Helen of Troy, 1993: Poems
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*A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Pick* "By turns hilarious and provocative, it's an affecting character study and modern mythic retelling." --Publishers Weekly, Books That Should Be on Your Radar in 2025 Part myth retelling, part character study, this sharp, visceral debut poetry collection reimagines Helen of Troy from Homer's Iliad as a disgruntled housewife in 1990s Tennessee. In the hills of Sparta, Tennessee, during the early nineties, Helen decides to break free from the life that stifles her: marriage, motherhood, the monotonous duties of a Southern housewife. But leaving isn't the same thing as staying gone... Rooted in a lush natural landscape, this stunning poetry collection explores Helen's isolation and rebellion as her expansive personality clashes with the social rigidity of her small town. In richly layered poems with settings that range from football games to Chuck E. Cheese to the bathroom of a Motel 6, Helen enters adulthood as a disaffected homemaker grasping for agency. She marries the wrong man, gives birth to a child she is not ready to parent, and embarks on an affair that throws her life into chaos. But she never surrenders ownership of her story or her choices, insisting to the reader: "if you never owned a bone-sharp biography... / i don't want to hear it. i want you silent. / i want you listening to me." Blurring the line between mythology and modernity, Helen of Troy, 1993 is an unforgettable collection that shows the Homeric Helen like she's never been seen before.
Scribner Book Company
Helen of Troy, 1993: Poems
$18.00
Sale price
$18.00
Regular price
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Book Details
- Publisher:
- Scribner Book Company
- ISBN:
- 9781668046333
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Pages:
- 96
- Authors:
- Maria Zoccola
- Published Date:
- 2025-01-14
- Language:
- English
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I was big into Greek mythology as a kid. I knew the names of all the gods and goddesses and their specialties. I have always loved movies, shows, and books that featured the ancient world and its stories, and I love a retelling or reimagining. Maria Zoccola’s Helen of Troy: 1993 is an incredible reimagining of Helen as a Tennessee housewife. Zoccola breathes such life and love into Helen, complicating her and humanizing her for the modern era as she goes to kids’ parties at Chuck-E-Cheese, battles dial-up internet, and escapes the boredom of small-town life by having an affair. There’s a sonnet crown braided through the book that acts as a Greek chorus that blew my mind wide open.