The Porpoise by Mark Haddon
The story of Pericles has been told and re-told many time over the centuries, or even millennia. Although the play, generally accepted as written by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins, may be the best-known version in the English language there have been many others. Mark Haddon’s story “The Porpoise”; takes the basic elements but twists them into a new and exciting tale.
His novel intertwines three (or is it four?) different strands set in different times, from ancient to modern. The main elements of the traditional story are all there – incest, betrayal, shipwreck, mutiny, murder – and throughout there is Pericles in one guise or another bouncing around the Mediterranean from city to city with better or worse outcomes. In one strand even Shakespeare and Wilkins (“victualler, panderer, dramatist and pamphleteer” – Wikipedia) appear as characters.
Haddon’s concise style keeps the action moving and he creates the different characters and atmospheres of his time strands masterfully. At times it all becomes quite intense!
If you’re not familiar with Shakespeare’s play I recommend reading it before you read “The Porpoise” just to remind yourself of the story, especially the beginning. My greatest impression when I read the play was how poorly the original victim, Antiochus’ daughter, is portrayed compared with modern standards. Haddon’s work redresses this; as he said to me on twitter, it’s “one of the main reasons I tackled it.”
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