Arachne (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Eden Phillpotts
- First Published: 1927
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—mythological
- Time of Work: Antiquity
- Setting: Ancient Greece
- Genres: Long fiction, Mythological literature, Fantasy
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, Spiders, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people, Metamorphosis or transmogrification, Weaving or weavers
- Locales: Greece, ancient
The Plot
For two decades, beginning with The Girl and the Faun (1916), Eden Phillpotts wrote allegorical fantasies using Greek mythology to develop themes with contemporary significance. One of the best is Arachne, his retelling of the legend of Arachne, whom Pallas Athene transformed into a spider because the young girl challenged the goddess in weaving.
As the novel opens, Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom, and her sister Hebe come upon Arachne of Lydia, who is creating designs from brightly colored stones but would prefer to make silk tapestries....
[The entire page is 1045 words long]
