Book Review: MYTHOS: THE ILLUSTRATED EDITION

Title: Mythos: The Illustrated Edition

Author: Stephen Fry

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Pages: 512

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was my first time reading a book by Stephen Fry, but it won’t be the last. The style of this book was unlike anything I’ve ever read. The author successfully introduced me to Greek mythology while connecting disparate elements together with a distinct voice that was friendly and humorous.

The book began with a detailed family tree, which became clear as I read on. The narrative was divided into The Beginning Part 1 and 2, which detailed the Greek Creation Myth, the birth of the gods, their passions, egos and mischief. The Toys of Zeus, Part 1 and 2, featured mortals, because the gods obviously treat human beings as their playthings.

This book was a delight from start to finish. The myths were written in delightful prose, a tongue-in-cheek style, successfully surprising, educating and entertaining us in the same breath. I was able to see instances of Greek myths and their place in the English language, besides subjects like Science, History, Mythology, Metaphor, music, semantics, etymology, cinema, art and computer hardware.

The illustrations were beautiful, and the writing incorporated just the right sprinkling of psychological insights. The footnotes were a joy.

Along the way, we are treated to the origin myths for how honey, medicine, alcohol and spiders came to be, how human beings got fire, and how the seasons came about. There are so many ideas and concepts from literature, fiction and pop culture that this book helped me understand in the context of their origin story. The author even points out specific instances of the origin of sex, incest and murder.

Overall, the Greek gods were an unruly lot, always getting into trouble and behaving in ways that they shouldn’t have. There’s a lot of feasting and cavorting.

There were specific instances of the English language being enriched by Greek mythology. For instance, the word, hermetically sealed, owes itself to Hermes.

The characters I recognized from literature and other readings included Aphrodite, Zeus, Prometheus, Hera, Hermes, Apollo, Midas, Sisyphus, Persephone, Pandora, Hades, Cupid, Narcissus, Hero and Leander, Pygmalion and Poseidon. The list is a long one, and reminded me of the stories I’d enjoyed without considering the mythic culture they belonged to.

The author even links the myths to children’s animation classics like Tom and Jerry. With all that knowledge, he doesn’t come across as a know-it-all. And that was the selling point of this book.

It was a special delight to read about my own namesake under Artemis, one of whose names is Cynthia. I was aware that my name meant the Greek goddess of the moon, but this detailed picture was welcome.

While the book was remarkably detailed and inventive, I understood that there were many myths that the book had not covered. Icarus was one Greek myth that I recall that did not feature here.

The author recommends a reading of theoi.com for a further reading of 1500 pages of text and for a glimpse of 1200 images.

 

(I read this book on Edelweiss. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Edelweiss.)