Female Fantasies and Romantic Retellings of the Myth of Persephone: A Case Study in Greek Mythology-Based Fanfiction.
Modern retellings of the Persephone myth often depict her as a willing partner to Hades rather than an abducted victim. This portrayal has gained popularity on platforms like TikTok and Archive of Our Own (AO3), where fan interactions consolidate Persephone as a central figure in contemporary fandom...
| Published in: | International Journal of the Classical Tradition Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 252 - 271 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Jun2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=194302684&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 194302684 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10730508 IJC jtl: International Journal of the Classical Tradition issn: 10730508 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 33 iid: 2 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 194302684 10.1007/s12138-025-00710-7 ppf: 252 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 971KB tig: atl: Female Fantasies and Romantic Retellings of the Myth of Persephone: A Case Study in Greek Mythology-Based Fanfiction. aug: au: Salcedo González, Cristina affil: https://ror.org/02p0gd045 Departamento de Estudios Ingleses: Lingüística y Literatura. Facultad de Filología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza Menéndez Pelayo s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain su: Persephone (Greek deity) Greek mythology TikTok (Web resource) Cultural studies Violence against women sug: subj: Persephone (Greek deity) Greek mythology TikTok (Web resource) Cultural studies Violence against women keyword: Communication and Culture Cultural Studies Studies in Human Society Other Studies In Human Society Language ab: Modern retellings of the Persephone myth often depict her as a willing partner to Hades rather than an abducted victim. This portrayal has gained popularity on platforms like TikTok and Archive of Our Own (AO3), where fan interactions consolidate Persephone as a central figure in contemporary fandom culture. However, these interpretations have also sparked debate, with critics arguing that erasing the elements of abduction and lack of consent risks romanticizing harmful power dynamics and misrepresenting the original myth's themes. Using the frameworks of Classical Reception and Gender Studies, this paper addresses these debates by demonstrating how romantic fan reinterpretations of the Persephone myth can achieve feminist aims. With AO3 as a case study, I combine quantitative analysis with qualitative readings of fanfiction to explore how fans reimagine Persephone's story. The findings reveal that fan works often create a female-centred, feminist fantasy where romance with Hades exists only in the absence of violence against women. Ultimately, I argue that these stories allow young women, as both consumers and producers ('prosumers') of fanfiction, to envision lives on their own terms and celebrate their desires, even in contexts where societal norms have yet to fully accommodate them. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: International Journal of the Classical Tradition is a copyright of Springer, 2026. All Rights Reserved. item: International Journal of the Classical Tradition holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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