Description
Book SynopsisAncient Greek culture is pervaded by a profound ambivalence regarding female beauty. It is an awe-inspiring, supremely desirable gift from the gods, essential to the perpetuation of a man''s name through reproduction; yet it also grants women terrifying power over men, posing a threat inseparable from its allure. The myth of Helen is the central site in which the ancient Greeks expressed and reworked their culture''s anxieties about erotic desire. Despite the passage of three millennia, contemporary culture remains almost obsessively preoccupied with all the power and danger of female beauty and sexuality that Helen still represents. Yet Helen, the embodiment of these concerns for our purported cultural ancestors, has been little studied from this perspective. Such issues are also central to contemporary feminist thought. Helen of Troy engages with the ancient origins of the persistent anxiety about female beauty, focusing on this key figure from ancient Greek culture in a way that bot
Trade Reviewthe book is a good survey of Helen in Greek literature and a decent introduction to Helen for undergraduate Classics students, but is a bit thin for those seeking more advanced, in-depth analysis. * Stephanie L. Budin, Collingswood, New Jersey, Journal of the American Oriental Society *
Table of ContentsIllustrations ; Preface ; 1. The Problem of Female Beauty ; 2. Helen, Daughter of Zeus ; 3. Self-Blame and Self-Assertion: the Iliad ; 4. Happily Ever After? The Odyssey ; 5. Refractions of Homer's Helen: Archaic Lyric ; 6. Behind the Scenes: Aeschylus' Oresteia ; 7. Spartan Woman and Spartan Goddess: Herodotus ; 8. Playing Defense: Gorgias' Encomium of Helen ; 9. Enter Helen: Euripides' Trojan Women ; 10. Two-Faced Helen: the Helen of Euripides ; 11. Helen MacGuffin: Isocrates ; Epilogue ; Bibliographical Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
