Oedipus

Greek Trilogy

by Henry Treece

An adventure novel based on the ancient legend of Oedipus, King of Thebes.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

267 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Henry Treece (1911-1966) was a British poet and writer, who also worked as a teacher and editor. He wrote a range of works but is mostly remembered as a writer of children's historical novels.

Reviews

[Harry Dewulf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book I have ever read. May be the best book in English.

[Iset · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read Henry Treece when I stumbled across his book Electra as a child. I loved it. The vivid descriptions of Bronze Age Greece, the strong heroine, the dramatic twists, the controversial (for a book written in the 1960s) themes. It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered that Treece wrote other books too. Others are set in Viking or Celtic landscapes, some are more fantasy than historical fiction, and several of those are children’s books. But he wrote two other novels based on Greek myth – one about Jason, and one about Oedipus.

However, Oedipus was not quite what I was expecting. Electra followed the myth reasonably closely, with one or two twists filling in the gaps in the story. Oedipus deviates quite significantly from the myth: Oedipus here is not Jocasta and Laius’ son, nor does he blind himself in horror at the unwitting incest, and Jocasta’s death by hanging is an accident. The story is still interesting, but, in my opinion, not as gripping as it would have been if it had adhered more closely to the original telling with all its tragedy and dread.

Another thing that stood out as not quite right were the outdated ideas about invasions. Electra did make use of the obsolete Dorian invasion hypothesis, but Oedipus is awash with these antiquarian ideas. Early archaeologists and historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries often interpreted significant cultural developments or breaks in style of art and architecture to be evidence of a superior culture invading the area and taking over – rather than what we now know to be the more frequent and likely scenario of idea exchange, peaceful trade, and diplomacy. These invasion models owe something to colonialism, and are long since recognised as outdated. To be fair to the author, at the time this book was written he was getting his information from the last gasp of textbooks that still espoused these hypotheses before a serious paradigm shift in history and archaeology, and his author’s note at the end makes it clear that he had a keen interest in historical accuracy and thought he was delivering it by reading the appropriate authoritative books. But, as a result, Oedipus is awash with Shore Folk versus Hellenes, invading Cretans, Mother worship versus Father worship – and much of it just niggled my historian’s sense.

That said, however, Treece’s style of writing is as strong as it was in Electra, and really carries the book. Treece has a way of evoking this deep and distant time and place in a way that few authors ever achieve. He has a clear vision of the landscape, and an understanding of the grinding toil and hardship for the majority of people. I have noticed that historical fiction of the past decade, in the same setting, has had a tendency to close the gap between rich and poor, show the queen being best friends with her peasant servant. It’s all too pleasant and sugar-coated. Treece doesn’t stint on showing the brutal reality, the vast gulf between royalty and peasantry propelled by social stratification. In this world, queens are treated as goddesses, and kings murder with impunity, blood sacrifice is a part of everyday life, and drought can bring leaders down by the hands of baying mobs. Treece isn’t shy about showing this, and in my opinion it is probably a more realistic vision of the Bronze Age.

Treece also writes with a certain surrealism and mystery that is evident in both Electra and Oedipus. I very much feel that I am delving into an alien world and mindset when I read his books. It is stuffed full of disturbing dreams that make no sense, and characters making cryptic remarks that I never untangle. Some ends are left loose, their enigmas never resolved. It is both frustrating and adds to the realism, although occasionally I wonder if Treece is making some kind of subtle euphemism geared to avoid offending 1960s sensibilities and which in the modern day is just far too subtle for me to get. He does that a lot with sex in his books – it is very subtly implied and never directly referenced – and I wonder if some of these sequences that go over my head are about, for example, religious rituals of either an orgiastic or gory nature (or perhaps both), and Treece simply didn’t want to or couldn’t write them more explicitly for audiences sixty years ago.

All in all, it’s a read I would recommend, although Electra is still my favourite.

8 out of 10

[Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this more than the other Henry Treece novels I've recently read - the claustrophobic and somewhat terrifying atmosphere of Thebes was very well done (but Treece is always good on atmosphere!), but the difference here is that the characters were better developed, particularly Oedipus. Perhaps because the story was so tightly focused on the one person, I had a much better sense of who he was than I did with the other novels I've read of his recently. (The Amber Princess about Elektra was similarly focused on one person but she wandered around a lot more and people popped in and out without really being given too much characterization, plus Elektra's own fragmented memories and emotional state just made it harder to see her as a whole character.)

[Hella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik begon vol goede moed aan Oedipus. Het begon in elk geval een stuk mysterieuzer dan het onttoverde Children of Jocasta. Oedipus vertelt zijn levensverhaal in de ik-vorm, en begint als hij een klein, mank jongetje is (de naam Oedipus betekent 'gezwollen voeten'), zoontje van een arm herdersechtpaar. De vertelsituatie lijkt die van een oude man die terugkijkt op zijn leven. Pas over de helft zegt hij opeens "I tell you, my lords …" Mij werd niet duidelijk wie deze lords zijn.

Oedipus ontvlucht zijn milieu en komt terecht in Korinthe, dat wordt beschreven als een soort kampement van lemen hutjes en tenten. Het kinderloze koningspaar Polybus en Periboea neemt hem op als hun zoon. Hij krijgt sandalen aangemeten waardoor hij goed leert lopen, en gaat zich steeds meer een held voelen. Als het gedaan is met de welvaart in Korinthe, gaat hij opnieuw zwerven. Hij is nu groot en volwassen en een held in eigen ogen. Min of meer volgens het boekje (dwz de bekende mythe) vermoordt hij de koning van Thebe en huwt hij de koningin. Nergens blijkt dat hij in 't echt de zoon is van Laius en Iocaste.

Thebe wordt uitgebreid beschreven op een manier die het midden houdt tussen Fantasy en Science Fiction, vol koepels en onderaardse ruimtes, en een afgrond buiten de zuidmuur waar alle doden en ter dood veroordeelden in geflikkerd worden (mensen en dieren). De lijken worden verbrand waardoor de stad de meeste tijd gehuld is in stinkende zwarte rook. Een totaal ander beeld dan het klassieke paleis in The Children of Jocasta.

Het verhaal zelf wijkt meer en meer af van de mythe, waardoor het in feite zijn diepe, voor ons nog altijd invoelbare, essentie verliest. Het heeft iets barbaars, terwijl het tegelijk flirt met het Christendom, in de manier waarop sommige handelingen van Oedipus worden beschreven. Zo wordt hij als koningszoon "Shepherd of the People" van Korinthe. Als hij naar het orakel van Delphi gaat, wordt daar verteld dat de doden er drie dagen liggen, en dat er een steen voor hun graf wordt gerold. Als aan het eind van de rit het Thebaanse volk om zijn dood vraagt, en roept dat hij zich in de afgrond moet werpen, doet dat heel sterk denken aan het Crucify Crucify Crucify uit Jesus Christ Superstar.

In een nawoord vertelt de schrijver dat hij het verhaal heeft gesitueerd in een tijd ver voor de geschriften van Homerus en Sophocles. Hij voert daarvoor allerlei archeologische vondsten als argumentatie aan.
Ik heb zelf het gevoel dat als je zo graag een verhaal wilt schrijven dat in 2000 voor Christus speelt, je beter andere personages kunt kiezen. Ze zelf bedenken, en ze laten rondlopen in het Korinthe van die tijd, een totaal andere stad dan het klassieke Korinthe waar nu nog resten van te vinden zijn. Of misschien kiezen voor Polybus en Periboea als personages. Over hun rijk, en hun vlucht naar Egypte (hé, waar heb ik dat eerder gehoord) valt best een heel boek te schrijven.
Maar zo'n mythe van zijn diepe betekenis ontdoen – ik zie er de zin niet van.

[Peter Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an achievement.I thought that Henry Treece wrote children’s historical fiction and began this expecting a familiar tale to refresh my memory but this is a complete reimagining of the tale setting it in preClassical Greece.It follows the basic story but seeks to create a believable Oedipus travelling through a grimy smelly land devoid of decent housing with primitive people and beliefs.Certainly not a book for children and not always an easy read.Henry Treece has written a complex book and deserves to be remembered by modern readers.

[Daniel Tripp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of Treece's better books - love Golden Strangers and The Green Man... but this one's okay.

[Stel Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this secondhand and nearly didn't pick it up. I will hunt down more, Oedipus is wonderful, nightmarish and awesome