Following a stint at Biddy’s for St Patrick’s Day, my friends and I remained committed to attending the much-anticipated Madeline Miller lecture. The Classics, History and Feminist Societies collaborated to host Miller in conversation, a cult-favourite author, celebrated for ‘Song of Achilles’, ‘Circe’ and ‘Galatea.’ I remember my sister insistently recommending ‘Song of Achilles’ to me when I was fourteen. Not only is it my favourite book to date, but it’s the only book I’ve ever reread. So it’s no surprise that despite my encroaching 4 pm hangover, I loved every second of her talk.
Moderated by George, the President of the Classics Society; James, Treasurer and Jess, Social Sec, the talk moved smoothly from a lecture on Circe to the hotly anticipated Q & A section. Readers of Miller will be excited to know that her next venture will be the story of Hades and Persephone. She explained the nostalgia behind this myth – being one of the first we encounter in school, as with the changing of Winter to Spring, so ends Persephone’s captivity in the Underworld. Like all of us in the audience, Miller was brought up reading Greek Myths. A generation of us was raised reading Riordan and are now maturing into Miller, Barker, Haynes and Saint. The unrelenting appeal of myth is apparent from the success stories of these authors and the fandom they amass.
As this Q&A section ended, she was asked about her inspiration for the Queer retelling of the Iliad, forging a relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. She talked fondly of a bookshop near her childhood home called ‘Giovanni’s Room’ – after the Baldwin novel – that was devoted to LGBTQ+ literature. This made her determined to reverse the erasure of Queer stories throughout history, and she does so by using her gift of stoking the old myths back into relevance. She never fails to entertain and educate her readership. I can speak for a great number of people when I express my excitement for her next novel.
Image “File:Madeline Miller – Kolkata 2013-02-03 4377.JPG” by Biswarup Ganguly is licensed under CC BY 3.0.