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Classical Studies / Gender & Sexuality / Literature & Criticism

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Pandora's Senses The Feminine Character of the Ancient Text Vered Lev Kenaan Wisconsin Studies in Classics William Aylward, Nicholas D. Cahill, and Patricia A. Rosenmeyer, General Editors "A provocative and well-supported reading of a familiar myth and its hidden metamorphoses. Elegantly written, this daring book will make an important contribution not only to the study of classics and mythology but also to interpretations of women's roles in literature and cultural history."–David Konstan, John Rowe Workman Distinguished Professor of Classics and the Humanistic Tradition at Brown University and the author of The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks The notorious image of Pandora haunts mythology: a woman created as punishment for the crimes of man, she is the bearer of hope yet also responsible for the Earth's desolation. She binds together perpetuating dichotomies that underlie the most fundamental aspects of the Western canon: beauty and evil, body and soul, depth and superficiality, truth and lie. Speaking in multiplicity, Pandora emerges as the first sign of female complexity. In this compelling study, Vered Lev Kenaan offers a radical revision of the Greek myth of the first woman. She argues that Pandora leaves a decisive mark on ancient poetics and shows that we can unravel the profound impact of Pandora's image once we recognize that Pandora embodies the very idea of the ancient literary text. Locating the myth of the first woman right at the heart of feminist interrogation of gender and textuality, Pandora's Senses moves beyond a feminist critique of masculine hegemony by challenging the reading of Pandora as a one-dimensional embodiment of the misogynist vision of the feminine. Uncovering Pandora as a textual principle operating outside of the feminine, Kenaan shows the centrality of this iconic figure among the poetics of such central genres as the cosmological and didactic epic, the Platonic dialogue, the love elegy, and the ancient novel. Pandora's Senses innovates our understanding of gender as a critical lens through which to view ancient literature. "In this exhilarating and far-ranging study Vered Lev Kenaan takes the lid off Pandora as mythical figuration of primal plexity. First textualized by Hesiod with repercussions throughout the cultures of Antiquity, not least in Plato's and others' rough hands, Pandoran femininity will collide with treacherous Ovid's lascivious imagination, releasing ever more irresistible mystique and mystery. Lev Kenaan brings to life a powerful vision of the poetics of literature figured as feminine." –John Henderson, University of Cambridge, editor and translator of Asinaria Vered Lev Kenaan is senior lecturer in Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of Haifa. For more information contact our publicity manager, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu Of related interest Grafting Helen The Abduction of the Classical Past Matthew Gumpert

February 2008 208 pp. 6 x 9 ISBN-13: 978-0-299-22410-3 Cloth $55.00 s To order, you can accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart by clicking on the bulleted lines below. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with MasterCard or Visa. Click here for further explanation of shopping cart feature. Never ordered from us before? Read this first.

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