Modern Usage
In more modern literature, Cassandra has often served as a model for tragedy and romance, and has given rise to the archetypal character of someone whose prophetic insight is obscured by insanity, turning their revelations into riddles or disjointed statements that are not fully comprehended until after the fact. Some mythologies of the Arthurian Legends have Merlin living backwards, therefore telling of the future, that nobody believes.
In his 2011 novel The Diviner's Tale, Bradford Morrow names the protagonist Cassandra. She is a Diviner, also called a water-witch or dowser, who finds spots for wells and ponds in the back country, for farmers and developers. Cassandra foretells a murder that seems unlikely at first, and then impossible, but finally proves to be prophetic and leads to the discovery of a serial murderer.
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