Book Recommendations: A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Illustrated by Victoria Cheng.

“I am ageless, undying: time does not matter to me. All that matters is the telling. Sing, Muse he said. Well do you hear me? I have sung.” 

Feminist revisions of Greek myth have recently inundated prestigious prizes, garnering widespread critical acclaim. There is a palpable desire to revisit and reclaim the orthodox historical record - a need to vivify the voiceless women within it. The Women’s Prize has shortlisted 4 entries of this genre in the past couple of years, with Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fires claiming the award in 2018. Natalie Haynes’ A Thousand Ships is a more democratic rendering of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective. It provides the basic outlines of well-worn tales that can be appreciated even by those unfamiliar with classical literature, whilst avid fans can appreciate the delicate prolepsis. However, they are often relayed with a deeply sardonic and oftentimes comical voice, acknowledging the absurdity of circumstance, and refreshing the texts via an unacademic lens. The unfeeling source material is fleshed out and the products of Haynes’ meticulous research process are evident. Minor characters we can typically access mere titbits of information about, who seem consigned to oblivion and anonymity, are foregrounded and given believable personas. With the publication of A Thousand Ships in 2019, Haynes seems to be continuing the general project of her long and varied career, including other books (fiction and fact) and her BBC 4 radio broadcast, Natalie Haynes Stands Up For the Classics - the crux of her oeuvre is making ancient culture resonate in the contemporary context. 

The polyphonic narrative marks a departure from the styles of Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls or Madeline Miller’s Circe, both shortlisted in 2019. Haynes’ scope is panoramic, representing the viewpoints of beloved deities and the disenfranchised alike. The choral, communal approach has an ‘Everywoman’ quality. Each character exists in their specific situation, their folkloric legacy, but the clever interweaving and connections between them demonstrate the universal suffering of women as either active or passive pawns in warfare. Regular intervals of metatextual commentary from Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, relieves the text at some of its more grotesque and tragic scenes, re-centring the concern with storytelling and serving up incisive satire on men’s canonical misrepresentation. 

At times brutal and heart-rending, A Thousand Ships sensitively depicts the grim domestic realities of sexual violence and disempowerment in the aftermath of conflict, with a defiant underbelly that echoes the discourse of the Me Too movement. Recurring episodes such as the displaced Trojan Women directly retelling Euripides’ tragedy by the same name, inscribe atrocities like infanticide and slavery as part of the Achaean’s monopoly for power. The fallen nobility is simultaneously granted pathos and agency, free to set the record straight. They are victims solely in the material sense, maintaining inimitable reserve to endure and, in some cases, prosper in new settings. Like their counterparts in other chapters, there is a refusal to be inhibited by usual feminine roles as accessories and status symbols. Their prose is woeful and resistant; it hints at a self-consciousness that the future has its eyes on them. This temporal tension fits this issue’s theme, highlighting the duality of tradition and innovation that all retellings inevitably espouse.

As per the famous adage, that each new generation requires their own iteration of Homeric epic, Haynes succeeds with her mastery of the original sources and vibrant imagination. Touching on themes of sexuality, national allegiance, class, race, and trauma, she adds a sense of grit and heroism to previously undefined figures. If you are interested in her non-fiction, this year saw the release of Pandora’s Jar, an accessible study that traces, through art history, the collective conception of mythological women that have been casted in her novels. Taking individuals once reduced to mere footnotes, her writing expands upon them, solidifying the notion that despite the erasure of their lives by successive generations, women have always existed in all of their complexity and their stories deserve to be heard.