least 10 years ago, lol), but, seeing how the Percy Jackson fans try to portrait themselves as all knowing about Greek culture, while actually not engaging in the classics and refusing to know about Ancient Greek history and culture. The Saint Seiya guys seem more normal, but I'm not sure if Greek people just saw the anime as a gross cultural appropiation like Hercules from Disney or they actually did not mind it.

An interesting ask to receive, thanks! And hm... I don't really know? I haven't read Percy Jackson or Saint Seiya so I can't comment. It all depends on the media in question - it's nice to see so many people like it, but our ancient legacy is kind of all Greece has right now. The economic depression, the ecological impact on the islands that's been happening, the fact that it's mainly considered a tourist destination for wealthier Europeans and the bitter state of the modern Greek youth - and yet we have this legacy we feel so connected to despite all the years between, lmao.

My family is from Sparta - a small rural village just outside it, actually - and so when the movie 300 came out the hype was unreal. Like King Leonidas is a cultural hero, there's still a monument to him in Sparta - they were making a movie about our guy! I saw it with twenty Greeks, all Spartans... and they hated it. They were yelling at the screen, they were so upset, and none of them knew what a Frank Miller comic book was. I recently tried to rewatch it and had to turn it off at the scene with the ephors and the oracle. Don't get me started on Troy, lol.

Otoh, I recently enjoyed Hades (the game) though I avoided it for a while. It's bright and colorful, the gods are strange and erratic, and it's tons of fun. Demeter grief-stricken at the loss of her daughter, Persephone avoiding Hades and Hades being angry and bitter - that was great. (I could go into a whole tangent about how people are actually erasing the voices and pain of ancient women when they woke-ify Hades and Persephone, but.)

The essential thing is this: the ancient Greeks were capable of criticizing their own culture. We invented philosophy: the art of sitting around talking about what's wrong with society and how we might fix it. They wrote plays - plays that won awards, that were preserved unto this day! - that served as a feminist critique of their classic heroic myths. Going back to the 300 film, while it's true oracles were often sexually abused, they noticed that was a problem and made changes to prevent that. There's this attitude people take to ancient cultures a lot where they think people were just... stupid, and wholly swallowed everything, and then they're gonna write their critique of their problematic beliefs without considering the humanity and knowledge of people who lived thousands of years ago.

You don't need to completely change the themes and meaning and significance of our stories, but what you can do is humanize them. Rather than hole them up in some white-walled Ivory Tower of Academia bring them out as they were - intended to be funny, intended to make you think - while preserving the historical context. I have dreams of making an Odyssey film (that some EU arts fund needs to give me a billion dollars to make. also, i am a legendary respected filmmaker in this fantasy) that would bring economic prosperity to the Greek islands and also make it /funny/, showing that Odysseus was a trickster figure who fit ancient heroic definitions of being a wild celebrity figure rather than a Hollywood Hero. Making it clear that his wife was just as smart as him and they were a love-match and making Athena buff as hell and swapping into a man's body, even making Odysseus black - none of that would be modernizing the story to suit our woke tastes. It would piss the hell off a lot of supposed "Classics" fans.

Ultimately, though, having fun with the mythos isn't actually harmful. What is harmful, what genuinely upsets me on a fundamental level, is how Le Classics have been incorporated into this great ideal of Western Civilization and then been appropriated by white supremacists. Here's a great blog doing the good work going into it in detail, but twisting ancient culture to fit your own modern ideals is just.... not good for anyone, lol.

EDIT: ...In my last post I was like "why is tumblr recommending me eurofash propaganda" and I just realized. Liking ancient greek culture and the classics is probably why 0__0

[sciolists-libellum]

Haleth || 22 || tries to handle the tech side of things but Asra is better at it. I do the organising and handling of the admin.

BA || LLB || Undergrad. Send help

If you wanna partake in the shenanigans you can find me @rangerofthesouth

Areas of Interest:

- Right now, a severe obsession with Greek Mythology because of the PJO series and I'm also reading the Iliad after reading Song of Achilles (no, i cannot under any circumstances be normal about him and Patroclus.)

- Classic literature and poetry : I wanna read as many classics as I can because why not and also school didn't allow me to read so I'm making up for lost time. (I'm still trying to finish Pride and Prejudice, but my adhd keeps saying noooo)

- Film : I watch a lot of films, movies and series, sometimes I watch mainstream stuff. Not just to space out, but because i enjoy complex storylines and excellent directing.

(currently watching Gossip Girl and... I have my reservations but..it's actually pretty interesting). I'm a fan of period dramas, fantasy and anything that has to do with magic, sci-fi and psychological thrillers.

- The Old Guard and books by Neil Gaiman : recently graphic novels have become something I'm completely obsessed with... I can't explain how much i love graphic novels and comics right now!!!! Just *high pitched scream*

- Also non-western literature:

I'm a firm believer in knowing where you came from in order to know where you're going.

gimme poetry about the indentured Indians, gimme stories about the poc who have had to fight to be seen, gimme gimme oral tales from ethic tribes, let me see the diaspora of your people around the globe

i wanna hear about everyone's history. Where you came from, why they chose to step onto the ship, whether they had a choice. Tell me about your aunty's recipe for a certain dish, i bet you there's a story behind it.

- I'm really into fashion rn after spending my entire adolescence wearing the same tshirt and jeans. will i be normal about it? Absolutely not.

- queer theory and history and law even if i don't wanna admit that out loud. But wow, is the law actually interesting...

What else am i interested in??

- Food. Especially Asian foods and the absolute wonderful variety every culture has to offer. So far I've had a good intro to Korean foods such as gimpap and baobuns, I've tried Chinese oudon noodles which i would happily die for oh and i tried ramen too.. But i needa know more so please gimmmmme gimme your favourite Asian dishes, especially if they're spicy.

- Music : i play the guitar and piano and cannot be normal about jazz, blues or classics. Yes, Asra is right, Pop music is my area of expertise until you ask me about relevant songs. ( BUT classical music is Asra's area of utter and complete expertise. Seriously any questions on classical music and composition send it to Asra)

-Art: i freaking love art ( Van Gogh my love, Fauvism my detested, animation because of Abu (a friend not the monkey from Aladdin.) my painting skills are something to be worked on but i can draw!

- I'm very normal about Cate Blanchett in any of her films.

- i enjoy reading and listening to explanations on different beliefs, cultures and psychology, i really like understanding how the world works.

-physics even though I failed math and never did physics but wooow do i love applying it to Formula One.

- Oh yeah, formula one 🏎️

- i love animals, i will befriend your pets.

-Travel : honestly i wanna see every inch of the world and eat alllll kinds of foods and leave a footprint in a German forest. The ocean beckons, the sky will carry me gently, the mountains sing for me to join them.

My areas of Interest will change as i grow and my brain decides what my next hyperfixation will be. There's a good chance imma inflict it upon everyone here😗

beautiful paragraph dividers are the works of @saradika

[barbiegirldream]

ok this is random probs and i feel like youve talked about it before but i just recently read the song of achilles and i think ur a classics major? and i was wondering ur thoughts because i did not. like it lol as someone who knows even a little bit about greek mythology outside of like percy jackson if u've never read it ignore me lol

i haven't read it ! I've been meaning to but then I spent a semester translating the life story of Agamemnon and said that's enough of this fucking war. But I'll probably get around to it.

Though I saw a post of someone disparaging them making Achilles bisexual or whatever because he hated women?? Not true at all he even pretended to be one for the majority of his teenage years so much to unpack there. (This is post Homeric an edition by Euripides a bit of a fanfic writer if you ask Me and also our only real primary source on Theseus but he's one of three remaining play writes we've got an fifth century texts is better than Roman texts) As problematic as it is to backwards project our conceptions about sexuality onto ancient history Achilles can be understood as bisexual very well. He loved his wife who was one of the women he lived amongst while pretending to be a girl and he loved Patroclus and idk if the book mentioned it but he was pretty damn attached to Briseis that woman he kidnapped as a bride prize and sort of you know was the reason Achilles refused to fight anyways. Again fuck youuu Agamemnon. <- How much of that is in the book no clue but some real 'historical' context. And how well that post portrayed the book and not their own delulu again I'll get there.

And while sexuality was something you did in history and slowly over time to us has become what you are... which I heavily disagree with... in a fictional setting for the ease of those already getting dropped into an ancient world with a story orally carried from the actual Bronze age make the characters human in the sense of being able to relate to us is helpful for illustration and story telling.

What was I saying oh yeah I'll read the book sorry you didn't like it :( I don't know if I will either but I shall see

[atlasaurelius]

OKAY this seems fun! (was tagged by @somerunner)

Last song I listened to: Can I put a couple? 'Cause I was listening to my angst playlist just now and I just NEED to rec these: Firstly, "BURN" by TX2. GO LISTEN TO IT. Seriously. It rocks SO HARD. I've recently gotten pulled into the TX2 fandom and WOW. Secondly, "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish" by MCR. I'd cut out a piece of my soul for MCR to do their Revenge tour again.

Last book I read: Actually, it's been a LONG time since I read anything that's not a tumblr post or fanfiction, but... I guess the last one would be "So This is Ever After" by F.T. Lukens. Basically a very gay DND-style adventure story with this guy who accidentally became king after being given a quest by a crazy old man who pretends to be a wizard, and now him and his party are the only ones left to rule (literally, they're the only ones in the castle). Also he's in love with his best friend. AWESOME read, 1000% rec.

Last film I watched: Not really a film, but I watched the Percy Jackson Musical. IT'S SO GOOD. THE JOKES, THE SONGS, THE WRITING. Perfection.

Last TV series I watched: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. DO NOT tell me it's for kids, I don't care, I LOVE IT. I really thought Scorpia and Catra would be a thing until Catra almost blew up the world and betrayed Entrapta and started ignoring Scorpia, but,,, I LOVE IT. Def recommend.

Last video game I played: Uhh this isnt very interesting, but,,, Subway Surfers. I'm sorry, I'm obsessed with not getting that little running guy to crash.

Last thing I googled: "how to play lacrosse" - because I'm writing a Teen Wolf fic and the MC is on the lacrosse team with Liam and Corey except I have NO IDEA how it's actually played (the search results weren't very helpful, I still don't know, so I'm just winging it. Someone in the AO3 comments will correct me. Probably.)

Last thing I ate: Uhhh coffee? I think? It was a while ago

Amount of sleep: ...3, 4 hours? Somewhat. School + extracurriculars + homework + screaming parents = no sleep!

Currently reading: The Sun and The Star. Again. I've also got a half-read Song of Achilles somewhere and I WILL finish it as soon as I get time.

To go on, I'll tag @busy-dadzawa-fish, @tadrinth, @eddisfargo, @kingsonne-zedecks and @dikut

P.S, can I just say, @somerunner I love ur reblogs and original posts. Rlly brightens up my tumblr page!

Also, @dikut, buddy it's about time you made a post where you actually said stuff (that's not star wars or supernatural)

Tagged by @bagadew (Also tagging in @waermeflasche because you tagged me weeks ago and I didn't get back to you)

Last song I listened to: Soap by The Oh Hellos. I burn CDs and listen to them in my car. (The first few I tried to give themes and titles, and select the perfect song orders, but ended up kind of bad and the other was cursed and wouldn't play even though I remade it three times, so I just switched to throwing a ton of songs together on "Random Mixes" and enjoying.) I was listening to my very first random mix on the drive home from work and this one came up. It's a pretty snazzy song. I think Theseus and Hello, My Old Heart are my favourites from the band.

Last book I read: Can I do a couple? I just recently finished Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell. It's the first book of Court of Shadows, the sequel series to his Greatcoats series. Greatcoats is one of my favourite series, filled with swashbuckling action, clever humour, and an absolutely miserable protagonist, Falcio val Mond, who always manages to get back up and keep going anyway. I read everything de Castell writes, and after a string of books with severe pacing problems (check out The Malevolent Seven for a book that doesn't have a second act) and other problems (I have a hard time seeing any book topping Crucible of Chaos as the worst book I've read this year), he finally seems to be back. The book didn't pack quite the emotional punch of some of his other books, but it definitely made me want to jump up and cheer for the heroes at the end.

The other book I just finished is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I liked her Winternight Trilogy (look it up and be prepared for some absolutely gorgeous covers, with prose to match), so I was excited to see something new from her. This book was about World War I, with some fantasy elements used for magic realism. (Portraying a soldier's struggle with addiction and PTSD through the lens of him losing his soul to the devil was a brilliant idea.) I most subsist on a steady diet of fantasy books, but this one had me hungering to read a few more historical books. I might have to pick up some books about the Halifax Explosion.

Last film I watched: I haven't watched much on my own for a while, but my friends do a movie night every Sunday. The last two times I tuned in, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar and Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown. They were both fairly cute movies. I liked Judas's actor.

Last TV series I watched: I've been making my way through The Office for the first time. I'm on Season 3 and this happened to me, actually. There was some stuff I was like, "Wow, that was funny. I should tell my coworkers about it," but then I realized that I can't be the guy who tells his coworkers about this funny new show called The Office.

Last video game I played: If visual novels count, Umineko. I've been working my way through it slowly for about five and a half years and I'm finally closing in on the end. It's peak fiction and the greatest love story of the twentieth century. It's also funny I picked a game this insanely long for my first visual novel. Other than visual novels, I just finished Pokemon Legends: Arceus, after putting in 104 hours this year. Completing the Dex is my favourite part of any Pokemon game, so having it be more involved and include a big checklist made the game basically crack for me. I've also been casually playing some Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) with my brother. Every time we play it, I'm always amazed by how good it is and how much content it has. I want to take command posts forever.

Last thing I googled: "Dandadan Aira". I just started the manga the other day and I like her best, so I wanted to double check her full name, I think? Other than that I'm mostly looking up when books are available at my local stores. I've been religiously checking when The Book that Broke the World will be available and I'm not even sure if I'm buying it.

Last thing I ate: A few snacks from my snack drawer. I also had a Quaker yogurt bar at work. I bought a big box of them last year, but I had to throw them out because of the Salmonella. (Chewed through a lot of them before that came out, though, including eating three on an airplane.)

Amount of sleep: Supposedly seven hours, since I went to bed right after finishing The Warm Hands of Ghosts last night. The only problem is that if I get to bed at a good time, I sleep fitfully, so I'm either sleeping poorly or sleeping well, but not getting anywhere near enough sleep.

Currently reading: I started Empire of Silence, the first book of The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio, at work today. I've had the first three books sitting on my shelf for a year or two and I finally got around to starting it. (I'd resolved to do both this series and Kushiel's Legacy this year, after having both for so long, and I got that one done at the start.) I'm not very far in, but I enjoy the writing style a lot, even if a lot of the worldbuilding is obviously cribbed from Dune. (Whoa, look, mentats.) I've heard it picks up a lot in the second book, so I'm excited for what's in store for me.

Passing this on, I'll tag @somerunner @lyssq @soulsinshadow @lunawithsocks and @dancerladyaqua. (They also have currently watching and sweet, salty, or savoury as questions, which I didn't do.)

[fresh-prince-of-denmark]

The Star — Literary References Analysis Part 6: Name One Hero Who Was Happy

Welcome to the (probably?) final part of analyzing the literary references found scattered in each of the endings of Cyberpunk 2077. If you haven’t read the other parts, you should do so through the masterpost here! The Devil was rough — straight up an indirect roast toward V for being an idiot. But I’m thankful to report that The Star has a far for optimistic tale.

I found two references, and believe me, I looked everywhere. If I missed something, let me know! Otherwise this part is fairly short. I may move on later to analyze the meanings behind all of Misty’s readings during the credits, but for now let’s dig into the two references I found: Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy, and a portion of The Illiad (Book 9). 

The first reference is really subtle, and real easy to miss (I did the first time I played). If you speak to Cassidy before leaving, he’ll say to you:

“See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt.”

He’ll then basically follow this by saying you look like shit, but the family will never turn it’s back on you. This quote is the first line of Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West. If that makes your bowels ache and quake like it did mine, then you may be entitled to financial compensation for pain and suffering as a result of being forced to read The Road as a teenager. I don’t know what absolute fuckshit McCarthy was on, but I want none of it. Cormac McCarthy actually ties into Johnny’s story in a really weird way. Not only does McCarthy also have a novel called No Country for Old Men (ring a bell?), but the story of Blood Meridian has striking similarities to Johnny’s past in the wars. Both characters leave whatever childhood they had, for whatever reason, to join an American militia/military situation in their early teens. Both of these wars take place in souther/California Mexico, and our protagonist sees unimaginable horrors. Both barely escape with their lives.

Less related, but you want to know another weird coincidence? The book opens with three epigraphs. The first is by French poet  Paul Valéry. Valéry. As in “just-V-only-people-who-really-know-me-can-call-me-Valerie”. Hmm…

There’s a lot more we could do with McCarthy’s novel: Ask ourselves who the Judge in Johnny’s story is (Smasher? Alt? Johnny?), and what it says about the nature of man, violence, immortality, blah blah blah. If that’s something you’re into, have at it. But why does Cassidy say this to you? Why choose the book that haunts AP English students dreams just to tell you that you look like shit? Why mention the idea of a found family having your back in the same breath as a quote from a book that asserts that family absolutely in no way has your back, and that you either die before they do or they’ll let you down in some way (either by dying and leaving you or stabbing you in the back)? Cassidy, a certified literary hoe, would know that Blood Meridian doesn’t exactly have a rosy outlook on family, found or blood. 

I think the answer is simple: at the end of the book, we don’t know jack squat.

Just like we don’t know exactly where V’s going, or what Panem’s contacts will be able to pull, we don’t really know what happens to the protagonist at the end of Blood Meridian. Is V truly marked for death? Is Johnny truly gone forever, or is there a chance that his body is out there somewhere, and he could be restored? Is Mikoshi supposed to symbolize hell’s fire or heaven’s grace? (Or something completely different, if we listen to my boi Blake).

It’s such a weird quote to pick, such a weird story to pick. I wish I could derive more meaning from it, but  McCarthy isn’t exactly my area of expertise. If anyone more familiar with his work has more to add, please do!

The next piece we find I believe provides more answers to our ending. It is a section of the Illiad, Book 9, found in a shard before you leave with Panem. For those of you unfamiliar with the Illiad, it is about the end of the Trojan War. If you recall, we get another piece of this story in The Devil ending via a section of The Odyssey, which tells the story of Odysseus trying to return home after said war. In this section, Agamemnon has just made a generous offer to Achilles if he aids in helping end the Trojan War, which he has previously refused over a matter of honor. According to Fate, Achilles is slated to die once Hector is slain, which is exactly why Agamemnon needs Achilles to fight since Hector is on some X-games shit. The shard contains Achilles response to the offer of riches, wealth, and the safe return of his favorite slave (who Agamemnon has taken from him):

For my mother the goddess, silver-footed Thetis, telleth me that twofold fates are bearing me toward the doom of death: if I abide here and war about the city of the Trojans, then lost is my home-return, but my renown shall be imperishable; but if I return home to my dear native land, lost then is my glorious renown, yet shall my life long endure, neither shall the doom of death come soon upon me. Aye, and I would counsel you others also to sail back to your homes; seeing there is no more hope that ye shall win the goal of steep Ilios...

Achilles is grappling here with a tough choice; if he stays and fights, he will die a legend. But if he goes home, he will live a long but quiet life.

Sound familiar? What is it going to be, V? Quiet life, or blaze of glory?

The Sun ending seems to be that blaze of glory, much like the ending Achilles’ eventually is forced into. But The Star seems to be the choice of a quiet life; staying with family, living with peace. I like to think that this is the story of Achilles and Patroclus has things not gone awry. A softer, happier, ending for all involved. 

But there’s no such thing according to Johnny. Achilles story doesn’t end with the quiet life. Will V’s? According to McCarthy, we’ll never know, and we’re not meant to know. But there are parallels between V and Johnny, Achilles and Patroclus, that are tough to ignore. Achilles meets his demise after Patroclus dresses in his armor, impersonating Achilles, before being struck down by Hector. Achilles, mad with grief over Patroclus, kills Hector, and continues to fight with the ferocity that can only come when one no longer cares if they live or die. His rage threatens the Gods so much they intervene and cause his demise at the hand of Hector’s brother. Achilles’ final request is that his ashes be mixed with Patroclus so that they may become one in the afterlife.

Lots of parallels, right? The merging of two souls — both in life and death. Just as Patroclus adorns Achilles armor, V has the option to dorn Johnny’s clothes (at the very least, obtaining his jacket is not optional), just as Johnny can “wear” V’s body/identity. V even refers to Johnny as “a comrade and a piece of their own soul.” And as time progresses, they are becoming one indistinguishable entity — just as the Greeks believed that each person is one half of a soul, Johnny and V are one half of each other (or the Soul and the Body, inseparable, as Blake would say).

So what is this saying? That they’re both slated to die together? Perhaps. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll fall into the grave together hand-in-hand. I believe that this is meant to give us hope: that V’s salvation is through saving Johnny. If they truly are two halves of one soul, as several other pieces of literature in the game suggest, saving one means saving the other. We don’t know whether V’s new goal is to save Johnny, save herself, or to live out their remaining months quietly (unlikely, especially if you’ve chosen The Sun ending). But I don’t think that saving Johnny and V are going to be opposing goals anymore; just as dooming Patroclus slated Achilles for death, I think the road to both V and Johnny’s salvation are one they must walk together.