The Author Of Greta’s Favorite Book! (Of 2018): Madeline Miller On 'Circe'

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4.6 • 924 Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2018

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you were bored by Homeric epics and Greek mythology in high school and college, Nerdette highly encourages you to reconsider.

“There is a reason these stories have lasted for 3,000 years,” said Madeline Miller, author of Greta’s favorite book of 2018, a novelization of The Odyssey called Circe.

“[These stories] are incredibly insightful about human nature,” Miller said. “Culture has changed and the way we go to war has changed, but the stories we tell about war and about loss and grief – even things like post-traumatic stress disorder – the Greeks understood all of that.”

Miller said she novelized the story of Circe, a witch from The Odyssey who turns men into pigs, because she wanted more freedom to explore the character.

“There were things I couldn’t answer in papers that I wanted to answer in a different way,” she said.

Miller talked with Greta about the book, what makes literary canon, and more about turning men into pigs.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still
0:06.1	watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,
0:12.7	soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,
0:18.0	Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago.
0:25.7	Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.
0:28.3	Listen, wherever you get your podcast.
0:35.0	From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette.
0:35.9	I'm Greta Johnson.
0:38.1	And Nerdette is a place where we talk to your favorite or soon-to-be favorite people about how their passions drive what they do. This
0:43.3	week, we are talking to a woman whose passion is very, very long, very, very old poetry in other
0:50.1	languages. Doesn't that sound really exciting? I'm here to tell you it honestly should be.
0:54.9	We're talking to Madeline Miller, and she is the author of by far, hands down, my favorite book of
0:59.2	2018. She's written two books now, Song of Achilles, which is also excellent. But this year,
1:04.5	she came out with this book called Circe that is just gorgeous. They're both based on those
1:09.0	really old, really long poems by Homer. We have the
1:13.2	Iliad and the Odyssey. In case you don't remember, the Iliad is just about a really long war,
1:18.2	and then the Odyssey is about some of those soldiers from that war trying to get back home.
1:23.0	They're led by this dude named Odysseus. They end up on this island that's run by this
1:27.1	witch. That which
1:28.0	turns some of the dudes into pigs. That witch is named Circe. And that is what Circe is all about.
1:34.7	It is such a great book. I am so excited to share this interview with you.
1:42.5	Madeline, welcome to Nurtet. Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad to be here.
	...

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