Stephen Fry retells the stories of the Greek heroes in his inimical style. And these are mortals, not gods, so their foibles are fair game, enabling Fry to tease out their personalities as well as their activities. The focus is mainly on the macho exploits of Perseus, Heracles, Orpheus, Jason, Oedipus, and Theseus, but in a nod to gender equality, Atalanta (a match for most of them) gets an airing.
The tales all tend to involve destiny, uncertain parenthood, great deeds, loves loved greatly but easily gotten over, fierce monsters of legendary descent, and the odd benign creature such as a winged horse or golden-fleeced ram. The gods, of course, are ever present in the background, begetting, seducing, challenging, tormenting, and otherwise interfering with their mortal puppets as they jostle for position in the Olympian pantheon.
It is tremendous fun and very illuminating as Fry expertly treads the fine line between easy-flowing prose and scholarly erudition. Footnotes give an option for more of the latter.
Just splendid as
both an introduction to the Greek heroes and as a refreshing refresher.
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