Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles (2005)
by
In this slim volume, 176 pages in total, Jeanette Winterson uses the brashness of current language to re-make the encounter between Atlas and Hercules into a contemporary consideration of choice and freedom. But there’s more: autobiographical material and the Soviet space dog Laikka also insert themselves into the story. Not everyone is going to appreciate the mashup, but there’s something exhilarating, and often funny, about the result’s irreverence.
