Hmmm....

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

So although I HATES HATES HATES being read to, I was desperate for something to listen to on a long car drive besides interminable stretches of static interspersed with brief bursts of angsty wailing ("We gots both kinds of music:  Country AND Western!") -- so I grabbed the audio CD of QUEEN OF ATTOLIA from the Public Library.

Well, I still HATES being read to, but Eugenides makes anything bearable, and besides, for at least half the book, his suffering far outweighed mine.

However, one thing I picked up from listening, rather than reading: 

Every time the narrator said "Eddisian", my ear kept hearing "Odyssean."  Which opened up a whole new layer of overtones and allusions to my second-favorite sly and larcenous trickster.

I'm sure that everyone else has already noted this bit, but I kept thinking, "Oh, MWT, will you ever stop astonishing me?"

Comments

[newbia.livejournal.com]

If that's on purpose, that would be very clever! However, I think it's just a coincidence, because if I remember correctly, in the first book Eugenides said that the Eddisians pronounce is "EE-dis".

[newbia.livejournal.com]

PS: Out of curiosity, what accents did they give to the various characters?

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

Generic American. Which I think is okay for QoA, since to the best of my memory it's the one that doesn't rely on different accents for plot points.

You're right about the EEdis variation, but that pronunciation is dismissed by refined Sounisians and Attolians as "archaic" (=barbaric), one wouldn't expect to hear it on a quality Recorded Book now, would one?

[puppeteergirl.livejournal.com]

I listen to the audio books all the time, and I always hear it like "Ed-(like education) dissian). It does sorta remind me of Oddyssean though. In TT audiobook Gen tells the Magus it is pronounced "EE-dis" and the Mags informs him that the civilized world calls it "Edd-is".

Which reminds me of a similar topic. I recently bumped into an old friend and we go to talking about the books and she pronounces Eugenides like "U-gen-eyeds", and I call her ridiculous. I pronounce it like the audiobook does - "U-gen-id-ees" (similar to Archimedes), and she says that sounds like some weird disease. Is there an official pronunciation guide?

[puppeteergirl.livejournal.com]

P.s. I love reading aloud to my brothers, and doing all the voices. It rocks.