Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Awakens [Arkadien erwacht] (Arcadia, 1 [Arkadien, 1])

A shy seventeen year old girl, Rosa Alcantara, comes from Brooklyn, New York, and is of Italian descent. After having been raped she had to undergo an abortion. One day, she travels by plane to Palermo in Sicily in order to attend the funeral of a leader of the mafia clan called Carnevares. Rosa’s situation within her family is complicated: her father died several years earlier and her mother, who left Sicily a long time before that, does not want to have any contacts with her relatives, w(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Lamia Lycaon Metamorphosis

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Burns [Arkadien brennt] (Arcadia, 2 [Arkadien, 2])

When Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare try to be intimate, they are transformed into mythical beasts, the moment they get too close to each other. The reason for this lies in the fact that they belong to different mafia clans, which have been adversaries for centuries. Therefore, their fate seems to be an eternal fight against each other. When they realize the problem, they stop trying to be intimate, Rosa moves to New York and after many years reconciles with her mother Gemma. Her mum esc(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Arcadia Caduceus Hermes Lamia Lycaon Metamorphoses (Ovid's) Metamorphosis

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Falls [Arkadien fällt] (Arcadia, 3 [Arkadien, 3])

During their search in Sicily for a peace bringing ancient statue, Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare are attacked by harpies, who look like big owls. Yet, it turns out soon that this mythical statue is missing. In their dreadful fight with the harpies, one ally of Rosa and Alessandro called Quattrini is killed. In due course, it is revealed that the harpies are killers for hire and belong to their own clan, the Malandras. The leaders of the clan are two dangerous sisters, Aliza and Saffira(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Arcadia Caduceus Hermes Lamia Lycaon Metamorphoses (Ovid's) Metamorphosis

John Harris , Mark Todd

My Monster Notebook

My Monster Notebook is a picture book that gives information about several mythological monsters: Echidna, Orthrus and Geryon, Briareus, Ethon, Argus, Lamia and Keto, the Teuemessian Fox, Hecate, Typhon, Erinyes, Proteus, Cacus, Circe, Triton (and the tritons), Graeae, Nereids, Talos, Python, and Ladon. It is formatted like a young teenager’s exercise book for a class project on Monsters, and uses trompe-l’oeil, collage and sketches to present the material. On the inside cover is a n(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aethon / Ethon (Eagle) Argos / Argus Panoptes (Giant) Briareus / Briareos Cacus Ceto Circe Echidna Erinyes Geryon Graeae / Graiai Hecate Heracles Jason Ladon Lamia Nereid(s) Odysseus / Ulysses Orthrus Poseidon Proteus Python Talos (Automaton) Teumessian Fox Triton Typhon / Typhoeus / Typhaon Zeus

Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere

Richard Mayhew is a young businessman recently moved to London where his job is almost as dull as his fiancé, a demanding and over-bearing social climber. One night he stumbles over a girl lying injured on the sidewalk. When he stops to help her, he inadvertently opens himself up to a second fantastical world – London Below, an underworld city that shadows the real London. Neverwhere involves a character descending into the Underworld, Odysseus-like, to see what lies beyond the ever(...)

literary

YEAR: 1996

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

TAGS: Cerberus Labyrinth Lamia Minotaur Mithras Odyssey Underworld