Ancient Greek Myth in World Fiction since 1989 explores the diverse
ways that contemporary world fiction has engaged with ancient Greek
myth. Whether as a framing device, or a filter, or via resonances and
parallels, Greek myth has proven fruitful for many writers of fiction
since the end of the Cold War. This volume examines the varied ways that
writers from around the world have turned to classical antiquity to
articulate their own contemporary concerns.
Featuring contributions by an international group of scholars from a
number of disciplines, the volume offers a cutting-edge,
interdisciplinary approach to contemporary literature from around the
world. Analysing a range of significant authors and works, not usually
brought together in one place, the book introduces readers to some
less-familiar fiction, while demonstrating the central place that
classical literature can claim in the global literary curriculum of the
third millennium. The modern fiction covered is as varied as the
acclaimed North American television series The Wire, contemporary Arab
fiction, the Japanese novels of Haruki Murakami and the works of New
Zealand's foremost Maori writer, Witi Ihimaera.