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The Way to Colonos: Sophocles Retold
A modern Greek classic “written in an ageless prose that instantly strikes the reader as the work of a master.” (Rachel Cusk, from the foreword)
First published in 1961, The Way to Colonos reworks three plays by Sophocles in a modern-day setting, probing their characters with savage intimacy. Antigone, wheeling her father onto the ferry to Colonos, is a stylish woman in her thirties, disgusted by her father’s self-absorption, guilt, and evasions. A suburban Electra dreams of a bloody confrontation with her mother that may never come to pass. The myth of Philoctetes, the castaway soldier, is reframed as a story of shifting allegiances in a guerrilla war that divided Greece after World War II.
As Rachel Cusk writes in her foreword to this new edition, the first in sixty years, Cicellis was a woman before her time, whose work—written in English, her second language—offers “shocking insight into the secret lives of young women” and is only now “free to reach readers with an appetite for female artistic authority, who wish to see the world through sharp fresh eyes.”
First published in 1961, The Way to Colonos reworks three plays by Sophocles in a modern-day setting, probing their characters with savage intimacy. Antigone, wheeling her father onto the ferry to Colonos, is a stylish woman in her thirties, disgusted by her father’s self-absorption, guilt, and evasions. A suburban Electra dreams of a bloody confrontation with her mother that may never come to pass. The myth of Philoctetes, the castaway soldier, is reframed as a story of shifting allegiances in a guerrilla war that divided Greece after World War II.
As Rachel Cusk writes in her foreword to this new edition, the first in sixty years, Cicellis was a woman before her time, whose work—written in English, her second language—offers “shocking insight into the secret lives of young women” and is only now “free to reach readers with an appetite for female artistic authority, who wish to see the world through sharp fresh eyes.”
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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December 19, 2025Good job Rachel Cusk for offering the most white and useless forward I've ever read. Who does this British boomer cup think she is, starting the forward with "this savage little book..." And then doing nothing to offer why it is so "savage". Who is that forward even for? The teenage crowd Cusk attempting to blend in with? All right, I forgot that all Greek people especially the ancient Greeks were all white and Western so we can say s*** like "savage" when describing associated culture. Nothing superficial about that.
The book is not bad, but reading them alongside the original plays, there is overall for me a struggle to understand what the purpose of the rewriting and modern retelling is. Nonetheless there our moments are very good writing.
I wanted to give a higher review just to balance out some of the awkwardly negative ones here, one guy said he's skimmed the second short story and skipped the third one, and yet still thinks that he should write a review.
But the book simply just doesn't provide what the hype promises.
The book is not bad, but reading them alongside the original plays, there is overall for me a struggle to understand what the purpose of the rewriting and modern retelling is. Nonetheless there our moments are very good writing.
I wanted to give a higher review just to balance out some of the awkwardly negative ones here, one guy said he's skimmed the second short story and skipped the third one, and yet still thinks that he should write a review.
But the book simply just doesn't provide what the hype promises.
February 2, 2026
WOWZA so beautiful. Spare and, in that way, faithful to the original. All of these are so, so stunning. Klytemnestra as a lazy housewife … Philoctetes as a political prisoner facing down the void … Oedipus as a truly pitiful old man in a wheelchair, refusing responsibility, refusing love. Beautifully written, and fascinating recastings of the plays.
The other 10 Philistines who have reviewed this work have obviously not read the originals, or do not appreciate the originals, because what they complain about is precisely the strength of these odd, beautiful tales.
The other 10 Philistines who have reviewed this work have obviously not read the originals, or do not appreciate the originals, because what they complain about is precisely the strength of these odd, beautiful tales.
July 19, 2026
in utter shock that something so perfect for me on paper is maybe my most-hated read of the year. Kay Cicellis really said imagine if there was a greek tragedy where nothing happens and also it’s boring as hell!!!!!!
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May 22, 2026The Exile story was so good and a delightful change of pace from Aggrieved Greeks
March 6, 2026
Kind of a drag but better this than another “feminist” retelling of The Iliad
June 30, 2026
First published in 1961, this collection of three stories are as fresh today as when they were written. Somehow timeless, in a way that mirrors the originality of the three plays by Sophocles on which they are based.
The best of the three, here called ‘The Exile’, is based on the lesser known play, Philoctetes. It is unusual in that it is one of the only, if not the only Greek tragedy without a clear hero. Cicellis says in her opening note that this is the only play of the three where she has changed all the names of the original characters, these being the least well known.
Cicellis is an interesting character herself, raised speaking English, she returned to Greece as a teenager and only then started to learn Greek, the language of her parents. She wrote only in English.
The first story is about Antigone who is sailing on a ferry with her father who is confined to a wheelchair. He is never named in this story, but we know who he is and why he has problems. In Sophocles’ original play Antigone is unable to bury the body of her dead brother who was deemed to be an enemy of Thebes by the ruler Cleon. Antigone is bound by the laws of family to bury her dead relatives, and so is trapped in an impossible situation. In this new version her father is haunted by actions that may have led to the death of his wife. We see in the young Antigone her deliberate defiance of her parents and her willingness to lie to them. She emerges as strong and ruthless and unwilling to compromise. She is having an affair with a married man, but when the man’s wife pleads with her to stop, she thinks only of herself. The game that she played with her lover brings to an end the joyful invention of lies to tell the wife and so closes an avenue of enjoyment in their furtive relationship.
Antigone’s father had argued with his wife that morning and had forgotten her house keys. When she came home from work, the father had pretended not to hear her knocking at the door and so she had gone away again.
There is beautiful weighting in these sentences; as I said, this feel modern and contemporary, not sixty-five years old. These stories are well worth reading.
The best of the three, here called ‘The Exile’, is based on the lesser known play, Philoctetes. It is unusual in that it is one of the only, if not the only Greek tragedy without a clear hero. Cicellis says in her opening note that this is the only play of the three where she has changed all the names of the original characters, these being the least well known.
Cicellis is an interesting character herself, raised speaking English, she returned to Greece as a teenager and only then started to learn Greek, the language of her parents. She wrote only in English.
The first story is about Antigone who is sailing on a ferry with her father who is confined to a wheelchair. He is never named in this story, but we know who he is and why he has problems. In Sophocles’ original play Antigone is unable to bury the body of her dead brother who was deemed to be an enemy of Thebes by the ruler Cleon. Antigone is bound by the laws of family to bury her dead relatives, and so is trapped in an impossible situation. In this new version her father is haunted by actions that may have led to the death of his wife. We see in the young Antigone her deliberate defiance of her parents and her willingness to lie to them. She emerges as strong and ruthless and unwilling to compromise. She is having an affair with a married man, but when the man’s wife pleads with her to stop, she thinks only of herself. The game that she played with her lover brings to an end the joyful invention of lies to tell the wife and so closes an avenue of enjoyment in their furtive relationship.
But there came a day when Agis’s wife actually discovered their relationship; and then the second cycle of lies was closed and a far uglier game began.
Antigone’s father had argued with his wife that morning and had forgotten her house keys. When she came home from work, the father had pretended not to hear her knocking at the door and so she had gone away again.
But in the morning there had been strange furtive presence of her father in the kitchen preparing his own breakfast. As a rule, her mother did this for him. He was eating it silently, huddled in a chair at the cold kitchen table, in the grey kitchen light, like a beggar eating a crust of bread on a doorstep.
When she asked where her mother was, he looked up at her in fear and said: “She is not here. I don’t know where she is. I don’t know what happened to her.” She realized at once, with a shock of recognition, that he was not telling her the whole truth. He knew more than he admitted. At last the roles were reversed, and she suddenly found him down, down at her own level.
She asked him why he did not call her, so that she might prepare his breakfast for him. He turned his face away and muttered that he had not wanted to disturb her. That too was a lie, but the strange new humility behind it was genuine.
Then there had been the telephone call from the police station, announcing the accident.
There is beautiful weighting in these sentences; as I said, this feel modern and contemporary, not sixty-five years old. These stories are well worth reading.
June 28, 2026
quote (forward): “free to reach readers with an appetite for female artistic authority, who wish to see the world through sharp fresh eyes.”
review: Perhaps it is my lack of interest in greek literature or the fact that I am not the most knowledgeable in that sector…but reading this book was ROUGH.
The first short-story about the mysterious girl with her dad was entertaining at first, given its rich description on the girl’s character. Overall, that chapter reminded me of Kate Choppin’s “The Awakening.” Yet another feminine story that resembles their character with strength, but makes the reader loss attention & interest as the story progresses. I feel as if there were a lot of filler scenes…
After that first story, it all just kinda went downhill for me. Reading this book definitely was not for me, but I can somewhat see how it could have appealed better to those that have more knowledge about the background of the story.
review: Perhaps it is my lack of interest in greek literature or the fact that I am not the most knowledgeable in that sector…but reading this book was ROUGH.
The first short-story about the mysterious girl with her dad was entertaining at first, given its rich description on the girl’s character. Overall, that chapter reminded me of Kate Choppin’s “The Awakening.” Yet another feminine story that resembles their character with strength, but makes the reader loss attention & interest as the story progresses. I feel as if there were a lot of filler scenes…
After that first story, it all just kinda went downhill for me. Reading this book definitely was not for me, but I can somewhat see how it could have appealed better to those that have more knowledge about the background of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2026
This is the kind of response to ancient greek myth/tragedy/drama I can get behind! It's a retelling of Sophocles, sure, and the original characters and their ~roles are recognisable in it, however it's not just a simple regurgitation of the tragedies! Instead, it's Sophocles tranposed into the modern world (1960s Greece) and then translated into prose. Cicellis was Greek but English was her first language, and what she captures here is a clever prose stark enough to remind me of the Sophocles and stark enough to make the modern world feel a little mythic and foreign, even if we're in the humdrum lives of Electra-cum-Eugenia who hates her mother or a jaded Antigone or an exiled soldier.
Still. I read it slowly, and still didn't love it all, but my favourite - maybe predictably, since it is also my favourite of the original plays - was the third, the response to Philoctetes.
Still. I read it slowly, and still didn't love it all, but my favourite - maybe predictably, since it is also my favourite of the original plays - was the third, the response to Philoctetes.
January 13, 2026
“This woman’s life must have been divorced from the material world, yet with none of the freedom, the detachment of the abstract. Her emotions were her daily routine, a routine as obsessively monotonous as a morning at the office.”
If nothing else, this is a great snapshot of a moment in time, rendered through the smudged lens of myth. The setting (1960s, Greece) is evocative and brought to mind Ferrante’s descriptions of postwar Italy. While so much of the prose did work for me, because these were also “translations” of Sophocles’ tragedies they tended towards long stream-of-consciousness monologues rather than dialogue, which sometimes worked but mostly didn’t. All-in-all, glad I read it, not sure I’d recommend it.
If nothing else, this is a great snapshot of a moment in time, rendered through the smudged lens of myth. The setting (1960s, Greece) is evocative and brought to mind Ferrante’s descriptions of postwar Italy. While so much of the prose did work for me, because these were also “translations” of Sophocles’ tragedies they tended towards long stream-of-consciousness monologues rather than dialogue, which sometimes worked but mostly didn’t. All-in-all, glad I read it, not sure I’d recommend it.
August 7, 2026
3.5
These were interesting. Though primarily the first two (as I really don't know a thing about the Greek Civil War). So I am talking about the modern update on Sophocles (Oedipus at Colonus and Electra). The style is at a remove, its unusual. But has a different emphasis than the original plays did. A lot of resentment from the younger characters for the older ones---instead of reverence. In fact, the younger characters don't offer to much to admire.
Why read this? The writing is spare, clipped and interesting.
It's not emotionally involving, but has a unique feel.
These were interesting. Though primarily the first two (as I really don't know a thing about the Greek Civil War). So I am talking about the modern update on Sophocles (Oedipus at Colonus and Electra). The style is at a remove, its unusual. But has a different emphasis than the original plays did. A lot of resentment from the younger characters for the older ones---instead of reverence. In fact, the younger characters don't offer to much to admire.
Why read this? The writing is spare, clipped and interesting.
It's not emotionally involving, but has a unique feel.
March 4, 2026
For all my love of McNally Jackson (the bookstore), I have yet to enjoy reading a SINGLE McNally edition book. My only remaining hope is Ex-Wife, but if I don’t like that one either I’m swearing them off forever.
The only good part worth reading is Cusk’s foreword, though it seems her & I did not read the same work. Nonetheless, how the editors thought it appropriate to put Cusk’s prose next to Cicellis will remain an unsolved mystery.
The only good part worth reading is Cusk’s foreword, though it seems her & I did not read the same work. Nonetheless, how the editors thought it appropriate to put Cusk’s prose next to Cicellis will remain an unsolved mystery.
July 20, 2026
“All possible love; the need was urgent. Who dared say it mattered whether a love such as this was grounded upon truth or not?”
3 I just can’t get into short stories stars
These three retellings of Sophocles plays are compelling but as with most short stories, I just wanted more. What happens next!? None had a satisfying conclusion for me. However if you’re a fan of Greek retellings and short stories are a genre you enjoy, you’ll have a great time.
3 I just can’t get into short stories stars
These three retellings of Sophocles plays are compelling but as with most short stories, I just wanted more. What happens next!? None had a satisfying conclusion for me. However if you’re a fan of Greek retellings and short stories are a genre you enjoy, you’ll have a great time.
June 24, 2026
Really beautiful! Unadorned, crystal clear prose that somehow still holds inestimable depths of character-driven nuance. I totally get how Cusk relates to this school of writing. My favorite of the three stories was “The Return”.
March 11, 2026
Very well written and the stories feel timeless the way all classics seem to.
April 24, 2026
Clunky dialogue, flat and uninteresting characters.
August 6, 2026
The Way to Colonos: 1/5.
The Return: 4/5.
The Exile: 4/5.
The Return: 4/5.
The Exile: 4/5.
August 16, 2026
Gem alert 💎
August 21, 2026
surprisingly touching, surprisingly perceptive, surprisingly dull and excruciating
October 30, 2024
I tried to get into these three short stories, even reading synopses of the ancient Greek plays on which they were based in order to better understand them. In the end, however, I felt like I was reading the diary of a petulant 15-year old girl who was angry with her father...or her mother...or her brother. Barely made it through the first story, skimmed the second, skipped the third entirely.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews