#Norma Jean baker of Troy

[mournfulroses]

Anne Carson, from "Norma Jean Baker of Troy," originally published in 2019

[thegaysciences]

Ben Whishaw on heels for Norma Jean Baker of Troy

[apollon-emos]

...Euripides makes a hero out of Helen, who was brutalized by merely staring at war too long.

―Anne Carson, Norma Jean Baker of Troy

[bones-ivy-breath]

Text ID:

Oh my darlings, / they tell you you're both with a precious / pearl. / Truth is, / it's a disaster to be a girl.

norma jean baker of troy - anne carson

[likeniobe]

somehow I was compartmentalizing the fact that the greek shipping magnate maria callas had an affair with was in fact aristotle onassis of jackie kennedy onassis. how are there not 3-5 stage plays or possibly operas by gay men about these two women being in the same room

[do-you-know-this-play]

[isayhonk]

“norma jeane baker of troy” - anne carson

[bookquotesforthesoul]

Desire is about vanishing. You dream of a bowl of cherries and next day receive a letter written in red juice.

Anne Carson, Norma Jeane Baker of Troy

[filmnoirsbian]

Incomplete list of recommendations if you want greek myth retellings that are actually interesting and do something new with the concept:

Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell (& friends)

O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000)

Cassandra by Christa Wolf

The King Must Die by Mary Renault

Los Reyes by Julio Cortázar

Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Trojan Women: A Comic by Anne Carson and Rosanna Bruno (let's be honest, Ms. Carson could easily dominate this whole list but I'm trying to limit myself to one and I think this one is the most interesting.)

Girl on an Altar by Marina Carr

Oresteia by Robert Icke

An Iliad by Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson

Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

Helen in Egypt by Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)

Norma Jean Baker of Troy by Anne Carson (ok I lied, what are you gonna do about it?)

Weight by Jeanette Winterson

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Averno by Louise Glück

[asteria-of-the-stars]

Feminine Rage

‘As women raged, old men fumbled and cried: “we’re sorry, we thought you didn’t care, oh.” - Florence + the Machine, 100 Years

Florence Welch // Sansa Stark, Game of Thrones // Anne Carson, Norma Jean Baker of Troy // Lucrezia Borgia, The Borgias // Florence + the Machine, Dream Girl Evil // Alicent Hightower, House of the Dragon // Kiki Rockwell, Same Old Energy // Paula Alquist, Gaslight // Taylor Swift, Mad Woman

[mockiatoh]

Norma Jean Baker of Troy, Anne Carson

[hier--soir]

feb + mar + apr reads

norma jean baker of troy by anne carson [★★★★★]

"Sometimes I think language should cover its own eyes when it speaks."

"Is she human? Are you? Is she a beast out of control? There's so much danger. No human can become just a beast, you plunge beyond - beyond what? Remember Jack the Ripper? 'I'm down on whores and I shan't quit ripping them till I get buckled,' Jack wrote in a letter to the newspaper, September 18, 1888. He never did get buckled. Of course insane, his mind blooming with it, who could go down that rabbit-hole or unlock such a puzzle as Jack? - but still, the woman! the thing is! the woman has everything and you smile and you take some."

: ̗̀➛ an exploration of the lives and myths of marilyn monroe and helen of troy.

: ̗̀➛ anne carson is there anything you can't do? please email me back. please.

piglet by lottie hazell [★★★★]

"'I want to make some food,' she said. 'For both of us?' he asked. 'No, just for me.'"

: ̗̀➛ one woman, piglet, and the lead up to her wedding in the face of a big confession from her fiancé.

: ̗̀➛ this one slipped beneath my skin and writhed around the spot inside me where i've tucked away all of my food issues.

merciless gods by christos tsiolkas [★★]

"I'm scared that if I let go, not only the room, not only this city, but the whole world will go cold forever."

"Your false gods cannot save you. There is only one God, my God."

: ̗̀➛ short stories that bash you over the head with how awful things and people and places can be. i did not live for this one... particularly wasn't into the one where a guy jerked his dad who has alzheimers off.

foe by iain reid [★★]

"All day. Time keeps moving. I've always thought that was a good thing. Until recently. I'm not so sure now. Is it good? For time to go by fast?"

: ̗̀➛ they want to send junior to space and replace him with a robot that looks and acts and talks exactly like him so his wife has company in his absence.

: ̗̀➛ marriage and trust and complacency, and a guy called terrence who we get reminded over and over has long gorgeous hair.

: ̗̀➛ a little boring for my taste. i had an idea of where it was going pretty early on, and it took a while for me to be proven right. pretty disconcerting!

acts of desperation by megan nolan [★★★★]

"The need was a true and human part of me, but I could feel nothing else of myself to be true or human, and so the need seemed ungodly, an aberration."

: ̗̀➛ a book full of confession, desire, jealousy, violence, and power. messy messy messy!!!! readers procceed with caution.

: ̗̀➛ shout out to everyone who said i should read this - you were right, it is up my alley.

gone girl by gillian flynn [★★★★]

"My wife was no longer my wife but a razor-wire knot daring me to unloop her, and I was not up to the job with my thick, numb, nervous fingers. Country fingers. Flyover fingers untrained in the intricate, dangerous work of solving Amy. When I'd hold up the bloody stumps, she'd sigh and turn to her secret mental notebook on which she tallied all my deficiencies, forever noting disappointments, frailties, shortcomings."

: ̗̀➛ i have become a gillian flynn STAN this year, it's true. despite having seen the movie multiple times, i enjoyed reading this, and was delighted to find some differences in the texts [for better and for worse].

: ̗̀➛ nick dunne, big fan of the lie of omission, mama's boy whose mama is dead, i'd like to introduce you to couples therapy.

dead beautiful and life eternal by yvonne woon [reread] [★★★]

: ̗̀➛ the first two books in a paranormal romance trilogy. these kinda bang guys, i can't lie. 15-year-old me was onto something when she decided to keep these instead of donating them. however, they DO have some of the worst book covers i've ever seen, sorry yvonne.

fourth wing by rebecca yarros [★★★]

: ̗̀➛ a romantasy book that has dragons, smut, and twists that you'll see coming from a mile away. pretty fun. recced to me by one man in person and a thousand women on tik tok.

: ̗̀➛ no one who has the thought 'double standards for the win' is using 'whomever' in a casual sentence with the guy she's having sex with.

: ̗̀➛ good enemies to lovers should have actual murder attempts. but maybe that's jusT MY OPINION.

my book rating system is as follows:

★ = i felt pure contempt the entire time

★★ = yeah it's a book

★★★ = i liked it!

★★★★ = good fucking book, damn

★★★★★ = blew my dick clean off and i'll throw a tantrum if everyone i know doesn't also read it and love it

[apollon-emos]

Just think, when the Greeks first beached their ships at Troy they could see the legendary city glittering a mere football field away. It took them ten years to walk to it.

―Anne Carson, Norma Jean Baker of Troy

[hauntedbythenarrative]

Tiny ghosts live inside me. The ghosts of my own pathetic girlhood.

Norma Jean Baker of Troy, Anne Carson//Prelude, Brynne Rebele-Henry//Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, Warsan Shire//The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea & Heart of the Earth: A Popul Vuh Story, Cherríe L. Moraga//Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, House of the Dragon (2022-)

[petaltexturedskies]

as night dew on leaves

Anne Carson, from Norma Jeane Baker of Troy

[aiqingdemeimiao]

From Anne Carson article published on Nov 17th (not sure how recent the info is though) :

‘Carson is currently in Iceland with her partner and collaborator, artist Robert Currie, to organize “a musical/theatrical work of some (as yet unknown) kind” based on the book. It will feature....Kjartan Sveinsson (the keyboardist for Sigur Rós), and British actor Ben Whishaw’

ahhh thanks nonnie! i'm so hyped for this. anne did the version of bakkhai ben was in as well as norma jean baker of troy, and they both did the oscar wilde reading gaol thing too. their collabs are always insane. can't wait for this, whenever we get it.

but i feel absolutely sick that we were this close to a ben/björk collab! what do i have to do to make this happen?!?! ahhhhhh 😭😭😭 this is like when tanya tagaq collabed w björk and then started gushing over ben and polly on insta. the universe just refuses to give me what i want!!!!!!! so close yet so far

full article here if anyone wants to read it