American Classical League Institute 2024

For contemporary authors, as much as for Homer and Euripides, Helen is both archetypal and malleable, which grants authors who employ her in their work the freedom to explore modern concerns, enriched by a long tradition of past treatments. This paper examines how authors of YA fiction portray Helen, who is ultimately a character very familiar to adolescent readers: a young adult caught in a time of transition. One depiction of Helen features her returned to Sparta, completely – alarmingly – unaware of reality (Barrett, 2010). In a different depiction, across the world and three millennia later, a reincarnated Helen reexperiences her past choices and struggles to behave ethically (Angelini, 2011). Adaptations illuminate elements previously obscured in ancient text; they also create new opportunities for readers to examine values, identity, and decision-making. These modern works allow contemporary young readers to enter and rework the ancient stories to inform their own modern lives.