Someone might ask, why do we need another retelling of Greek myths and tales? Firstly, old stories live on in retellings, that is, they do not petrify and do not turn into dogma. Secondly, Greek mythology is rich in material that, up until the second half of the 20th century, even the glorifiers of antiquity - artists, sculptors, poets - sometimes caused girlish shyness. Now the time has finally come to perceive the myths of the ancient Greeks in an adult, with interest and health - without cuts and averted eyes. And who, if not Stephen Fry, can do this? Thirdly, Fry does not try to interpret the stories he retells. And not because he has no opinion about them - he simply retells them honestly, and leaves it to anthropologists and philosophers to dig into the meanings. Fourthly, yes, all these stories can be found in hundreds of books devoted to Ancient Greece. But Fry re-arranges them into a bouquet, his book is a kind of ikebana. Flowers, branches, sticks and vases can be looked at separately in a flower shop, but humanity still arranges and buys bouquets. In addition to the obvious entertainment and recreational value, it is worth reading this book in order to shake off the dust from childhood memories of Kuhn and his "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece", to put in order the family trees of gods and heroes, which have probably long been mixed up in your head, and also to recall the mythogenic geography of Greece: where everything was, who ran where and where they hid. Fry's book is a wonderful way to get to Ancient Greece, and at the same time have a lot of fun: Fry's style is an invariable guarantee of a real reading adventure.
Author: Stephen Fry
Translation: Martynova Shashi
Editor: Nemtsov Maxim Vladimirovich
Year of issue: 2024
Pages: 544
Publisher: Phantom Press
Cover type: hardcover
Dimensions: 218x146x35 mm
ISBN: 978-5-86471-787-5