How the Contemporary Anglophone Fiction of Female Authorship Sheds Light on the Way to Classical Antiquity

Abstract

This article discusses contemporary anglophone fiction by female authors dedicated to the reception of classical antiquity as a way of accessing classical texts, an invitation to the new generation of readers, who are not very familiar with Greco-Roman literature but are interested in its themes, based on the plots developed in the following novels: Circe, Lavinia, The penelopiad, A thousand ships, The silence of the girls, Women of Troy and The Voyage home, some of which became bestsellers only after their release, further leveraged by social media, ever-present in the current context of students and young people born in this century. Through the reading and discussion of contemporary texts, interest in ancient texts, sources, languages, the classical tradition and its reception over time emerges and grows. The selection presented brings together works of fiction whose plot highlights secondary characters, minorities and women, voices silenced since antiquity, who, transformed into protagonists, bring reflections on the past and the present, dialoguing with previous texts, but also with the new generation of readers, while criticizing or subverting hegemonic narratives.