Sign-In
Cart
Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths
Paperback
Literary CriticismAncient Greece
Publisher Price: $17.99
ISBN13: 9780063139466
Publisher: Perennial
Published: Mar 29 2022
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.20 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of . . . but read on!--Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale
The national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships returns with a fascinating, eye-opening take on the remarkable women at the heart of classical stories Greek mythology from Helen of Troy to Pandora and the Amazons to Medea.
The tellers of Greek myths--historically men--have routinely sidelined the female characters. When they do take a larger role, women are often portrayed as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil--like Pandora, the woman of eternal scorn and damnation whose curiosity is tasked with causing all the world's suffering and wickedness when she opened that forbidden box. But, as Natalie Haynes reveals, in ancient Greek myths there was no box. It was a jar . . . which is far more likely to tip over.
In Pandora's Jar, the broadcaster, writer, stand-up comedian, and passionate classicist turns the tables, putting the women of the Greek myths on an equal footing with the men. With wit, humor, and savvy, Haynes revolutionizes our understanding of epic poems, stories, and plays, resurrecting them from a woman's perspective and tracing the origins of their mythic female characters. She looks at women such as Jocasta, Oedipus' mother-turned-lover-and-wife (turned Freudian sticking point), at once the cleverest person in the story and yet often unnoticed. She considers Helen of Troy, whose marriage to Paris caused the Trojan war--a somewhat uneven response to her decision to leave her husband for another man. She demonstrates how the vilified Medea was like an ancient Beyonce--getting her revenge on the man who hurt and betrayed her, if by extreme measures. And she turns her eye to Medusa, the original monstered woman, whose stare turned men to stone, but who wasn't always a monster, and had her hair turned to snakes as punishment for being raped.
Pandora's Jar brings nuance and care to the millennia-old myths and legends and asks the question: Why are we so quick to villainize these women in the first place--and so eager to accept the stories we've been told?
2 different editions
Also available
Also in
Literary Criticism
The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction, and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Williamson, Milly
Paperback
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
Foster, Thomas C.
Paperback
You Can't Joke about That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We're All in This Together
Timpf, Kat
Hardcover
Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology Through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-Earth
Freeman, Austin M.
Paperback
Mythology (75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition): Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Hamilton, Edith
Hardcover
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
Saunders, George
Paperback
But Have You Read the Book?: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films
Lopez, Kristen
Hardcover
Beneath the Moon: Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from Around the World
Yoshitani, Yoshi
Hardcover
The Little Book of Sloth Philosophy (the Little Animal Philosophy Books)
McCartney, Jennifer
Hardcover
Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature
Winkler, Elizabeth
Hardcover
Women of Myth: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena, Your Guide to the Amazing and Diverse Women from World Mytholog
Williamson, Jenny
McMenemy, Genn
Hardcover
Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives
Richardson, Robert D.
Hardcover
The Making of Middle-Earth: The Worlds of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings
Snyder, Christopher A.
Hardcover
How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised Edition: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
Foster, Thomas C.
Paperback
Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel; New, Complete, Uncensored Version
Kuznetsov, Anatoly
Anatoli, A.
Paperback
Romeo and Juliet: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition: Volume 30
Sparknotes
Sparknotes
Paperback
Search for Spock: A Star Trek Book of Exploration: A Highly Illogical Search and Find Parody (Star Trek Fan Book, Trekkies, Activity Boo
Pearlman, Robb
Hardcover
A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing But Using the Bathroom as an Escape
Pera, Joe
Hardcover
Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales
McDowell, Marta
Hardcover
Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
Duncan, Dennis
Hardcover
Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
Lansky, Aaron
Paperback
Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
Duncan, Dennis
Paperback
Midsummer Night's Dream: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition: Volume 29
Sparknotes
Sparknotes
Paperback
Young Bloomsbury: The Generation That Redefined Love, Freedom, and Self-Expression in 1920s England
Strachey, Nino
Hardcover
The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses: The 1922 Text with Essays and Notes
Flynn, Catherine
Joyce, James
Hardcover
How to Write Like a Writer: A Sharp and Subversive Guide to Ignoring Inhibitions, Inviting Inspiration, and Finding Your True Voice
Foster, Thomas C.
Paperback
Jane Austen's Little Book of Wisdom: Words on Love, Life, Society, and Literature
Austen, Jane
Paperback
The Souls of Black Folk: With the Talented Tenth and the Souls of White Folk
Du Bois, W. E. B.
Paperback
Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes
Lesser, Elizabeth
Paperback