Fionnuala’s review of Electra > Likes and Comments

Goodreads friends who've read and commented on all the Euripides reviews I've posted lately are excused from commenting here—you're off the hook, guys! And I promise, no more Euripides reviews!

No more Euripides? You are going to read Bacchae and not review it?!

I've read Medea and The Bachantes, Jann, and I was devasted by them both. They are wilder and stranger than the plays that are related to characters from The Iliad. I don't know what I can say about them except that readers should read them themselves.

Unfair!

You say “off the hook,” but dissecting Euripides in your comment sections has been the intellectual highlight of my month. Some of us have very little going on. Without these reviews, I may be forced to develop hobbies, or worse, emotional stability.

Great review Fionnuala and recap of all the treacherous familial goings on.
I have some serious Euripides catching up to do. I have ordered the plays but I am midway through a month in Antipodean fiction. However I have read and seen the play by Aeschylus The Oresteia- a most wonderfully bloody bath scene with the blood drenching estate from high above the main stage dominates my memory. Very dramatic.

I am having a blast reading your series of excellent Euripides reviews. Thanks for the May gift!

Julie wrote: "Unfair!
You say “off the hook,” but dissecting Euripides in your comment sections has been the intellectual highlight of my month. Some of us have very little going on. Without these reviews, I may be forced to develop hobbies, or worse, emotional stability"

Fun, fun, Julie, I love it!
I've enjoyed the comment sections of these Euripides reviews so much, and your comments are always gold.
And speaking of hobbies, what a fine one answering comments on goodreads is:-)

Gill wrote: "Great review Fionnuala and recap of all the treacherous familial goings on.
I have some serious Euripides catching up to do. I have ordered the plays but I am midway through a month in Antipodean fiction..."

Thanks, Gill. I know you're having a busy Antipodean season right now and long may it continue.
You've caused me to wonder about the origin of the word antipodes, and as you'd expect it comes from Greek—in Aristotle's time. It means having one's feet in the opposite direction! Greek really was the centre of the world, wasn't it, and everywhere else was referenced in relation to it. All so interesting.

Carol wrote: "I am having a blast reading your series of excellent Euripides reviews. Thanks for the May gift!"

Thank you for telling me that, Carol. It's nearly as good as the gift of a Golden Fleece:-)

indeed! 👍

Haha re origin if the word Antipodes. I must relay that to my reading group 😂

Fionnuala says we're off the hook
From commenting on her review
Of yet another ancient book
She has just read all the way through

Good! I was feeling ridiculous
Hanging on my peg all day
Reading about Odysseus
And having not a word to say

While Penelope's cat stays home to mouse
Ulysses' hat can stay stray far from the house.
Have great adventures, Ulysse's hat!
Though a little warning I feel obliged to say,
I've not yet reviewed The Odyssey...

Fionnuala wrote: "While Penelope's cat stays home to mouse
Ulysses' hat can stay stray far from the house.
Have great adventures, Ulysse's hat!
Though a little warning I feel obliged to say,
I've not yet reviewed T..."

The cat in my hat
And the mouse in my house
Impatient are to see
Fionnuala's Odyssey!

A deliciously absorbing review, Fionnuala, thank you! I have read this when studying Euripides, and I thought it a solid and believable storyline - the sort of thing Hansel and Gretel might have plotted together when they got back out of the forest where their stepmother, and their ineffectual father, had abandoned them!
I haven't felt able to review the classical Greek plays (lack of knowledge and lack of time) so it was really wonderful to be taken through your summary of the characters and what they got up to over the course of Euripides' plays. And I always love when you and Ulysse play ball together!

I too am loving your thorough investigation of Euripides, Fionnuala. Sometimes the back stories are needed to understand the depth of these tragedies. What a dark time these families had in dealing with/destroying each other.

J.C. wrote: "A deliciously absorbing review, Fionnuala, thank you! I have read this when studying Euripides, and I thought it a solid and believable storyline - the sort of thing Hansel and Gretel might have plotted together when they got back out of the forest where their stepmother, and their ineffectual father, had abandoned them...."

Orestes and Electra as the original Hansel and Gretel, Jeanne? Why not! I'm sure all folktales come from myths, and many countries' myths may come from the Greek myths.
I don't know what I'd have made of Euripides as a student but he sits well with me now in any case. The characters and their motivations feel real.

Once again I enjoy your review of a Euripides play, Fionnuala, among others because many of the characters you mention appear in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' too, the book I am reading now.

You mention the huge enmity between Thyestes and Atreus. In 'Metamorphoses' the meal Thyestes recieved from his brother is mentioned. Does this ring a bell? A terrifing story...

It might be a strange association but this whole story made me think of the opening line of Anna Karenina: 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'...

David wrote: "I too am loving your thorough investigation of Euripides, Fionnuala. Sometimes the back stories are needed to understand the depth of these tragedies. What a dark time these families had..."

Thanks, David. Dark times for sure. And it's all like a soap opera in that everyone is somehow related to everyone else—which doesn't stop them murdering each other of course. And don't statistics show that a high percentage of killings happen among family members even today. Plus ça change…

Noam wrote: "Once again I enjoy your review of a Euripides play, Fionnuala, among others because many of the characters you mention appear in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' too, the book I am reading now.
You mention the huge enmity between Thyestes and Atreus. In 'Metamorphoses' the meal Thyestes recieved from his brother is mentioned. Does this ring a bell?..."

That's the very meal I was thinking of, Noam. Terrifying indeed.
I should go back to The Metamorphosis which I abandoned half way through. I'm sure I'd get along with it better now. I was put off then by the amount of rapes and violence in it but I've been somewhat hardened since from reading Virgil, Homer, and Euripides...

Fionnuala wrote: " I was put off then by the amount of rapes and violence in it but I've been somewhat hardened since from reading Virgil, Homer, and Euripides... "

Indeed, I'm sure you are! Perhaps times have changed too. I don't know what is more violent nowadays: Ovid or the daily news...

Fionnuala wrote: "I've read Medea and The Bachantes, Jann, and I was devasted by them both. They are wilder and stranger than the plays that are related to characters from The Iliad. I don't know what I can say abou..."

I think you are right, they are the opposite side of Ancient Greek Religion, Apollo and Athena in one corner all mild and measured: facing them Medea and Bacchus all wild.

The Trojan war character plays in the end are reassuring. Evil deeds are punished, blood vengeance is put in its place, in the end there is legal settlement. Everyone can sleep peacefully at night. Medea and Bacchae are the opposite, unsettling for everyone!

Noam, I think I might prefer Ovid to the daily news.

Fionnuala wrote: "Noam, I think I might prefer Ovid to the daily news."

Me too. That's exactly why I'm reading his work now! 😊

Jan-Maat wrote: "I think you are right, they are the opposite side of Ancient Greek Religion, Apollo and Athena in one corner all mild and measured: facing them Medea and Bacchus all wild.
The Trojan war character plays in the end are reassuring. Evil deeds are punished, blood vengeance is put in its place, in the end there is legal settlement. Everyone can sleep peacefully at night. Medea and Bacchae are the opposite, unsettling for everyone..."

Yes, the Trojan war characters felt more human, even the ones who had one foot in the mortal world and one in the immortal like Helen and Achilles. Medea, on the other hand, with her chariot drawn by dragons, was hard for me to see properly. Her terrible anger and vengeance against Jason was all I could discern clearly, her other feelings remained obscure. I got a hint of how hurt she was at the betrayal but her anger clouded over everything. No reasonable solution, such as taking the children with her in her magical chariot, was possible due to the strength of her anger. I understood that but still, I felt incomprehension.
Similarly in The Bachantes, Agave didn't stand out clearly for me until the end when she suddenly became the main tragic figure. And I didn't quite understand Bacchus' punishment of her.

How can I possibly refrain from commenting on one of your excellent reviews, Fionnuala? Especially when you mention my namesake, Cassandra, at the end :) :)

I'm so glad you stopped here, Cassandra! You are very welcome indeed! Loosen your chiton, put your feet up, and I'll bring you a glass of Xinomavro!

Fionnuala wrote: "I'm so glad you stopped here, Cassandra! You are very welcome indeed! Loosen your chiton, put your feet up, and I'll bring you a glass of Xinomavro!"

Fionnuala, you can't begin to imagine the giant smile this comment put on my face this evening. I'm moving into a new place this weekend. I'll be living alone for the first time in more than 30 years. It's exciting and scary! The idea of you bringing me a glass of that Xinomavro and chatting with me at the new place makes it seem a lot less daunting! :) :)

I wish you great satisfaction in your new home, Candi. 🍷 🍷
And yes, moving can be traumatic and daunting but when you're well settled in, all the effort will have been worthwhile.
Have fun unpacking your books:-)

Don't take this the wrong way Fi, but I see you as my "Euripides Dealer", wearing a great coat, handing me a small bag, behind a lamp post on a rainy street - "Pssst - here's your gear Mark". I snatch it and shuffle away to my dark, spartan apartment - to digest another dose of this wonderful writer (but I've only tasted him once). So yes, I'm in. You made this sound enticing - so there is more than one Golden Fleece???

Also if Zeus is powerful and clever enough to reverse where the sun rises and sets, do you think he can make England win the World Cup (asking for a mate). Great review as usual 🤗🎈

So you're the guy who received the book, Mark—I call all the customers of the book Mark;-)

I think your mate should definitely appeal to Zeus for help winning that golden cup—two teams of warriors fighting it out for possession of such a trophy is exactly his sort of thing!

I was hesitant to comment here, Fionnuala, because of the note under your review, but encouraged by your kind replies to others just to drop a quick line that this is the review I was most eagerly awaiting for in your Euripides readings because I read the Sophocles version and greatly admire what Hofmannsthal/Strauss made of it in their expressionist opera version. It looks like theirs is vastly different from Euripides in highlighting different aspects of this myth. I'll read Euripides one day, but just wondering - was there an emotional element in Elektra's recognition scene with Orestes in Euripides? Any role for Chrysotemis as a foil for Elektra? Thanks for always great and interesting reviews.

Thanks for stopping to comment, Vesna. The recognition scene was over very quickly in this version, perhaps because Electra had been lead to believe at first that the strangers were simply friends of her long lost brother so the biggest shock for her had been learning suddenly that her brother, whom she thought might be dead, still lived. That was the high point. When an elderly servant finally recognises Orestes, it's almost an anticlimax, and the plot moves on quickly to plans for vengeance.i don't think there was a character called Chrysotemis in this version, by the way...

Fionnuala wrote: "I've read Medea and The Bachantes, Jann, and I was devasted by them both. They are wilder and stranger than the plays that are related to characters from The Iliad. I don't know what I can say abou..."

The Medea is devastating; but Lars von Trier's Medea even more so. I once showed it to my mythology class; the only time I have ever seen a room full of college students leave in stunned silence.

Your review makes me recall I read Colm Tóibín’s House of Names, Fionnuala, which tells the whole bloody story of Orestes, Elektra and Clytemnestra. I had forgotten I had read that adaptation of the tales, probably from several different plays. I loved it. Thanks for the reminder.

Fred wrote: "...The Medea is devastating; but Lars von Trier's Medea even more so. I once showed it to my mythology class; the only time I have ever seen a room full of college students leave in stunned silence..."

Ι might try that version, Fred, but even from Euripides telling of Medea's story, I understand the stunned silence. I did try to write a review but any words that came to me seemed so feeble that I didn't post them.

Clinton (almost catching up) wrote: "Your review makes me recall I read Colm Tóibín’s House of Names, Fionnuala, which tells the whole bloody story of Orestes, Elektra and Clytemnestra. I had forgotten I had read that adaptation of th..."

So that's what House of Names is about, Clinton! I might look at it and see how it sits with me...