Helen of Troy
by Margaret George

List Price: $16.00
Pages: 624
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0143038990
Publisher: Penguin

Margaret George is a rolling stone who has lived in many places, beginning her traveling at the age of four when her father joined the U.S. diplomatic service and was posted to a consulate in Taiwan. The family traveled on a freighter named after Ulysses' son Telemachus that took thirty days to reach Taiwan, where they spent two years. Following that they lived in Tel Aviv (right after the 1948 war, when it was relatively quiet), Bonn and Berlin (during the spy-and-Cold-War days) before returning to Washington DC at the height of Elvis-mania where Margaret went to high school. Margaret's first piece of published writing, at the age of thirteen, was a letter to TIME Magazine defending Elvis against his detractors. (Margaret has since been to Graceland.)

But it was earlier in Israel that Margaret, an avid reader, began writing novels to amuse herself when she ran out of books to read. Interestingly, the subject of these was not what lay around her in the Middle East, but the American west, which she had never set foot in. (Now that she lives in the American midwest she writes about the Middle East!) Clearly writing in her case followed Emily Dickinson's observation "There is no frigate like a book" and she used it to go to faraway places. Now she has added another dimension to that travel by specializing in visiting times remote from herself.

Neither of these horse sagas got published, but the ten-year-old author received an encouraging note from an editor at Grosset & Dunlap, telling her she had a budding talent but should work on her spelling.

It was also in Israel that Margaret started keeping land tortoises as pets, an interest which she still follows today. She had a great affinity for animals and nature and that led her to a double major at Tufts University in English literature and biology. Following that she received an MA in ecology from Stanford University---one of the earliest departments to offer such a concentration. Today she is active in environmental and animal conservation groups.

Combining her interests led her to a position as a science writer at the National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health) in Bethesda, Maryland for four years.

Her marriage at the end of that time meant moving, first to St. Louis, then to Uppsala, Sweden, and then to Madison, Wisconsin, where she and her husband Paul have lived for more than twenty years now. They have one grown daughter who lives in California and is in graduate school.

Through all this Margaret continued to write, albeit slowly and always on only one project at a time. She wrote what she refers to as her 'Ayn Rand/adventure novel' in college and her 'Sex and the City' novel in Washington DC. It was in St. Louis that she suddenly got the idea of writing a 'psycho-biography' of Henry VIII. She had never seen such a thing done but became convinced the king was a victim of bad PR and she should rescue his good name. Her background in science meant that only after thoroughly researching the literature and scholarship on Henry VIII would she embark on the novel itself. She sought the guidance of a Tudor historian at Washington University for a reading list, and proceeded from there.

It was actually fourteen years between her initial idea and the publication of The Autobiography of Henry VIII. The book made an impression for several reasons: first, because no one had ever written a novel sympathetic to the king before; second, because it covered his entire life from before birth until after his death, making it almost a thousand pages long, and third, because it was so fact-filled.

Following Henry VIII in 1986, she wrote Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles (1992) and The Memoirs of Cleopatra (1997.) The Memoirs of Cleopatra was made into an ABC miniseries in 1999, starring Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane. It has been translated into thirteen languages, including Finnish and Korean. Mary Called Magdalene was published in 2002, and now in 2006 she has two new books: Helen of Troy and an illustrated children's book featuring her pet tortoise, Lucille Lost.

What started as an offhand idea has blossomed into a way of life---becoming a biographer and spokesperson for those whom history has misunderstood. She chooses people that appeal to her rather than having a specific agenda, but because of the years of intense scholarly research required, she must limit herself to subjects either in the ancient world or in renaissance Britain.

Each subject leads her to explore places and meet people she would not have access to otherwise, and that means that each book is an adventure in itself. For example Margaret has a collection of vintage posters from Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra," including one in Czech.

Margaret is not home as much as she would like--- despite a life of travel she really likes being at home---but when she is home she likes to pursue her interests in tortoises (she belongs to the New York Turtle and Tortoise Society), as well as archaeology (she is a member of the Archaeological Institute of America), movies (the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum), photography and outdoor activities.

Margaret's family is of Scots/English/Irish background; one branch were Quakers who came to America in the early 1700s. Finding no land left in Pennsylvania they migrated south through the Cumberland Gap and settled in Tennessee and Kentucky. Another side of the family settled in Mississippi. The patriarch of this branch was known as "Hard Money Scott" because he always demanded cash for purchases and paid in hard cash himself. Supposedly Tories captured him during the Revolutionary War and held his feet over a fire to get him to reveal where his money was hidden, but the old skinflint refused and ended up with burnt feet but with his Scott Treasure intact. He had buried it near Scott's Ferry in South Carolina and the family legend is that it's still there. Today it's under a dam. If it's there at all.

Margaret was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Her parents shared the love of words, ballads, and story-telling associated with the south; her father came from a town near Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner lived and wrote "the past is never gone, it's not even past"; using language well and fancifully was a way of life there. Margaret's father was an eloquent speaker and writer and when she read Cicero's description of Caesar's writing---'his vocabulary is so varied and yet so exact' she knew he could have been describing her father as well. She dedicated Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles to him.

Through family lines of both birth and marriage Margaret may have inherited the Kirkpatrick "Curse of the Black Swan." In medieval times it was said that any Kirkpatrick sighting a black swan would instantly be stricken and die. Since there were no black swans in Scotland at the time, was there much danger of this? Nonetheless descendants are warned to stay away from bird sanctuaries that might harbor a black swan. Since the black swan is native to Perth, Australia, Margaret will not be vacationing there. (It has been suggested that the black swan in the curse was actually a heraldic device rather than a real one. But why take chances?)

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Question: You have written fictional treatments of historical and religious characters before. Did the writing of a mythological figure such as Helen pose unique challenges to you? Which sources did you find most compelling? Which least?

Margaret George: Writing about a mythological character was unique in that I could choose which "facts" to include, since they were not facts as we understand them but traditions. Sometimes the traditions were directly contradictory, which works in myth but not in a novel. There were three (at least) versions of the death of Helen, occurring in different places. Then there were the gods-how real should I make them? As for sources, of course Homer is the most compelling, but he is very coy about Helen, not telling you so much that you long to know. He does not even describe what she looked like. And her character is different in the Iliad and Odyssey. Still, one assumes he was closest in time to the living Helen and knows more than he is telling.

One of the most puzzling sources is Euripides, who shows us completely different Helens in his two plays Helen and The Trojan Women. In one she is noble, in the other a self-serving opportunist.

Question: I am not aware of any ancient sources for Helen's relationship with Gelanor or her return to Troy. Are there sources for these? What elements in the novel are pure invention on your part or differ radically from their sources?

MG: Gelanor is indeed a fictional invention on my part, and Helen's return to Troy as well. Both of them introduced themselves to me as if they were real, and I do think the elegiac aspects of Helen's return fit well into the epic dimensions of the story, completing her own life's voyage. Evadne is also a fictional character, and the sacred household snake as well-although people did keep such snakes. The bestowal of the gift of prophecy on Helen after encountering the snakes at the shrine of Asclepius is also my invention, as is-of course-her meeting with Aphrodite in the cave. Hints that Antenor might be her father were my addition, to add to her confusion about her origins.

I omitted the Theseus abduction story because that story relates to the Athenian myth cycle and was a digression rather than a contribution to the story I wanted to tell. Myths are continually added one upon another and tend to be repetitious, so that in some versions Helen is abducted twice and in other stories ends up having as many as ten children rather than the one Homer gives her. We can freely edit these later additions without guilt.

Question: Many classicists now believe in the historicity of the Trojan War, and Bettany Hughes, in her Helen of Troy, argues that Helen was an actual Bronze Age princess. From your researches do you think there was a historical Helen whose abduction was the cause of a great war? Have you visited the archaeological remains of Troy in Hissarlik, Turkey?

MG: I like to think there was a real historical Helen. It has never seemed unreasonable to me that a war would start over an abducted woman, especially a queen or a princess. Men have gone to war over much flimsier excuses than that, and this was a warlike culture. I have indeed visited the ruins of Troy in Turkey, as well as Helen's original home in Sparta. The shade of Helen still walks there!

Question: There are several passages concerning warfare in this novel-from the failure of diplomacy to biological weapons and the handling of prisoners of war-that resonate with the current war in Iraq. Did you have Iraq in mind when imagining the siege of Troy? Did you find parallels between ancient or mythical warfare, as chronicled by Homer, and twenty-first-century warfare?

MG: I did not have Iraq specifically in mind because that section was written before the war, but if ever anything provides an example of how little has changed in war and the reasons for war, this certainly does. I do cite "our neighbors to the east"-the Trojans talk about them and their methods of siege-and that is of course the same area as modern Iraq. But all the elements of present conflicts were there: bristling for a war, brinkmanship, distortion of information, new weapons to be tested, provocation, false claims of victory, betrayal, spies. And then the devastation of war and the price paid by innocent civilians and bystanders, and the long aftermath of waste and loss.

Question: Some of the early Christian Gnostics worshipped Mary Magdalene as a reincarnation of Helen. In your research for your novel about Mary, did you come across evidence for this cult? What in the Mary legend bespeaks of Helen?

MG: Helen and Mary Magdalene both are linked with Sophia, the spirit of wisdom. Mary Magdalene, although a historical character, absorbed the qualities of other legendary women such as Mary of Egypt (a noted fourth-century A.D. prostitute turned holy hermit) and Helena of Tyre, rescued prostitute and companion of Simon Magus. Magus was revered by Gnostics as a holy man of wisdom and reviled by the early church as a charlatan and magician, mentioned in Acts 8: 9-24 as the man who gave his name to the sin of "simony." His Helena was supposedly a reincarnation of the misunderstood and mistreated Helen of Troy, part of the manifestation of Sophia. Mary Magdalene was also infused with Sophia and recognized by Jesus as such in the Gnostic gospels. Mary Magdalene and Helen of Troy are further linked by their threatening and disturbing sexuality, at least as the church comprehended them.

Question: In the Judgment of Paris myth, Paris is awarded Helen for selecting Aphrodite as the most beautiful of all the goddesses. In your novel, Helen never fully learns of this agreement. Why did you omit this from the novel? Did you feel this would have compromised the sincerity of their relationship?

MG: In every relationship, even between soul mates, there are secrets kept one from another. As you suggest, I felt that Paris knew it would be taken the wrong way by Helen and might sow seeds of doubt in her mind that he had freely chosen her. It would belittle the feelings they had for each other and make them feel like slaves of the goddess.

Question: Are you interested in fictionalizing other mythical characters? How successful do you find the attempts by other authors?

MG: I am intrigued by the relationship between Persephone and Hades; this needs exploring. Being Queen of the Underworld has a Poe-like fascination. Someone noted that even though Persephone is only in the Underworld half the year, people die all year, so what happens to them if they die when she is away? I have also heard a suggestion that she actually preferred the company of Hades to that of her mother, Demeter, and that far from being tricked, she ate the pomegranate seeds on purpose so she could stay with him. She became a literal femme fatale, ruling from her black marble throne over the dead.

Atalanta, the swift-racing maiden who also hunted the fearsome Calydonian boar and joined Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece, would certainly lend herself to a modern reinterpretation. She was the foremost female athlete in Greek mythology, and also beautiful, of course.

All retelling of myth proves how alive these stories still are and how they resonate with us today. Some retellings are just that and others seek to reinterpret the myths in new ways. In general I think the ones that do not seek to overthrow the basic mind-set of the stories fare best, such as the works of Mary Renault. The main decision, whether to keep the gods as main players or not, is the key one. Without the gods, much of the motivation of the human characters collapses. Attempts to substitute something else, for example, making the war at Troy just about trade, fall flat. Homer did not say, "Sing to me, O Muse, about the trading rivalries of the Black Sea. . . ." Sometimes stories are "derived" from myth-Cold Mountain was supposedly a retelling of the Odyssey, but it was so far removed I did not make the connection at all.

Question: One of the surprises readers will encounter in Helen of Troy is the unflattering portrayal of Odysseus. Full of deception, yes, but Odysseus is certainly one of the most likable characters in ancient literature. Why did you portray him as little more than a conniving liar?

MG: Because Homer does! Odysseus's behavior in Book Ten of the Iliad-misleading, tricking, then delivering the hapless Trojan Dolon to death after his confession-is despicable. Other stories make him more and more low minded, so that he lies in wait for revenge on Palamedes because he once outsmarted Odysseus by revealing his trickery, thereby sending him to the war. With trumped-up charges, planted evidence, and false witnesses, he gets Palamedes condemned to death by stoning. A modern military analyst has said that today Odysseus would be court-martialed for his failure to bring any of his men home, after needlessly endangering their lives throughout his mission. Not much of a recommendation!

However, he has always been a popular and likable character in the sense that rogues in general are likable characters. (If they were not, we would not call them "rogues" but find a more damning term.) We like seeing how he gets out of scrapes, and he is endlessly resourceful and entertaining, and his wiliness serves him well. The blundering Agamemnon, returning from Troy, walks mindlessly into his palace, suspecting nothing, where he is immediately murdered. Odysseus, returning from Troy, scouts out the situation in Ithaca, disguises himself, and prevents such a fate. Now how can we help but like, even admire, such a character? He's a man we want on our side. Of course, in the novel he isn't on Helen's side, so she dislikes and distrusts him-with good reason. And the novel is told from her point of view. How could she like the man who invented the Trojan Horse and thereby caused the fall of Troy?

Question: Having vividly imagined both the early Christian world, in Mary, Called Magdalene, and now the pagan one, how do you compare each culture's religious ideas? Do you find the pagan world to be spiritually impoverished?

MG: Some people in the pagan world itself found the official state rites and sacrifices lacking in meaning, and they turned to mystery religions that offered a deep personal connection to the gods and promised a richer afterlife. The Eleusinian Mysteries, described in the novel, were wildly popular and continued to be celebrated even after the Roman Empire became officially Christian. Early Christians freely adapted some elements of the mystery cults, infusing them with their own interpretation. Also, by the time of the beginning of Christianity, many Greeks and Romans had ceased to believe in the Olympian gods as having any sort of reality, which left a great hunger in their lives, especially as these gods did not offer them moral guidance or a consistent code of ethics to follow. The pagan world was not devoid of religious strength or beauty, but as people's spiritual needs changed, it could not meet these needs completely and hence new religious and ethical codes arose that did. Christianity, more immediate and more reassuringly personal, guided them in new spiritual directions.

Question: The classical world in general, and Greek myth in particular, seems to be experiencing a renaissance in twenty-first-century popular culture. Wolfgang Peterson's film Troy, The Memoirs of Helen of Troy (another novel about Helen), the book by Bettany Hughes, and the PBS documentary Helen of Troy attest to the current appeal of these myths. What makes these myths so enduring? What makes them especially popular in contemporary culture?

MG: The myths all center on basic questions, desires, or needs on our part, so they endure forever. Passion-how important is it to the complete life? War-why do we seemingly need it? Destiny-how much do we control, how much are we controlled by outside forces? The answers are endlessly relevant and fascinating to us, and we explore them over and over again by revisiting myth. In myths we see them in their starkest, stripped-down form, where we can study them directly. And besides that, they are just cracking good stories that carry us along. If you give in to passion, what will happen? If Troy is too strong to be assaulted, what sort of trick will do the job instead? Imagine . . . what if three goddesses tried to bribe you with big prizes, which one would you choose? Earthly power? Wisdom? Beauty and passion? Myth is personal that way. You invent your own version of the myth as you relive it.

Question: There have been several portrayals of Helen in the distant and recent past. What were you hoping to accomplish with this one? What do you think is the most controversial or startling element of your portrayal?

MG: When I was in Sparta doing my research on Helen, my hotel room had a view of the hilltop where her palace had stood. I never dream about my characters, but that night Helen came to me in a dream, and I have to think it was because she wanted to tell me something-or show me something. In the dream she was not at all as I had imagined her. She was neither blond nor redhaired nor brunette, but had masses of hair that was more the color of cognac or topaz. Her features were strong and the word "beautiful" is inadequate. Rather she was just more than anyone I've ever seen. Her presence was powerful and electrifying. So that is the Helen I felt she wanted the world to know, and the Helen I tried to portray.

This strong, intelligent, questioning Helen is the most startling element of my portrayal, but I also wanted people to know she had a life beyond the fall of Troy. Her story does not end with the Trojan Horse but reaches years beyond that. She is an elegiac figure, a noble and grand presence, and I made her Shakespearean-more Shakespearean than Shakespeare himself, actually. In Troilus and Cressida, she is a silly giggling thing. Of course Troilus and Cressida is not noted for the nobility of any of its characters, but rather for Shakespeare's jaundiced and revisionist view of the entire Trojan War.


Excerpted from Helen of Troy © Copyright 2009 by Margaret George. Reprinted with permission by Penguin. All rights reserved.

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