A new side to the story: Why feminist retellings are on the rise

 Feminist retellings are soaring in popularity – and not just in Greek mythology. Whether it be folk tales, mythology or even rewrites of classic books from a female perspective, we’re hearing a multitude of old tales with fresh voices.

For centuries, Greek mythology has shared the stories and accomplishments of men, with women’s narratives missing from the picture. We look up to heroes such as Hercules and Prometheus and their accomplishments are immortalised in our minds.

When female characters do appear in these legendary tales, they are often villainised or overlooked completely. Take Medusa for example – you immediately think of her as the villain and someone to be feared. In reality, she was a victim of patriarchal norms and experienced traumatic events herself.

One of the authors leading this change is Kate Hodges, who released the feminist retelling Warriors, Witches, Women: Mythology’s Fiercest Females in 2020. In the book, Hodges places every heroine, rebel and provocateur firmly at the centre of their own narrative. She grew up obsessed with mythology, folktales and ghost stories, but failed to find any that had women at their core.

She said: “These stories existed years and years ago, and they’ve been told and retold but usually they’ve been retold by men.

“Particularly by male historians and by male academics, because historically men were allowed to go into academia  and women were not. 

“They’ve always been told from a male perspective and with a male agenda. It’s also often religious men who will have studied these stories and historically, these women would have been demonised and weaponized.”

Hodges explained how their names would have been used as tools to turn people to Christianity. “They’ve had thousands and thousands of years of being cast as demons.

“I think it’s really important now that women are digging deeper and finding the original stories and what these women originally represented and presenting the original meaning and the original intent behind them in feminist retellings.”

From feminist fairies to bloodsucking temptresses, Hodges’ book features an array of different women from tales around the world.

When it comes to a good feminist re-telling, Hodges believes you need to find and dig into women’s motivations: the story is never black and white.

“It’s a really important thing to do.  A lot of these women were minor characters in bigger stories and I think digging into what they might have been feeling and digging into what they might have represented to women at the time. They would have had these stories read to them.

“Growing up, I was always dying to hear more women’s voices. When you’re watching pop culture films, goddesses and mythological women are reduced to quite crass stereotypes. For example, you see Hela in Thor and she’s just reduced to kind of quite a paper-thin caricature. I would see those characters and know there was something more to dive into.”

The popularity of these books is reinforced by the amount of retellings that have been nominated for prestigious awards. Barbara Kingsolver’s retelling of David Copperfield, called Demon Copperhead, made the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Natalie Haynes also made the longlist with Stone Blind, a feminist spin on Medusa.

Chaya Colman, one of GLAMOUR Magazine’s Resident Book Editors, is sure that feminist retellings won’t be going away any time soon and their popularity will only grow.

She explained where she thinks the rebirth began: “I think the watershed moment was Madeleine Millers’ Song of Achilles going viral on TikTok. The book came out over 10 years ago and she won prizes but it wasn’t a massive deal. There wasn’t much of an online community of book readers and social media wasn’t as present in our lives as much as it is now.

“I went to a talk by Madeliene Miller in London and there were around 40 people there. If Miller did an event now, it would be inundated. There would be queues. Song of Achilles had this massive rebirth on TikTok and it brought retellings much more into the eye of teenagers and young adults.”

The popularity of these books is reinforced by the amount of retellings that have been nominated for prestigious awards. Barbara Kingsolver’s retelling of David Copperfield, called Demon Copperhead, made the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Natalie Haynes also made the longlist with Stone Blind, a feminist spin on Medusa.

Chaya Colman, one of GLAMOUR Magazine’s Resident Book Editors, is sure that feminist retellings won’t be going away any time soon and their popularity will only grow.

She explained where she thinks the rebirth began: “I think the watershed moment was Madeleine Millers’ Song of Achilles going viral on TikTok. The book came out over 10 years ago and she won prizes but it wasn’t a massive deal. There wasn’t much of an online community of book readers and social media wasn’t as present in our lives as much as it is now.

“I went to a talk by Madeliene Miller in London and there were around 40 people there. If Miller did an event now, it would be inundated. There would be queues. Song of Achilles had this massive rebirth on TikTok and it brought retellings much more into the eye of teenagers and young adults.”

At the same time, more and more women were entering the world of publishing. “Feminism is everywhere, there is a constant discussion of gender studies and binaries, privilege and patriarchy so I think it’s interlinked with a massive new interest in mythology and retellings and more and more women getting into publishing.

“Jennifer Saint has had three bestselling feminist retellings. Authors are looking to appeal to a modern demographic who are very interested in these marginalised voices.”

But in a very saturated market, what makes a good feminist retelling?

Colman said: “Not being too bogged down in the classical details. I love classics and to make a good novel you need character development. You can read historical fiction that gets so detail oriented it almost feels like you’re reading a textbook. Character development and a very clever plot arch are the most important things.

“A recent work I thought was excellent was Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati. I knew that her daughter was going to be killed so they could sail to Troy, and yet the tension was still there. The best writers are the ones that are able to create characters in a setting in which the reader knows what’s already going to happen.

“With these stories, we all know the plot and that can make a very difficult task for someone writing a story where there’s no surprises.

“The prose and language used and how relatable they make the characters are all things that make them applicable to the 21st century.”

She believes putting women in the centre of these stories is hugely important because they’re normally forgotten characters.

“If you go back to Pat Barker who started the whole trend with the Silence of the Girls, it’s in the title, they’re the forgotten element. You have women who were at the centre of the stories but are mere footnotes in history and that’s because it’s a constant male perspective.

“That’s what appeals to so many people. Although these stories are thousands of years old, it’s a totally fresh angle. If you look at Medusa, there’s like four different books on her at the moment. She’s seen as this monster and has been for thousands of years when actually she’s a rape victim.

“I think these stories will stay popular for a long time. There is an entire sphere of Greek and Roman mythology. The more and more women and non-binary people that are being accepted into academic circles is a major factor. The genre is only growing.

“Publishers and agents will see that and when they get submissions they will be thinking, can this be the next big hit?”

Let us know your favourite feminist retelling in the comments and what it means to you.

If you liked this post then read our interview with New York Times best selling author Kathleen Glasgow or How storybooks have failed British Chinese children next. 

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Kate Hodges

Kate Hodges has over 25 years writing for magazines. Her first ‘proper’ book, Little London, a guide to free and cheap, family-friendly things to do in the capital, was published in 2014 followed by London in an Hour (2016), came out in 2016, and Rural London (2017).  In 2020 she published Warriors, Witches, Women and On A Starry Night.

She lives in Hastings with her two children. In her spare time, she plays in bands Ye Nuns and The Hare and Hoofe.