Towards an understanding of the mimetic game in Homer’s Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative analysis between Homer's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad regarding the importance of mimesis and verisimilitude through Penelope. The paper analyzes an in-between place, suspended by the unsaid which, under the author's gaze, reveals aspects of the Homeric text, focusing now on Penelope, no longer Ulysses. The discussion is supported by the theories of Carvalhal (1991), Carreira (2008), Renaux (2009), and Castro and Oliveira (2017). Thus, it is noted that Penelope, in the modern work, gains voice in the plot and, therefore, her actions are elevated to the foreground, which was once denied her in Homer's Odyssey. Moreover, this study makes it possible to think about literature from its context represented in the works and the social function they exercised/exercise for society.