Abstract

Painting Circles is a novel-length manuscript in seven sections. It tells the story of Ariadne, a young Greek-Canadian woman who returns to her homeland to live out her fate, which is related to that of her mythological namesake. In Athens she falls obsessively in love with Yannis, a musician and junkie, her addiction to him mirroring his own to heroin. After the gravest of his betrayals, she takes a job in a jazz bar on the fictional island of Nysas. The interplay between the mythological character (Ariadne of Crete) and her modern day counterpart (Ariadne of Montreal) is central to the novel, as it allows for an exploration of the archetypal, or essential, stories upon which we consciously or unconsciously model our lives (though Painting Circles is not a strict allegory, the similarities between the myth and the novel's story are evident). Only through will can the contemporary Ariadne break out of the predetermined and well-trodden path laid out for her by myth. The novel also reveals, through the contemporary character, the aftermath of the mythological character's abandonment. In myth, Ariadne's story always ends on the beach in Naxos where the hero, Theseus, left her. In Painting Circles, both Ariadnes' stories begin on that deserted beach.