Postmodern Depiction of Agamemnon’s Portrait in Colm Tóibín’s Novel House of Names

Abstract

Agamemnon is one of the most complex and tragic characters in the world literature. The hero’s ambivalence and family background characterized by a series of guilts such as betrayal, violence, murder, and revenge are among the factors contributing to his relevant aspect. Though Agamemnon captivates attention of readers, researchers, and numerous authors, the presence of a great variety of literary variations of the hero’s tragedy can be seen as the most obvious expression of the interest taken in him.

Agamemnon’s character and his family tragedy have been an inspiration for many writers. Dramatic, poetic, and prose works of classical and modern literature are among the reworkings of Agamemnon’s myth. In each of them, the hero is represented from different angles enabling us to analyze the character from new perspectives.

House of Names, a 2017 novel by an Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, is among the modern interpretation of Agamemnon’s character and his family tragedy. It is regarded as “Irish Oresteia.” As the author points it out, most events and some characters are based on imagination rather than some earlier versions of the story. However, the main protagonists along with the narrative techniques are taken from Electra, Orestes, and Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, The Oresteia by Aeschylus, and Electra by Sophocles. The presence of intertextual elements gives the novel a complex form and makes the characters intricate.

The conference paper analyses specifics of the portrayal of Agamemnon’s portrait according to the principles of postmodern literary esthetics. Specifically, it explores the properties of intertextual representation of Agamemnon’s role in the narrative, his guilt, reappearance, and the decision to sacrifice his daughter.

House of Names is divided into six parts offering the perspectives of three protagonists (Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra). In this novel, Agamemnon is “silenced,” which stands in contrast with Iphigenia at Aulis as in this play, the hero is actively involved in the development of the action. Additionally, such structural organization of the novel, on the one hand, parodies that of Oresteia, which is also divided into different parts, and stands in contrast with it on the other in terms of providing multiple perspectives and distancing Agamemnon from the development of the action. While the first part of Oresteia is Agamemnon, House of Names opens with Clytemnestra. Agamemnon is dead at the beginning of the novel, and his corpse is remained under the sun. Hence, Agamemnon indirectly functions in this work and only appears in other characters’ narratives. Despite this, he has a great influence on the fate of his family members, which is reminiscent of Orestes. It is also noteworthy that within the restrictive role assigned to Agamemnon in House of Names, his spirit emerges in Electra’s room. He reappears in Sophocles’ “Electra” as well.

In terms of Agamemnon’s decision, his portrait can be seen as a collage of the various aspects of Agamemnon in Iphigenia at Aulis, and while representing his guilt, Euripides’ Electra and Oresteia can be regarded as Tóibín’s associative sources.

Based on the analysis of postmodern depiction of Agamemnon’s portrait, it may be concluded that House of Names is the modern reworking of Agamemnon’s myth.

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