Costanza Casati Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Costanza Casati talks about her first novel, a retelling of the life of Clytemnestra, the most notorious heroine of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen.

Of all the women in Greek mythology, why Clytemnestra? What drew you to her story?

I fell in love with this extraordinary character more than ten years ago. In the ancient texts, she is fierce, clever, powerful, and unbending, unlike any other heroine I'd read before. The most fascinating thing about her in the ancient sources is that she is feared and respected for the power she holds in Mycenae. I thought, here is a woman who commands a city as her husband is away, who makes him pay for all the wrong he has done to her, and who doesn't let the men around her belittle her. I felt the need to explore her story.

Her backstory was also incredibly fascinating with all the myths surrounding her. Clytemnestra grows up in Sparta, where women, compared to other Greek cities of the time, were much freer, so she is taught to hunt and fight just like the men around her. And then she is connected to some of the most fascinating characters from the myth: she is sister to Helen, cousin of Penelope, wife of Agamemnon, lover to Aegisthus, daughter of Leda. She might have been called an "adulteress," "bad wife," and "murderess" for centuries, but I believe that once people get to know her whole story, they can't help falling in love with her.

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