Classical Reception and the Rewriting Turn in Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Abstract

'Classical Reception and the Rewriting Turn in Contemporary Women’s Fiction' gathers diverse scholarly contributions to the field of classical reception studies, particularly focusing on the revitalisation and reimagining of mythological narratives in contemporary fiction by Anglophone women writers, including Margaret Atwood, Pat Barker, Victoria Grossack and Alice Underwood, Natalie Haynes, Emily Hauser, Rosie Hewlett and Madeline Miller. These authors engage with ancient myths not as fixed narratives or sources of inspiration, but as dynamic texts that reflect and shape the evolving concerns of modern feminist thought. By reimagining figures such as Clytemnestra, Andromache, Medusa and Penelope, these writers craft new spaces for female subjectivity, relational dynamics, sorority, agency and resistance, contributing to an ongoing reconfiguration of gendered identities and societal values. The works explored in this volume are not mere literary revisions; they represent acts of reclamation, offering nuanced readings of myth that speak to the pressing issues of our time—gender inequality, sexual violence and war, ecological justice and the power of storytelling itself. The volume opens with a theoretical introduction defining and contextualising this movement as the 'rewriting turn', the last chapter proper being a study of female-authored retellings in the Spanish literary polysystem that invites scholars and readers into a global dialogue about the role of women writers in mythmaking. The book is rounded off by an interview with Emily Hauser—writer and classical scholar. Together, the chapters in this volume highlight the transformative—even regenerative—power of classical reception in contemporary women’s writing.