Robyn King

Robyn King asked Madeline Miller:

Would you ever consider writing a book about Medusa with a similar style as you did with Circe? I loved reading Circe and the story of Medusa is so powerful and so open for interpretation, I'd love to see your take on it.

Madeline Miller Hello Lucy, and thank you! I have been getting a lot of questions about Medusa lately, and I love that the women of Greek mythology are getting re-evaluated--especially the ones that have been vilified. There are different versions of Medusa's story, but in one, she is raped by Poseidon in Athena's shrine, then turned into a monster by Athena as punishment for defiling (!) her temple. Medusa is a character rich with so much resonance--as a victim of injustice, as well as a perpetrator of it. But she isn't the character who has taken up residence in my brain for this next novel. Maybe she'll appear later, I never know, but in the meantime, I hope that others will tackle her story.

More Answered Questions

Jason Stenger

Jason Stenger asked Madeline Miller:

I just finished the audiobook of Circe and was absolutely enthralled throughout. Your storytelling is amazing and the characters are so vivid. On top of that I felt Perdita Weeks did an incredible job bringing a voice to Circe and real life to an already moving story. Did you have any input on who would narrate this book and either way do you feel she captured the voice you were looking for?

Atlantis Rises

Atlantis Rises asked Madeline Miller:

I haven't gotten to Circe yet but WOW did I love Song of Achilles. I especially love the way you took the Homeric epic with its lack of character internality and made it such an intimate, personal novel. Did you deliberate a lot on POV and/or narrator, or did you go into it knowing that it has to be through Patrocles' eyes?

Yawar

Yawar asked Madeline Miller:

Hi, I gulped down Circe in a day and will be reading Song of Achilles soon. Thank you for writing these tellings, I always enjoy looking for the hidden meaning in them. Do you feel that you have a story to tell about Athena, too? For all her schemes and shortcomings, she is still an intriguing character, a warrior and counselor in a world of men.

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Madeline Miller

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