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
Yawar
asked
Madeline Miller:
Hi, I gulped down Circe in a day and will be reading Song of Achilles soon. Thank you for writing these tellings, I always enjoy looking for the hidden meaning in them. Do you feel that you have a story to tell about Athena, too? For all her schemes and shortcomings, she is still an intriguing character, a warrior and counselor in a world of men.
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.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more