No one is sure if Helen or the city of Troy ever really existed, but if it did, Margaret George depicts them splendidly in her novel Helen of Troy. Helen encounters adventure, love, danger, betrayal, all the fixin’s for great drama. But she does not experience all this simply as a character acted upon, as a passive woman who merely reacts to the outside world over which she has little control. No, Helen is not like many historical women figures. Her infamy stems from the fact that she does not just experience betrayal. She betrays. She is not merely an object of love, but she chooses love with all of its unforeseeable consequences. And she does not simply witness the horrors of the most devastating war in ancient history. She is the cause of it. Read more…
06Aug