Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood is a comprehensive literarybiography of Helen of Troy, which explores the ways in which herstory has been told and retold in almost every century from theancient world to the modern day.
* Takes readers on an epic voyage into the literaryrepresentations of a woman who has wielded a great influence onWestern cultural consciousness for more than three millennia
* Features a wide and diverse variety of literary sources,including epic, drama, novels, poems, film, comedy, and opera, andworks by Homer, Euripides, Chaucer, Shakespeare
* Includes an analysis of a radio play by the prize-winningauthor of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and aFaust play by a contemporary Scottish playwright
* Explores themes such as narrative difficulties in portrayingHelen, how legal history relates to her story, and how writersapportion blame or exculpate her
* Considers the aesthetic and narrative difficulties that ensuewhen literature translates myth