Giving voice to a woman condemned by history, Clytemnestra by debut author, Costanza Casati, is an epic feminist retelling of the story of the notorious Spartan queen. Constanza chats about why she chose to write about Clytemnestra, the characters she created for the book, and her favourite retellings of Greek mythology.
Why Clytemnestra? What made her story the one you needed to tell?
So many reasons! She is powerful, clever, fierce, obstinate. In the ancient texts, she comes across as a truly unforgettable character: she is feared and respected for the power she holds and, most of all, she doesn't let the men around her belittle her. And then there are all the myths surrounding her, which I wanted to explore from her perspective. Clytemnestra is connected to some of the most fascinating characters from the myth: she is sister to Helen, cousin of Penelope, lover to Aegisthus, daughter of Leda.
Even her very first mention, which is in the Odyssey, is such an unforgettable one. When Odysseus meets Agamemnon in the Underworld, they speak of their wives, Penelope and Clytemnestra, and Agamemnon says, "Happy Odysseus, what a fine, faithful wife you won! The immortal gods will lift a glorious song in praise of self-possessed Penelope. / A far cry from the daughter of Tyndareus, Clytemnestra / the song men sing of her will ring with loathing. / She brands with a foul name the breed of womankind."
Cast as a murderess and the archetypally "bad wife" for centuries, Clytemnestra is actually an incredibly modern character: a powerful woman who refuses to know her place. Once you know her story - her entire story - you can't help falling in love with her.
Which characters are yours?
Some of the characters are my own creations: Clytemnestra's guard in Mycenae, Leon, and her faithful servant, Aileen. The elders obviously feature in Aeschylus's Agamemnon but as a chorus, while I gave them names and more specific motives.
“Even Clytemnestra’s first mention, which is in the Odyssey, is such an unforgettable one.”
Then a character that is mine entirely is Cynisca. To write her, I drew on a woman who truly existed (though many years later, and with no connections to Clytemnestra's story): the Spartan woman famous for being the first to win at the Olympic games in 392 BC. Then there are Timandra, Clytemnestra's sister, and Tantalus, Clytemnestra's first husband, who exist in the sources, but just as passing names. Timandra is mentioned in fragments by poets Stesichorus and Hesiod. They say that Timandra was unfaithful to her husband, just like her sisters, because of a sin their father Tyndareus had committed when forgetting to sacrifice to Aphrodite. I found these fragments incredibly fascinating and wanted to explore Timandra further. Tantalus of Maeonia (or Lydia) was another character I was drawn to because he is so important to Clytemnestra's story. His name appears in Euripides's Iphigenia in Aulis.
It feels like modern retellings of the Greek myths are a genre of their own. Do you have any favourites?
There are so many! The first retellings I fell in love with are The Song of Achilles and The Children of Jocasta. Both take extremely famous characters from the myth - Achilles and Oedipus - and tell their story from the perspectives of lesser-known figures: the shy Patroclus in Miller's novel and Oedipus' wife and daughter in Haynes's book. What I love the most about Miller's and Haynes's writing is the way in which they recreate the mindset of Ancient Greece: concealing impeccable research behind smooth and lyrical prose. Other favourites of mine include Ariadne, The Silence of the Girls and Circe.
Clytemnestra is out now.
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