The Private Life of Helen of Troy

by John Erskine

John Erskine (10/5/1879–6/2/1951) was an educator & author, born in New York City & raised in Weehawken, NJ. He graduated from Columbia University (A.M., '01; Ph.D., '03). He was employed at Columbia & Amherst. He instituted Columbia College's General Honors Course, a 2-year undergraduate seminar that would later help inspire "Masterworks of Western Literature," now known commonly as "Literature Humanities," the 2nd component of Columbia College's Core Curriculum.

Helen's Return
The Younger Generation
Their Elders
Death and Birth
Helen's Beauty

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mythology, Literature, Classics, Greek Mythology, Greece

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1925

About the author

John Erskine (October 5, 1879 – June 2, 1951) was an American educator and author, pianist and composer. He was first an English professor at Amherst College from 1903 to 1909, followed by Columbia University from 1909 and 1937, during his tenure he formulated the General Honors Course, which later founded the influential Great Books movement. He published over 100 books, novel, criticism, essays including his most important essay, The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent (1915).

Reviews

[Steve R · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1925 novel is as easy to read as it is engaging for one’s sense of moral values. It deals with the events affecting Helen and her husband Menelaos after their return to Sparta, and also involves the fates of their daughter Hermione; their doorkeeper Etoneous; Helen’s sister Clytemenestra; Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaos; Orestes, the son of Helen’s sister and the brother of Menelaos; the gossipy neighbor Charitas, her lustful son Damaster, Helen’s serving girl Adraste and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. More than one love affair, a pregnancy and at least four murders all occur seemingly within a matter of two or three weeks.

But this is to make the work seem more dramatic than it really is: instead, at least 95% of the work involves conversations: usually of only two characters, and at the most, three. These conversations all give rise to truly fascinating moral questions. For instance:

- if your wife ran away to another city with a guest at your house, would you start a war to get her back?
- would you sacrifice your daughter to the Gods to get a favouring wind for your fleet?
- with her lover dead, your estranged wife comes under your power: do you kill her for her infidelity or take her back?
- if your daughter was set on marrying the only young man she’s really known, would you accept this, or try to get her to meet other men?
- what do you say to people when your mother has run off with a lover?
- what do you do when your mother, who is mad at your father, takes a lover into your house while he’s away?
- what do you do if you are the mother in this case and your husband returns?
- do you stay or leave when you are a servant in a household in which you feel that the leading persons are continually making the wrong decisions?
- do you allow a serving girl who has become pregnant to stay at your household?
- what do you do if your son falls for a woman of a lower social class and gets her pregnant?
- what attitude should you take to the new husband of your daughter considering that he is the murderer of both your sister and of a man whom you greatly admired?
- how does one deal with the inescapably positive feelings one has when in the presence of a truly beautiful woman in order to maintain a sense of personal integrity and objectivity?

Some of these questions were answered with homicidal violence, some with banishment, some with self-imposed exile and some with tolerance. But all were presented with an eye-opening ability to plumb the depths of human motivation. These queries, along with many others, keep the pages turning quite quickly as the dialogue between the different characters put the subtleties of Greek moral philosophy on full display in quite tangible and realistic instances.

Highly recommended.

[Tad Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving from my parents' library to my grandparents' -- this one has my grandmother's name, Charis Fairbanks, 1926, on the flyleaf. John Erskine was a noted scholar - he created the Great Books program at Columbia University -- and a popular novelist in his day, pretty much forgotten today -- I'd say undeservedly. The Private Life of Helen of Troy is a wonderfully readable novel of ideas. Erskine is erudite but his style is not at all donnish. It's talky -- actually, it's all talk -- but the talk is smart, witty, and thought-provoking.

A side note -- Eskine was Anais Nin's first lover.

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Надзвичайно гарна історія Єлени прекрасної, її чоловіка Менелая, доньки Герміони та усіх довкола. Це суцільні діалоги про добро і зло, про мораль в коханні і поза ним. При тому це так дотепно, з такими влучними аргументами в розмовах. Захват!

[L. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

There, you've read it.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This topped the bestseller list in 1926, and it took me some time to figure out why. The story ties in neatly with Greek mythology. There’s no shortage of scandal - remember, it’s Greek mythology. Murders and betrayal are par for the course. I dug up the NYT review from 11/8/25, and the reviewer loved it. Even said the style was so good we’d be seeing it more and more. The style, of course, was almost pure dialogue. Really boring, in my opinion,but in keeping with the Greek plays I’ve read in the past, I suppose. I thought maybe the review was enough to launch this rather boring book into bestseller-dom, but it took one look at the front cover of the 1925 edition to make everything clear. The vintage copy I read was devoid of jacket, so it took some sleuthing to discover that it had featured a beautiful woman (Helen, I assume) clad in a very, very, very sheer drape. That’s all it took. People weren’t excited about the Classics, into Greek mythology or intrigued by the dialogue -only style. Nope. It was the naked lady on the cover.

[Scott Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The odd thing about this book is that it is practically wall to wall dialogue. There is barely any descriptive prose. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. After a time, the constant dialogue exhausted me. It was full of wit and the characters were enjoyable but I have to admit losing some interest after about the first half.

[Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous dialogue. Reads more like a play than a novel, a very boring one with absolutely no stage action.

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering that "The Private Life of Helen of Troy" was written by John Erskine, one of the pioneers of the Great Books movement in the 1930s, I really thought that I would enjoy this novel more. I must say that it is a disappointment.

The novel is set in Sparta after Helen of Troy returns to the city with her husband Menelaus after literally causing the Trojan War. As Helen was for all intents and purposes a war trophy at this point, one would think that the rest of her life would have been spent subservient to her husband and the other Greek warriors who crossed the sea and destroyed Troy in order to avenge her betrayal of her husband and the sacred violation of hospitality so important in the ancient world. But Erskine's Helen does nothing of the sort.

The novel is largely a dialogue, almost more of a play than a novel. Helen expresses her views on marriage, family life and religion in a way that one would expect of a progressive in the 1930s, not like a woman of Ancient Greece. She defends her decision to run away with Paris, she also defends her sister who killed her husband Agamemnon when he returned from Troy. She also encourages her maid-servant to pursue a sexual relationship with her beau, a situation which would certainly have resulted in her dismissal from royal service and spending the rest of her life as a pariah in Sparta. The dialogue is interesting, but it does not fit a discussion among women in the ancient world. Now Erskine is a classical scholar, and perhaps he knows something about the views of Ancient Greek women that I don't. But all of my reading about the role of women in Ancient Greece indicates that the views expressed by Helen in this novel would not have been acceptable for royal women back then, and they certainly would not have been indulged by others in Menelaus's household.

Nevertheless, if you have an interest in Ancient Greece or John Erskine, it may not be a bad thing to read this novel.

[☆ maddy ☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Questo libro è per il 99% composto di soli dialoghi. Per i miei gusti questo aspetto è stato un po’ fastidioso, oltre al fatto che è anche abbastanza romanzato. In compenso mi sono piaciute molto le parti satiriche, quindi alla fine è stata una bella lettura. La storia inizia poco dopo la fine della guerra di Troia, quando Elena viene riportata a casa da Menelao. Qui dovrà affrontare le accuse di sua figlia Ermione, da lei abbandonata quando aveva solo pochi mesi, e tutte le malelingue del popolo. I dialoghi si incentrano sulla figura della donna, sull’amore, le relazioni, la gioventù e tante altre tematiche. John Erskine, letterato vissuto nei primi anni del 900, è stato senza dubbio bravo nell’affrontare diverse questioni in meno di 300 pagine e senza risultare approssimativo. Ve lo consiglio se siete amanti dell’antica Grecia, dei miti e degli eroi.

[Paul Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very funny parody with insightful points to make.

[Mary Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book, and challenging. It’s roughly the story of Helen and Menelaus after their return from Troy. It’s comprised almost entirely of dialogue in a style that takes some getting used to, but worth the effort. Helen is portrayed not just as a woman of exceptional beauty but exceptional in wit and in her zest for life, regretting nothing. Poor Menelaus, though! He starts with a catagorical decision and Helen turns him around until he does the opposite and congratulates himself for it! Along the way there are observations on life, love, fate, good and evil, etc. Fascinating! You’d be wise to have a list of the major figures of the Trojan War handy as a reference.

[Benni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful but verbose

It's rare that I would call a 300-page book long, but it did feel long. A lot of talking. Felt like reading a play, except I got worried the actors couldn't possibly memorize so much.

That said, interesting and revealing conversations, and a novel take on Helen.

[Liudmyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книга діалогів, в яких усі сперечаються з усіма з будь-яких питань, причому часто учасники цих діалогів наприкінці розмови змінюють свої думки на протилежні. Життєва філософія Гелени Троянської, її чоловіка, доньки, інших родичів, сусідів і т.д. подана дотепно і легко читається

[Doctor VanNostrum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it to be profound and memorable.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

An ALL dialog bore, never read such a thing as this. So many words saying so little of any importance. I am so happy to be done with it.

[Logan McNiece · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best comedies written 😂

[Isiiiiiiiiii · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this book.

[Gerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Entirely too boring. Abandoned ship a tenth of the way in.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

BORING

[Babs M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it, not quite what I expected.

[Markéta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many secrets lie between the lines. Among them also divine Masculine and Feminine, both in perfect balance. Helen of Troy is THE woman every woman should aspire to be. It's the type of the book from which you will learn something new every time you read it and I am very much looking forward to what the book will give me next time.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this cloth edition at a little bookstore in Three Oaks, Michigan the summer Martin, my younger brother and I were living in a little old cottage beside Lake Michigan--a summer when Martin and I, having no tv, tape-player or phonograph, did a whole lot of reading. The bookstore, no longer there, was located in what had been the town's railroad station back in the days when trains still carried people from town to town. The book was attractive not because of it author, I'd never heard of him, nor because of the quaintly erotic cover, that was long gone, but because of the title. Anything about the ancient Greeks was of interest.

As it happened, this chatty novel was quick and clever, often quite witty along lines which reading my grandmother's favorite books had long ago familiarized me with.

[Kelsey Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the aftermath of the Trojan War and effect it's had on the worldview of different generations back at home. But a warning: it's almost entirely dialogue, like reading a play - and it probably would have been more engaging as a play. Characters introduce an interesting idea about the nature of life, passion, purpose... then repeat that idea to every other character, ad nauseum. I found a beautiful copy of this book in an antique shop, though, and while I'm not sure I enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed adding a different perspective on Greek antiquity to my bookshelf!

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely found many philosophical similarities with my current thought processes and loved the battle of the sexes vibe. No one who saw me with this book had ever heard of it, and I fear they took no interest due to it's age, but that would be a mistake. This tale is timeless.

[Richard Seltzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mildly entertaining retelling of the Helen story. I reread it, after 60 years, as I am immersing myself in Trojan War stories and writing one myself.

This Helen is a dispassionate truth-teller whose actions and advice repeatedly undermine conventional wisdom and morality.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

One can't beat the dialogue and connections between men and women in this rendition.

[Rdb]

Read 40 of 304 pages.

[Nina · Rating 1 out of 5]

soap opera

[John B.]

This 1925 novel was recommended by Jung as a means of understanding the anima, the feminine unconscious in a man.