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Article: Rooting for monsters.(FROM PAST TO PRESENT)
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- February 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gods are good and monsters are evil, right? Some recent novels are making that distinction more complicated or just plain wrong.
SYMPATHY FOR MEDUSA
For example, consider serpent-haired Medusa. She is so ugly that whoever looks at her turns to stone. In the original Greek myth, Perseus, son of Zeus, kills her. Two recent children's books flesh out her tale in novel ways. In Corydon and the Island of Monsters, written by Tobias Druitt (a pen name for mother and son coauthors, Diane Purkiss and then eight-year-old Michael Dowling), Medusa--rather than Perseus--is the true hero of the story. Once she was Poseidon's beautiful lover. However, when the two met ...