Description
Book SynopsisHeretical Hellenism examines sources such as theater history and popular journals to uncover the ways women acquired knowledge of Greek literature, history, and philosophy and challenged traditional humanist assumptions about the uniformity of classical knowledge and about women’s place in literary history.
Trade Review“
Heretical Hellenism offers new ideas and opens the door to to an area of cultural influence on Charlotte Brontë’s work that has until now remained virtually unconsidered.” * Brontë Studies *
“Fiske’s
Heretical Hellenism offers a nuanced perspective…focusing on women who may have lacked formal training in Greek but who nevertheless gained access to antiquity through its representations in Victorian popular culture or who were quick studies of the ancients but nevertheless expressed anxiety about the insufficiency of their classical learning.” * Journal of British Studies *
“(T)his is a book that will appeal to classicists, Victorianists, feminists, and historians. Fiske skillfully interlaces Victorian culture and current events that impinge on her subject—the purchase of the Elgin Marbles and their installment in the British Museum…; sensational murder trials; the rise of women’s colleges; and Britain’s reevaluation of its educational system following WWII….” * Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature *
