Mythos Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry’s professed intention in this ‘retelling’ of the Greek myths is to make them relevant to the modern age, and to bring the fables of the ancient world alive for a new audience. In doing so, he exhibits prodigious learning, a great facility with words, and enormous erudition and enthusiasm. He relates some wonderful stories, some more familiar than others, and communicates a real sense of the birth of this mythological cosmos and what it has bequeathed our culture. However, his ongoing commentary and slightly condescending authorial voice often get in the way of his material, and his prose lacks the poetry of the original sources. A curate’s egg.