The story of Clytemnestra as depicted in Colm Toibín's fictional treatment in the House of Names is described as `spectacularly audacious, violent, vengeful, lustful, and instantly compelling.'
I have been acquainted with the smell of death. Thus begins Clytemnestra’s self-narrated tale of her life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband King Agamemnon left when he set sail with his army for Troy.
Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.Judged, despised, cursed by gods she has long since lost faith in, Clytemnestra reveals the tragic saga that led to these bloody actions.
Penguin Random House will publish this very different successor to Nora Webster in May 2017.
According to publicity for the novel, Colm Tóibín brings "a modern sensibility and language to an ancient classic . .told in fours parts, this is a fiercely dramatic portrait of a murderess, who will herself be murdered by her own son, Orestes. "
They cut her hair before they dragged her to the place of sacrifice. Her mouth was gagged to stop her cursing her father, her cowardly, two-tongued father. Nonetheless, they heard her muffled screams.
