Women at the beginning : origin myths from the Amazons to the Virgin Mary / Patrick J. Geary.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Geary, Patrick J., 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Mythology.

Women.

Beginning--Mythology.

Beginning.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (117 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In these four artfully crafted essays, Patrick Geary explores the way ancient and medieval authors wrote about women. Geary describes the often marginal role women played in origin legends from antiquity until the twelfth century. Not confining himself to one religious tradition or region, he probes the tensions between women in biblical, classical, and medieval myths (such as Eve, Mary, Amazons, princesses, and countesses), and actual women in ancient and medieval societies. Using these legends as a lens through which to study patriarchal societies, Geary chooses moments and texts that illustrate how ancient authors (all of whom were male) confronted the place of women in their society. Unlike other books on the subject, Women at the Beginning attempts to understand not only the place of women in these legends, but also the ideologies of the men who wrote about them. The book concludes that the authors of these stories were themselves struggling with ambivalence about women in their own worlds and that this struggle manifested itself in their writings.

Contents:

1. Women and origins in antiquity and the early Middle ages

2. Writing women out : amazons and barbarians

3. A tale of two Judiths

4. Writing women in : sacred genealogy and gender

5. Women at the end

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [79]-100) and index.

ISBN:

9786612935442

9786612129636

9781282129634

1282129635

9781282935440

1282935445

9781400827084

1400827086

OCLC:

362719571