This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

In her debut novel, award-winning poet Brynne Rebele-Henry re-imagines the Orpheus myth as a love story between two teenage girls who are sent to conversion therapy after being caught together in an intimate moment. Abandoned by a single mother she never knew, 16-year-old Raya—obsessed with ancient myths—lives with her grandmother in a small conservative Texas town. For years Raya has fought to hide her feelings for her best friend and true love, Sarah. When the two are outed, they are sent to Friendly Saviors: a re-education camp meant to “fix” them and make them heterosexual. Upon arrival, Raya vows to assume the role of Orpheus, to return to the world of the living with her love—and after she, Sarah, and the other teen residents are subjected to abusive and brutal “treatments” by the staff, Raya only becomes more determined to escape. In a haunting voice reminiscent of Sylvia Plath and the contemporary lyricism of David Levithan, Brynne Rebele-Henry weaves a powerful inversion of the Orpheus myth informed by the disturbing real-world truths of conversion therapy. Orpheus Girl is a story of dysfunctional families, trauma, first love, heartbreak, and ultimately, the fierce adolescent resilience that has the power to triumph over darkness and ignorance. CW: There are scenes in this book that depict self-harm, homophobia, transphobia, and violence against LGBTQ characters.

Long ago, when gods and heroes walked the earth in triumph and tragedy, true love and epic deeds were set among the stars... In the ancient land of Greece, at a time when kings warred and the people suffered, the Fates fixed their timeless eyes upon the son of a muse, and his story inspired hope and beauty in a ravaged world. Raised by the daughters of Zeus in the shadow of Mount Olympus, Orpheus is filled with a love of the world, of creation, and of song. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he inspires mortals, birds, beasts, and even the Gods with his music. He is blessed with a humility and unmatched skill that make him the greatest musician of the age. However, when the god Apollo tells Orpheus that he has more to learn, the young man leaves the safety of his home to wander the world in search of his destiny. Having travelled alone into the vast northern forests of Thrace, Orpheus discovers that elusive gift granted to few mortals or gods: True Love. In the love and friendship of the nymph, Eurydice, Orpheus comes to understand one of the greatest mysteries of the world. He is inspired in all things, and his music reaches unimagined heights of beauty. But the Fates can be cruel, the world barbarous, and the greatest gifts given, including love, can be taken away. When Eurydice’s light is suddenly extinguished from Orpheus’ life, the musician must make a choice. He can live a life without his only love and let the world tear itself to pieces, or he can make a journey that would terrify even the bravest of heroes to rescue his love and bring her back into the light. Will Orpheus be able to cross the dark plains of the Underworld and bring Eurydice back? Or will he lose his soul, and his love, for daring to challenge the Fates? The only way he can succeed is to plumb the depths of his deepest emotions and play like he has never played before... A Song for the Underworld is an epic retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology. It is the third book in the Mythologia fantasy series by best-selling and award-winning author and historian, Adam Alexander Haviaras. If you enjoy books by Madeline Miller, Stephen Fry, Natalie Haynes or Jennifer Saint then you will love the Mythologia series. Read A Song for the Underworld today and experience the greatest love story of the ancient world!

“Eurydice is a luminous retelling of the Orpheus myth from his beloved wife’s point of view. Watching it, we enter a singular, surreal world, as lush and limpid as a dream—an anxiety dream of love and loss—where both author and audience swim in the magical, sometimes menacing, and always thrilling flow of the unconscious… Ruhl’s theatrical voice is reticent and daring, accurate and outlandish.” —John Lahr, New Yorker A reimagining of the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice journeys to the underworld, where she reunites with her beloved father and struggles to recover lost memories of her husband and the world she left behind.

This intellectual history study establishes Ballanche as an important figure in the intellectual life of early nineteenth-century France, and demonstrates how his religio-social project effected a critical step in the historical-mindedness of the Romantic period.

'Heartbreaking, beautiful, epic. I loved it' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE Author of The Mercies 'Blindingly brilliant . . . I cannot wait to read everything she writes' DAISY JOHNSON Author of Everything Under and Sisters She was never meant to be an ordinary woman, reading out her history as if it belonged to us. She was more than that. She was the way of learning the world. It was the last time most of us would see her but we didn't know that then. Aida is the defining rock star of her age; her every move observed, examined and owned by a devoted, cultish fanbase. When she disappears without a trace into a complicated love affair they are determined to find her, uncover her truths and own her once more. Aida and Ehsan reconnect after a decade apart, hoping to recapture the innocent, lost love of their youth. Before long, their connection is strained by secrets and jealousies and the past begins to blur with their present as they follow in the footsteps of mythic lovers before them. The Giant Dark is an award-winning debut novel about love and fame. Inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it explores the consuming and devastating effects of using a lover as a muse. 'Rich and immersive . . . A book to lose yourself in' JULIA ARMFIELD Author of Salt Slow 'A brilliant, intoxicating reimagining. A heady brew of art, love and its cataclysmic impact' IRENOSEN OKOJIE Author of Nudibranch

Harry Black is lost between the world of war and the land of myth in this illustrated novel that transports the tale of Orpheus to World War II–era London. Brothers Marcus and Julian Sedgwick team up to pen this haunting tale of another pair of brothers, caught between life and death in World War II. Harry Black, a conscientious objector, artist, and firefighter battling the blazes of German bombing in London in 1944, wakes in the hospital to news that his soldier brother, Ellis, has been killed. In the delirium of his wounded state, Harry’s mind begins to blur the distinctions between the reality of war-torn London, the fiction of his unpublished sci-fi novel, and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Driven by visions of Ellis still alive and a sense of poetic inevitability, Harry sets off on a search for his brother that will lead him deep into the city’s Underworld. With otherworldly paintings by Alexis Deacon depicting Harry’s surreal descent further into the depths of hell, this eerily beautiful blend of prose, verse, and illustration delves into love, loyalty, and the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood as it builds to a fierce indictment of mechanized warfare.

In ancient Greece, one of the twelve labours of Heracles was to bring back a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides. To archaeologist Oriel Anderson, joining a team of Greek divers on the island of Helios seems like the golden apple of her dreams. Yet the dream becomes a nightmare when she meets the devilish owner of the island, Damian Lekkas. In shocked recognition, she is flooded with the memory of a romantic night in a stranger's arms, six summers ago. A very different man stands before her now, and Oriel senses that the sardonic Greek autocrat is hell-bent on playing a cat and mouse game with her. As they cross swords and passions mount, Oriel is aware that malevolent eyes watch her from the shadows. Dark rumours are whispered about the Lekkas family. What dangers lie in Helios, a bewitching land where ancient rituals are still enacted to appease the gods, young men risk their lives in the treacherous depths of the Ionian Sea, and the volatile earth can erupt at any moment? Will Oriel find the hidden treasures she seeks? Or will Damian's tragic past catch up with them, threatening to engulf them both?

This comprehensive view of the Orpheus myth in modern art focuses on an extremely rich artistic symbol and cuts through all the clichés to explore truly significant problems of meaning. The author takes a new approach to the iconography of major modern artists by incorporating psychological and literary analysis, as well as biography. The three parts of the book explore the ways in which artists have identified with different aspects of the often paradoxical Orpheus myth. The first deals with artists such as Paul Klee, Carl Milles, and Barbara Hepworth. In the second, Max Beckmann, Oskar Kokoschka, and Isamu Noguchi are discussed. Artists examined in the final part include Pablo Picasso, Jacques Lipchitz, Ethel Schwabacher, and Cy Twombly. The author documents her argument with more than sixty illustrations.