Margaret Atwood is an author that needs no introduction. This gem of a book is one of her lesser known works, written as part of The Myths collection by Canongate Books (a project publishing reimagined myths by the best contemporary authors).
According to the books introduction, Atwood chose to tell the story of Odysseus's faithful wife, because something about her story didn't add up, and she reasoned that this would likely be the result of the machinations of a woman every bit as shrewd as her husband.
Penelope narrates the story, looking back on the events while wandering the Fields of Asphodel in the Underworld. Her monolog is interspersed with the chanting chorus lines of the twelve maids Odysseus and Telemachus hanged at the end of the original, drawing attention to the cruelty and injustice of what happened to them.
During the research phase of the project I came across a John Williams Waterhouse painting of Penelope and her suitors that caught my eye and got me sketching. Soon enough i had the first draft of what would eventually become the front cover.
Penelope is weaving - of course - but this time it is not a shroud, but an intricate web of traps she is working on.
The twelve maidens are represented by twelve Asphodel flowers, which are connected to death in greek mythology, and can double as a reference to the place our narrator spends the majority of her time.
Font: Sole Sans Variable
Note: The texts on the cover are from the Canongate edition of The Penelopiad. This is a self-initiated project I created for my own creative satisfaction.
