Costanza Casati
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati retells the story of Clytemnestra from her childhood until she murders Agamemnon upon his return from the Trojan war. Clytemnestra is portrayed as a fierce warrior, navigating her journey through the male-dominated world of Ancient Greece. She is a staunch defender of those who are unable to defend themselves and is unafraid to challenge male figures in positions of authority.
Weaving in and out of Clytemnestra’s story are stories from Greek mythology. These are told from Clytemnestra’s point of view. Even prominent male figures in Greek mythology, including Agamemnon, Achilles, and Odysseus, are seen through Clytemnestra’s lens. Male heroes who usually take center stage in Greek mythology are relegated to the sidelines. Furthermore, Clytemnestra strips them of their heroic aura by describing them as power-hungry, blood-thirsty, compassionless misogynists.
In Clytemnestra, Casati has depicted a fiery female protagonist who exercises agency. She wields the mantle of power after Agamemnon goes off to war. She transgresses socially gendered norms of behavior in Ancient Greece by seizing a role for herself generally assigned to males. Not surprisingly, she is surrounded by men who want her to crawl back into restrictive woman-space. But she is defiant. Her all-consuming, palpable focus is to seek revenge for the death of her daughter and, in that, she usurps a traditionally male role since Greek mythology is replete with males who seek vengeance for the death of a relative. Her strength and ferocity are reminiscent of Medea, another female figure in Greek mythology who usurped the male role in seeking vengeance for an injustice.
Casati’s diction is clear and accessible. Her knowledge of Greek mythology is extensive. Her characters are believable. The qualities of her male characters reflect what we know about them from mythology. And her feminist portrayal of Clytemnestra is fresh and does a great deal to redeem a much-maligned female figure in Greek mythology.
An engaging retelling that breathes fresh life into an otherwise marginalized figure in Greek mythology.