Scan barcode
A review by emmaisnotavampire
Cassandra by Christa Wolf
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
To be honest, I was never one to stand with the Trojans. However, I must say I stand with Cassandra, with all the Cassandras in all the wars and systems and societies and times and places. A fascinating retelling of the Iliad and yet so little talk of actual battles: Cassandra is not about the people fighting the war, but about those it even more deeply affects, it's a tale of womanhood and discrimination, of power and impotence, of injustice and so much more. In a nutshell, it's a German version of a Virginia Woolf novel set in Ancient Greece, and oh how I loved it.
My comparison to Woolf's works is not solely based on the reflective and introspective nature of the prose, a conflict between nations told in the form of inner monologue, nor on the feminist themes it explores: another really interesting parallel between Woolf and Wolf (other than similar names of course) is how both managed to tell a whole lifetime in a day, a last day even. Cassandra was to me a sort of ancient Mrs Dalloway, though with a much more tragic life if you ask me.
Through the story of the Trojan priestess and prophetess, Cassandra tells that of most women, especially powerful, knowledgeable ones, because how can a woman be sapient? How can a woman be right? If she doesn’t say what a man wants to hear, a woman must be wrong. She must be silly, unaware. And so her power gets taken away. Disregarded, dismissed, locked up even: that’s what happens to a woman with brains.
Cassandra is punished by the patriarchal system she affectionately tried to warn and save, and denied of the status of human all that’s left of her womanhood is monstrosity: forced lover, forced wife, forced mother, punished with the things that women are manipulated into thinking they should want. As a woman who wishes for no husband and no child myself, this scenario shocked me deeply.
Behind the facade of historical fiction, hides a must read for all feminists. Really happy I found this little gem.
My comparison to Woolf's works is not solely based on the reflective and introspective nature of the prose, a conflict between nations told in the form of inner monologue, nor on the feminist themes it explores: another really interesting parallel between Woolf and Wolf (other than similar names of course) is how both managed to tell a whole lifetime in a day, a last day even. Cassandra was to me a sort of ancient Mrs Dalloway, though with a much more tragic life if you ask me.
Through the story of the Trojan priestess and prophetess, Cassandra tells that of most women, especially powerful, knowledgeable ones, because how can a woman be sapient? How can a woman be right? If she doesn’t say what a man wants to hear, a woman must be wrong. She must be silly, unaware. And so her power gets taken away. Disregarded, dismissed, locked up even: that’s what happens to a woman with brains.
Cassandra is punished by the patriarchal system she affectionately tried to warn and save, and denied of the status of human all that’s left of her womanhood is monstrosity: forced lover, forced wife, forced mother, punished with the things that women are manipulated into thinking they should want. As a woman who wishes for no husband and no child myself, this scenario shocked me deeply.
Behind the facade of historical fiction, hides a must read for all feminists. Really happy I found this little gem.