By Rohini Roy
On Thursday, award-winning author Madeline Miller of the books Circe and The Song of Achilles had a virtual meeting with the students of IA on Bay 3 of the eXchange! Johns Creek High School students were also participating in the online call. In the virtual author’s visit, Miller discussed her publication journey, her novels, how she came to write them & more specifically, her interest and connection with her characters.
“Through meeting the author, I gained an even greater appreciation to the book, as I understood the process and learned what she did through the ten years of writing The Song of Achilles, and I also got insight about the process through which she developed the characters,” says Pareeshay S.
Miller explained how she felt “frustrated” seeing female characters portrayed as either two-dimensional side characters or villains in her childhood—she believed that there was another part of the story that went untold. This inspired her to write Circe later on in life, a retelling of the myth of the exiled enchantress who was previously best known for her appearance in The Odyssey. Miller described how she looked at the interactions between Circe and Odysseus differently, as The Odyssey was written from the perspective of the hero—Odysseus—who was known as a great liar. Thus, she decided to be inspired by, but mainly focus on Circe and her life and take information from The Odyssey with a grain of salt.
When speaking about The Song of Achilles, Miller emphasized how she always saw the story of Achilles and Patroclus from The Iliad as a love story and how the interpretation of their story “died down” due to the age of the tale. She explained how the characters always felt real to her, which especially resonated with Tiya, a sophomore who attended the author’s visit.
“When Madeline Miller was explaining how her relationship with the characters felt…real and that they weren’t ancient and that they kind of lived with her,” she says. “I kind of felt that when I was reading the book, so I felt really connected that way…that’s why finishing [The Song of Achilles] was so sad and kind of tragic to me, because it felt like a real ending…like something was officially over.”
Miller also explained how she looked a lot at lyrical poetry during the process of writing The Song of Achilles, which is displayed through the writing style of the book. Since lyrical poetry largely being used romantically— “to the beloved…or close friends”, the author stated—it was a crucial part of making the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus truly come to life.
“I have a hard time reading books, but Circe was…digestible to read,” says Isabella, a sophomore who also attended the meeting. Isabella also mentioned an amazing scene from the book; no spoilers, though—if you want to enter the enchanting world of Greek mythology
in a gorgeous, lyrical writing style, be sure to check out Circe and The Song of Achilles from the eXchange either virtually or in-person!
Miller also let IA students know that she is currently writing a novel focusing on Persephone, the daughter of Demeter—the Greek goddess of the harvest—and the wife of Hades, the god of the Underworld. Personally, we can’t wait to see what comes next from Miller’s talents! Be sure to check her out @madeline.e.miller on Instagram and on her website, madelinemiller.com.