Medusa: In the Mirror of Time

David Leeming

ISBN 10: 1780230958 / ISBN 13: 9781780230955

Published by Reaktion Books, 2013

About this Item

The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR005035454

Bibliographic Details

Title: Medusa: In the Mirror of Time

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Publication Date: 2013

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Medusa, literally, petrifies: her face turned the ancients to stone. For Perseus and his patriarchal culture she was a dangerous female monster that had to be destroyed; for Dante she was the erotic power that could destroy men; Freud saw in her hair a nest of terrifying penises signaling castration. Yet in our time Medusa's reputation has improved: feminists see her as a noble victim of the patriarchy, and the designer Versace celebrates the lure of her mysterious face in a logo which stares at us from his ads for men's underwear, haute couture and exotic dinner-ware. In our modern culture she is once again a power-player demanding to be recognized; Medusa, it seems, still has the power to transfix us. Medusa: In the Mirror of Time explores how and why the mythical figure of the gorgon has become one of the most important and enduring ideas throughout human history. This book represents Medusa's biography, searching for the origins of the myth in cultures more ancient than Classical Greece. Ultimately it shows the Medusa myth to be a cultural dream, which continues to develop and change with our times. At the same time it explores what the changing Medusa myth reveals about our culture, and ourselves.

About the Author:

David Leeming is Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of numerous books on mythology, as well as an award-winning biography of James Baldwin.