Margaret Atwood's novel The Penelopiad was published in 2005. it tells the story of Penelope, Odysseus's wife in Homer's The Oddysey. In the novel, Penelope tells her life story, including her version of the events discussed in The Odyssey. While she is a famous figure throughout Western history for her constancy and patience, we see a different side of Penelope in The Penelopiad, which paints her as a three-dimensional figure. As Atwood writes in the introduction to the novel, The Penelopiad deconstructs history's vision of Penelope: "In The Odyssey, Penelope—daughter of Icarius of Sparta, and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy—is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, a woman known for her intelligence and constancy." In The Penelopiad, Penelope is snarky, brave, witty, and powerful. She navigates the obstacles that life gives her with poise and intelligence. Meanwhile, she is slighted by her husband Odysseus and harassed by suitors while he is away—hardly the perfect picture of her constancy that we see in Homer's version of the tale.
There is a precedent for the retelling of myths. Atwood notes in the introduction to The Penelopiad that often there were many different versions of myths: "Homer's Odyssey is not the only version of the story. Mythic material was originally oral, and also local—a myth could be told one way in one place and quite differently in another. I have drawn on material other than The Odyssey, especially for the details of Penelope's parentage, her early life and marriage, and the scandalous rumors circulating about her." Because mythic tradition was oral, it was easily changed from orator to orator. This caused the core of the story to stay the same but embellished details to mutate over time. Atwood plays with this history and adds her voice to the mix in The Penelopiad, asking what the female perspective on famous versions of events might be.
Along with giving a voice to Penelope, The Penelopiad gives voices to the 12 maids that Odysseus hangs when he returns from his journey. Their death is not examined nor made sense of in Homer's Odyssey. Atwood writes in the introduction: "I've chosen to give the telling of the story to Penelope and the twelve hanged maids. The maids form a chanting and singing chorus which focuses on two questions that must pose themselves after any close reading of The Odyssey: what led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to? The story as told in The Odyssey doesn't hold water: there are too many inconsistencies. I've always been haunted by the hanged maids; and, in The Penelopiad, so is Penelope herself." Through the figures of the 12 maids, Atwood examines what it was like to be a woman in ancient Greece and how a woman's socioeconomic class affected her reality. As with her portrayal of Penelope, Atwood drew on existing literature for her treatment of the maids. She notes, "The chorus of Maids is a tribute to the use of such choruses in Greek drama. The convention of burlesquing the main action was present in the satyr plays performed before serious dramas."
The Penelopiad was an instant bestseller in Canada when it was released. Reviewers in countries all around the world absolutely loved the novel. The Daily Telegraph, for example, called the novel "Atwood at her finest" and said the book was "enjoyable and intelligent." The National Post echoed those sentiments, calling the novella a "tour de force." The Atlantic said that The Penelopiad was "by turns slyly funny and fiercely indignant," and that it reveals the "old tale" in a "new—and refreshingly different—light." Bookforum said that The Penelopiad "appeals to our sense of justice and our fondness for unearthing secrets." The Spectator praised Atwood's Penelope for being "pragmatic, clever, domestic, mournful"—in short, "the perfect Atwood heroine."
The Penelopiad has been adapted into a play co-produced by the Canadian National Arts Centre and the British Royal Shakespeare Company. It was performed at the Swan Theatre in Strafford-upon-Aron and the National Arts Center in Ottawa during the summer and fall of 2007 in an all-female cast. It was later put on at the Toronto Nightwood Theatre in 2012.
