Published April 1, 2022 | Version v1
Book chapter Open

Joe Alex (Maciej Słomczyński) and His "Czarne okręty" (Black Ships): A History of a Trojan Boy in Times of the Minoan Thalassocrasy

Creators

  • 1. Faculty of "Artes Liberales", University of Warsaw, Poland

Contributors

  • 1. Faculty of "Artes Liberales", University of Warsaw, Poland

Description

Maciej Słomczyński, writer, poet and playwright, a prominent translator of the English literature and the author of the acclaimed crime fiction stories, published under the pseudonym Joe Alex, is also the author of the historical-adventure novel for youth Czarne okręty [Black Ships]. Originally published in parts as a series, the novel shows us the fate of a Trojan boy, entangled in the intrigues of the Egyptian priests and conspiracies of the rulers of the Minoan Crete, and finally going for a quest to the far North in search of the mythical land of amber. The quest, resembling – due to its exotic – the Expedition of the Argonauts, despite deceptive success ends in fact in a disaster, the novel itself can be used as an example of a specific range of Bildungsroman dressed in ancient robes.

Notes

Book chapter in the volume: Katarzyna Marciniak, ed., Our Mythical Hope: The Ancient Myths as Medicine for Hardships of Life in Children's and Young Adults' Culture, in the series "Our Mythical Childhood", Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press, 2021, 836 pp. Open Access https://www.wuw.pl/product-eng-16830-Our-Mythical-Hope-The-Ancient-Myths-as-Medicine-for-the-Hardships-of-Life-in-Childrens-and-Young-Adults-Culture-PDF.html This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 681202 (2016–2022), Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children's and Young Adults' Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges, ERC Consolidator Grant led by Katarzyna Marciniak. Project's Website: www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl. The publication is licensed under (CC BY 3.0 PL) (full license available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/legalcode).

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
OurMythicalChildhood – Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges 681202