Female Resistance in a World of Epic Heroes and Legendary Adventures : A feminist reading of Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero, inspired by Luce Irigaray’s “The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of the Feminine”

Sammanfattning: Literature is an important part of the curriculum of Swedish secondary school and The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan is a popular novel among teenagers in Stockholm. This creates an opportunity to look closer at the novel, and to investigate the narrative’s discussion of the female, and in this particular case, its depictions of the female characters. This essay will show that by reading the novel with a feminist approach, inspired by the work of Luce Irigaray, the narrative reveals cultural aspects that might work well as a ground for discussions in the classroom.                       This essay considers how the narrative allows for opportunities of female resistance. Without replacing the male on the frontier of adventure, and without betraying their femininity, the female characters of the novel manage to change the power dynamic of how they are perceived. The female protagonist, Piper, works as a gatekeeper for the female resistance, and eliminates – for the cause – unbeneficial female behaviours.                       A feminist approach is beneficial to the diversity that is expected in Swedish secondary school. In addition to already existing research on Riordan’s work, this essay helps justify why The Lost Hero is a good literary alternative for the classroom.