The Silence of the Girls

Mythological retellings seem to be everywhere these days. Since Madeline Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles was released in 2011, many authors—mostly women—have taken up the effort to share the untold stories of the many female, nonbinary and queer characters of ancient mythology. A shining example of this type of storytelling is Pat Barker’s novel The Silence of the Girls, which focuses on a well-known part of Greek mythology, the Trojan War, but tells the story from an altogether unexpected voice: Briseis, the former queen of Lyrnessus and present slave of Achilles. Although she’s considered a minor character in the Iliad, Briseis is a lynchpin to the events of the later part of the war: after Achilles convinces Agamemnon to return his slave Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon takes Briseis as his own in response, which leads Achilles to strike. Ultimately, Achilles’ best friend Patroclus dies while pretending to battle as Achilles, and Achilles returns to war to destroy what so many Trojan women—including Briseis—hold dear. But the whole story, so iconic in ancient history, is told through the eyes of an enslaved woman, one who has lost all ability to make her own decisions and is very clear about the brutality of war and the vicious ends of supposedly brilliant men. In this episode we’re dissecting The Silence of the Girls, including the voice Barker builds for Briseis and the violent, painful contents. We’re also talking about why we as readers return to mythology again and again, despite knowing the stories like the backs of our hands.