On Goodreads, David Guterson (author of “Snow Falling on Cedars”) reveals the origin of the story of his new novel, “Ed King”. He says it:
“…derives largely from the mythology and literature of ancient Greece, specifically from the well-known story of Oedipus but also from the story of Icarus. It addresses themes such as fate, chance, divine agency, hubris, and self-knowledge.
One of the things I noted while working on this book is that the oedipal story has analogues nearly everywhere—medieval Europe, the Near East, Africa, South America. We tend to think of it as conjured by Sophocles, but in fact it's a widely dispersed and enduring myth with roots around the world.”
Mythology is a great source of stories with universal themes—if you haven’t read your Bullfinche’s lately, it might be time!
