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The Murderess
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I really enjoyed how the author pulled in elements of the classical Greek tragedy into this story. The way in which Hadoula was haunted by dreams of the children and heard the words “murderess” whispered was reminiscent of the Greek furies who drove mad those that committed heinous crimes. There was also the element of self-fulfilling prophecy often found in the classic Greek tragedy. No matter what she did or how she tried she could not escape her fate and ultimately ran right into it.
I finished the Murderess today. I enjoyed reading it- writing style was very poetic easy to follow. It is a very creepy story with murders but no mystery. I had some sympathies for the main character initially, but that went away as the story progressed. It has a vibe rather like Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.
George P. wrote: "I finished the Murderess today. I enjoyed reading it- writing style was very poetic easy to follow. It is a very creepy story with murders but no mystery. I had some sympathies for the main charact..."I am glad you enjoyed it, George. It was definitely creepy. I, too, stop feeling sorry for the protagonist as the story progressed.
About the Book (from the publisher)
The Murderess is a bone-chilling tale of crime and punishment with the dark beauty of a backwoods ballad. Set on the dirt-poor Aegean island of Skiathos, it is the story of Hadoula, an old woman living on the margins of society and at the outer limits of respectability. Hadoula knows about herbs and their hidden properties, and women come to her when they need help. She knows women’s secrets and she knows the misery of their lives, and as the book begins, she is trying to stop her new-born granddaughter from crying so that her daughter can at last get a little sleep. She rocks the baby and rocks her and then the terrible truth hits her: there’s nothing worse than being born a woman, and there’s something that she, Hadoula, can do about that.
Peter Levi’s matchless translation of Alexandros Papadiamantis’s astonishing novella captures the excitement and haunting poetry of the original Greek.
About the Author
Alexandros Papadiamantis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης) was an influential Greek novelist and short-story writer. He was born in Greece, on the island of Skiathos, in the western part of the Aegean Sea. The island would figure prominently in his work. His father was a priest. He moved to Athens as a young man to complete his high school studies, and enrolled in the philosophy faculty of Athens University, but never completed his studies.
He returned to his native island in later life, and died there. He supported himself by writing throughout his adult life, anything from journalism and short stories to several serialized novels. From a certain point onward he had become very popular, and newspapers and magazines vied for his writings, offering him substantial fees. Papadiamantis did not care for money, and would often ask for lower fees if he thought they were unfairly high; furthermore he spent his money carelessly and took no care of his clothing and appearance. He never married, and was known to be a recluse, whose only true cares were observing and writing about the life of the poor, and chanting at church: he was referred to as "kosmokalogeros" (κοσμοκαλόγερος, "a monk in the world"). He died of pneumonia.