Abstract:
Buchbinder (2011:128) writes that adaptations are often regarded as barely a step away
from plagiarism; however, he notes that ‘much of the literary output of classical Greek
culture, for instance, consisted of reworkings of already familiar narratives’. His point
is not only true of the classical Greek output, but of a contemporary adolescent fantasy
saga, Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2006–2011), which retells many of
the classical Greek mythological narratives in a contemporary setting. Given that many
adolescent audiences may be unfamiliar with the root narratives, the Percy Jackson
and the Olympians saga serves the function of re-introducing an audience to classical
mythology, thereby helping them to rediscover their value. This article argues that by
skilfully adapting and appropriating the monomythic hero-journeys of Greek mythology,
and by retelling them within a contemporary narrative, Riordan is creating a space where
readers, possibly unfamiliar with the root classical narratives, can re-discover classical
mythology.
