Transformations of Circe
Author | : Judith Yarnall |
Publisher | : University of Illinois Press |
Total Pages | : 260 |
Release | : 1994 |
ISBN-10 | : 0252063562 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780252063565 |
Rating | : 4/5 (62 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Beginning with a detailed study of Homer's balance of negative and positive elements in the Circe-Odysseus myth, Judith Yarnall employs text and illustrations to demonstrate how Homer's Circe is connected with age-old traditions of goddess worship. She then examines how the image of a one-sided "witch," who first appeared in the commentary of Homer's allegorical interpreters, proved remarkably persistent, influencing Virgil and Ovid. Yarnall concludes with a discussion of work by Margaret Atwood and Eudora Welty in which the enchantress at last speaks in her own voice: that of a woman isolated by, but unashamed of, her power.