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A review by madfil
Medea by Christa Wolf
1.0
(25 March, 2024)
A quick read but definitely not an easy one. Wolf takes a great story and turns it into a joke. Her targets? Jason and Medea.
In this awful retelling, Medea is a selfish little princess willing to live in a rich man's world, any rich man, because the trappings of luxury are apparently just too hard to resist. She could ignore her father's wishes and bolt, something she does anyway, twice, but she thinks she can manipulate and dupe everyone to fit her own agenda. Oy! Gone is the strong Medea of old, the Medea who knows what she wants and gets things done, rightly or wrongly.
Jason, the impulsive, glory-seeking ass-hat, is transformed into a clueless tool. In the original tale(s), he is despicable, true, but he has personality. Here he's a colourless dick and the story suffers for it.
Every other narrator is bland and nondescript, to wit: I forgot their names as soon as the page was turned. They are awful. It is also weird that everyone, especially Medea, hates foreign cultures and practices, it adds nothing and makes them all seem like hick xenophobes.
The author's motivation to tortuously change 'Jason And The Argonauts' into this mess escapes me. Replacing a determined, self-aware Medea with an entitled and whiny wretch, one who is incapable of accepting responsibility for her choices is incomprehensible to me, I am happy to say.
A quick read but definitely not an easy one. Wolf takes a great story and turns it into a joke. Her targets? Jason and Medea.
In this awful retelling, Medea is a selfish little princess willing to live in a rich man's world, any rich man, because the trappings of luxury are apparently just too hard to resist. She could ignore her father's wishes and bolt, something she does anyway, twice, but she thinks she can manipulate and dupe everyone to fit her own agenda. Oy! Gone is the strong Medea of old, the Medea who knows what she wants and gets things done, rightly or wrongly.
Jason, the impulsive, glory-seeking ass-hat, is transformed into a clueless tool. In the original tale(s), he is despicable, true, but he has personality. Here he's a colourless dick and the story suffers for it.
Every other narrator is bland and nondescript, to wit: I forgot their names as soon as the page was turned. They are awful. It is also weird that everyone, especially Medea, hates foreign cultures and practices, it adds nothing and makes them all seem like hick xenophobes.
The author's motivation to tortuously change 'Jason And The Argonauts' into this mess escapes me. Replacing a determined, self-aware Medea with an entitled and whiny wretch, one who is incapable of accepting responsibility for her choices is incomprehensible to me, I am happy to say.