Emma Bridge’s Warriors’ Wives examines the experiences of mythical women married to Trojan War-era heroes in tandem with those of military wives in the modern age. It engages with epic, tragedy and scholarship on both alongside modern testimonials, poetry, fiction and work by sociologists and psychologists who have analysed military families. It is part of a scholarly turn towards under-represented voices. It is not news to a classicist readership that Helen, Penelope and Clytemnestra offer contrasting exemplars of women, but it is new to look at their perspectives (and those of other women) in this level of detail, with their role in relation to warfare as the primary focus. The women of the Trojan War are seen here afresh, as is the subtlety with which their experiences are articulated. It is also illuminating to have the experiences of modern women as a complement. There will be those who read Warrior Wives primarily for the ancient figures and how modern lives can enrich our reading of them, and those whose priority is the modern experience, hoping ancient experiences can deepen understanding of modern lives. The reader is reminded to be ‘wary of the temptation to draw universal parallels across time and space’ while noting enlightening ‘resonances’ between them (158).
Chapter 1 discusses the emotions and dynamics involved when servicemen deploy for combat. We move between modern testimonials and a detailed discussion of Andromache and Hector’s parting scene (Il. 6.390–493). Bridges notes the deeply gendered nature of depictions of this moment. She cites First and Second World War writers who reached for Hector’s departure as a way of articulating the suffering of this form of parting, a kind of grief. A discussion of Penelope and Odysseus’ separation follows, a less emotive scene than that of Andromache and Hector, but full of practical details that signal affection and concern. This first chapter gives a good sense of how the book will work; the ancient and modern scenarios are different, yet they contain striking similarities of emotional stresses which inform one another.
Chapter 2 explores the tensions between what service personnel owe to their family versus what is owed to the military. It examines Clytemnestra’s feelings of resentment and revenge when her husband prioritizes the military. It notes that tragedies demonstrate a pronounced desire to examine the impact of combat on family and community, while discussion of the modern world explores the notion of the idealized military wife, a metaphor for the nation. Bridges considers the expectations placed on military wives, and the feelings of resentment, grief, loss of voice and loss of identity that are frequently experienced by those with serving spouses. Ancient representations of Clytemnestra and Iphigenia provide insight into this phenomenon.
Chapter 3 moves onto the emotional and practical challenges faced by military wives when their partners are serving and the frequently employed coping techniques. Modern poems, such as Edna St Vincent Millay’s ‘An Ancient Gesture’ (1954), are examined alongside the Odyssey’s depictions of Penelope. Readers of the Odyssey know that Penelope spends most of it unhappy, yet this careful reading of the text deepens one’s understanding of her situation and highlights how that situation is communicated.
Chapter 4 raises another challenge to military couples: the spectre of sexual infidelity. Even the story of faithful Penelope presents the anxiety-inducing figure of the opportunistic man looking to co-opt wives in their husbands’ absence, a figure known as ‘Jody’ in US military parlance. This exploration is augmented by reference to the common sexual double standard. Ancient authors do not condemn Odysseus’ infidelities, even as Penelope, Clytemnestra and Helen are to some extent characterized by their sexual choices. Modern military institutions often actively channel their personnel towards prostitutes and other sex workers; military men are, Bridges notes, far harsher in their appraisal of the waiting partner’s infidelity.
Chapter 5 analyses the process of reintegration. Though longed-for and idealized in literature and propaganda, it is a time ‘fraught with challenges’ (137), ‘punctuated by rows, tears, and misunderstandings’ (138). This moves into the uncomfortable terrain of servicemen murdering their wives. Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s story expresses the ‘deepest fears’ of tragedy’s soldier spectators, while the opposite dynamic is more likely (163). The incidence of domestic violence and murder by returning military personnel is high, and, as the reviewer wrote this review, yet another case of it appeared in the news. Bridges’ work does not romanticize military relationships, it is a frank look at well-established patterns of behaviour.
Chapter 6 considers the plight of women in defeated communities. ‘Bereavement, violence, rape, enslavement, and displacement’ stalk the scene, ancient and modern (165–66). Alongside Homer and tragedy, there is discussion of women in historical ancient scenarios during the Peloponnesian War alongside testimonies of mass martial rape throughout modern Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bridges observes that ancient tragedies addressed men who were likely to be perpetrators of violence against enemy women, and one might note that their own families were similarly at risk should their military efforts fail. While Sophocles used Tecmessa to explore Ajax’s fall, Bridges draws on Ajax as a ‘prompt to think about the experiences of the spouses of soldiers scarred by war’ (191). This complements Bryan Doerries The Theater of War: What Ancient Tragedies Can Teach Us Today (Melbourne 2015), Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Ajax (London 2013) and Aphrodite Matsakis’ Vietnam Wives (Kensington MD 1988, rev. 1996), which inform the text. Characteristically, Bridges notes that the causes of Ajax’s distress are different to those of modern service personnel, yet the manifestations of his breakdown are strikingly similar, with each throwing light on the other.
Warrior Wives is a thoughtful, original work that enriches the experience of familiar texts and demonstrates the continuing power of the classical to navigate the modern.
