Weight by Jeanette Winterson (Audio Review)

I am taking a course on Greek and Roman Myth on Coursera - an online website where anyone can take free college level courses. As a result, I am thinking about Myths and Folklore more, which is something I have always greatly enjoyed.

The above cover is from one of my favorite re-tellings - which is to say any telling - of a Greek myth. Weight by Jeanette Winterson is the story of Hercules and Atlas. In the story we are introduced to a Hercules that is the ultimate male Id running around the Ancient World - fornicating, masturbating, and killing - unburdened. He is juxtaposed to Atlas, the immortal Titan, a creature of all burden. The story probes the interactions between these two figures for all their philosophical value. For Jeanette Winterson, Atlas is a deeply tortured individual facing a punishment disproportionate to his perceived crime. His burden is only briefly lifted by a reluctant and opportunistic Hercules during his quest for the Golden Apples.

Winterson manages to do what any writer must do with a story we all know - which is arguably all stories - offer a fresh lens through which we perceive the world and the myth. For Winterson this is the crucial point of story. In the introduction Winterson says the Cannongate Myth Series - of which this is part - is a opportunity for "Re-telling stories for their own sakes and finding in them permanent truths about human nature. All we can do is keep telling the stories, hoping that someone will hear. Hoping that in the noisy echoing nightmare of endlessly breaking news and celebrity gossip other voices may be heard speaking of the life of the mind and the soul's journey." For Winterson the Weight is the necessity of story.

I find myself continually revisiting passages from this book from time to time on audio - I do not own a hard copy of the book. I am always astonished by the honesty and force of the myth.

If this sounds like a book you would be interested in I would highly recommend it.

If you have read this book what did you think?

Excerpt From Junot Diaz Interview

'The Baseline Is, You Suck': Junot Diaz on Men Who Write About Women

• The Atlantic: It sounds like you're saying that literary "talent" doesn't inoculate a writer—especially a male writer—from making gross, false misjudgments about gender. You'd think being a great writer would give you empathy and the ability to understand people who are unlike you—whether we're talking about gender or another category. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
• Junot Diaz: I think that unless you are actively, consciously working against the gravitational pull of the culture, you will predictably, thematically, create these sort of fucked-up representations. Without fail. The only way not to do them is to admit to yourself [that] you're fucked up, admit to yourself that you're not good at this shit, and to be conscious in the way that you create these characters. It's so funny what people call inspiration. I have so many young writers who're like, "Well I was inspired. This was my story." And I'm like, "OK. Sir, your inspiration for your stories is like every other male's inspiration for their stories: that the female is only in there to provide sexual service." There comes a time when this mythical inspiration is exposed for doing exactly what it's truthfully doing: to underscore and reinforce cultural structures, or I'd say, cultural asymmetry.

This is so right on point. I cannot wait to read his new book (see image above) - especially after this. I have lots of issues writing compelling female characters and I have always known this is the reason . It takes a lot of effort to work against society and ingrained hate. We are screwed up people. 

Thanks Junot. 

Via Atlantic

What I am Reading

I am horrible with formality. The formal nature of this blog, or at least the formal nature I had ascribed to it, was killing me. I cringe when I think about sitting down to write a casual book review. It seems so uncasual. So, I am attempting a change. The biweekly type of reviews will still come - hopefully now on a biweekly schedule. However, now I am also going to write about what I am reading and just stuff to do with literature as well.

I am currently about a hundred pages in to Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery. I am finally beginning to see where we are going now in the story and I have to say I think I am going to love it. I wish my Italian was good enough to read this in the original. I will write a review when I finish it, but so far so good.

I am also delving into a new comic series that comes highly recommended called The Manhattan Project. I have only read the first issue of the trade paperback which contains the first five issues. However, the premise of a historical science fiction tale about Oppenheimer's evil twin - and his many personalities - killing Oppenheimer and taking over the project and all its top secret experiments in so far an awesome premise. Its getting weird and crazy. Luckily the art is up to the challenge. I was super excited to finish work today so I could come home and read some more of these.

I also started Consider Phlebas, but I got stuck at the end of the first section. It was a really big week at work and I get antsy when I spent a few days not progressing on a book and switch to something else. I am going to return to it. Iain Banks has a great world created that I am sure is going to provide me with a lot of awesome stories to read.

That is all for now!

Goodnight.