Disarming the Canon: Exploring Tepper’s Rewriting of Euripides

Abstract

The relevance of the classical canon has been the subject of much-heated debate, especially in a contemporary post-colonial and ostensibly post-patriarchal context. The adaptation of classical works is one way in which authors and academics have sought to problematise the perceived value of this canon, and the influence it has on contemporary attitudes. Yet the study and discussion of these contemporary adap­tations have often largely ignored work by authors in liminal genres such as science fiction. This reveals yet another way in which canons may be problematised another center that cannot hold. This article explores the mechanisms of adaptation used by such a liminal author, Sheri S. Tepper, in her science fiction novel The Gate to Women’s Country (1988), which writes back to the past by adapting three plays by Euripides – Iphigenia at Aulis (410BC), Iphigenia in Tauris (412BC), and The Trojan Women (415BC). I argue that, by writing in the genre of science fiction, Tepper is uniquely situated to destabilise contemporary patriarchal worldviews rooted in a classical past and perpetuated by a classical canon. This article demonstrates the value of the critically neglected genre of science fiction in reframing the old order to posit a new one.

 Opsomming

Die tersaaklikheid van die klassieke kanon is al hewig gedebatteer, veral in ’n hedendaagse postkoloniale en oënskynlik postpatriargale konteks. Die verwerking van klassieke werke is een van die maniere waarop outeurs en akademici probeer om die geagte waarde van die kanon en die invloed daarvan op hedendaagse houdings te problematiseer. Tog word die studie en bespreking van hedendaagse aanpassings in liminale genres soos wetenskapsfiksie grootliks geïgnoreer. Dit onthul nog ’n manier om kanons te problematiseer – nog ’n middelpunt wat nie kan hou nie. Dié artikel verken die meganismes wat die liminale outeur Sheri S. Tepper in haar wetenskaps-fiksieroman The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) gebruik. Dit wys heen na die verlede deur drie van Euripides se toneelstukke te verwerk – Iphigenia in Aulis (410 VC), Iphigenia in Tauris (412 VC), en Die Vroue van Troje (415 VC). Ek redeneer dat deur die genre wetenskapsfiksie te gebruik, Tepper in die unieke posisie is om die kontemporêre patriargale wêreldbeskouings te destabiliseer wat in ’n klassieke verlede gewortel is en deur 'n klassieke kanon voortgesit word. Hierdie artikel toon die waarde van die krities verwaarloosde genre van wetenskapfiksie in die herformulering van die ou orde om 'n nuwe een te poneer.