Transforming Psyche / Barbara Weir Huber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Huber, Barbara Weir, 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psyche (Greek deity).

Psyche.

Women.

Women--Identity.

Women--Psychology.

Women--Social conditions.

Physical Description:

244 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999.

Summary:

Barbara Weir Huber explores the myth of Psyche, interweaving research from such diverse disciplines as current feminist and educational theories, mythology, literature, psychology, and cultural anthropology. She offers an original, critical reinterpretation of the myth, highlighting the way it overtly portrays female experience in a patriarchal context while covertly affirming all aspects of female life.

In Transforming Psyche Huber shows that the myth of Psyche and Eros can be interpreted to illuminate the experiences of twentieth-century women. In contrast to the portrayal of Psyche as indecisive and amorphous, Huber emphasizes those aspects of the tale that describe Psyche's connectedness - to her sisters, her own sexuality, her earthbound experience, and, ultimately, to the birthing of her child.

Using the works of such writers as Emily Carr, Margaret Laurence, Gertrude Stein, and Virginia Woolf, Huber demonstrates that feminist theory and women's autobiography mirror the insights uncovered in her retelling of the Psyche story.

Contents:

1 Contexts and Circumstances 11

2 Narcissus and Echo 29

3 Introducing Psyche, Attending Aphrodite 45

4 The Green World 60

5 Learning Transformation 83

6 Eros, Psyche, and N(arr)ativity 104

7 Voluptas beyond the Ending 121

8 Lifeprints 139

9 Retelling Psyche 161

Appendix Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche 181.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0773518576

0773518444

OCLC:

40982274