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Overview
Combining archival research on the entry of women into Greek studies in Victorian England and America with a literary interest in their translations of Greek tragedy, Prins demonstrates how women turned to this genre to perform a passion for ancient Greek, full of eros and pathos. She focuses on five tragedies—Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound, Electra, Hippolytus, and The Bacchae—to analyze a wide range of translational practices by women and to explore the ongoing legacy of Ladies' Greek. Key figures in this story include Barrett Browning and Virginia Woolf, Janet Case and Jane Harrison, Edith Hamilton and Eva Palmer, and A. Mary F. Robinson and H.D. The book also features numerous illustrations, including photographs of early performances of Greek tragedy at women's colleges.
The first comparative study of Anglo-American Hellenism, Ladies' Greek opens up new perspectives in transatlantic Victorian studies and the study of classical reception, translation, and gender.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780691141893 |
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Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
Publication date: | 05/09/2017 |
Pages: | 312 |
Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Between Alpha and Omega xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: Women and the Greek Alphabet 1
An Ode in Greek 1
“Some Greek upon the Margin” 5
“Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?” 12
Translating Greek Tragedy 26
Chapter One: The Spell of Greek 35
Virginia Woolf ’s Agamemnon Notebook 35
Cassandra between the Stage and the Page 45
OTOTOTOI 52
Chapter Two: ΙΩ in Prometheus Bound 57
“So Harsh a Chain of Suffering” 57
Greek Verbs in Me 62
“A Goodly Company of Lady-Translators” 83
The Flight of Io, to America and Back to Greece 95
Chapter Three: The Education of Electra 116
Behold and See 116
Electra at Girton College 124
Electra at Smith College 137
Chapter Four: Hippolytus in Ladies’ Greek (with the Accents) 152
New Measures for New Women 152
“A Brisk Interchange of Letters” 155
Euripidean (De)Cadence 163
H.D.’s Euripides: Feet, Feet, Feet, Feet 180
Chapter Five: Dancing Greek Letters 202
Modern Maenads 202
Jane Harrison’s Thrill 209
Bryn Mawr College Rituals 218
Postface 233
Reading the Surface 233
Refractions of Antigone 236
How to Read Ladies’ Greek 242
Notes 247
Bibliography 265
Index 289
What People are Saying About This
"Ladies' Greek is remarkable for its sensitive and subtle discussion of the controversial process of translating and performing dramatic texts written in a dead language whose study was at first available only to men."—Helene P. Foley, Barnard College"Combining revelatory archival work and close literary readings, Ladies' Greek tells a riveting story of desire and insecurity, scholarship and theater, friendship and poetry."—Simon Goldhill, University of Cambridge"Ladies' Greek is the resounding answer to Woolf’s ‘On Not Knowing Greek.’ What was unleashed when women as well as men, on both sides of the Atlantic, came to intimately know their beloved Greek tragedies? Prins recreates the burgeoning culture of translation and re-enactment at women’s colleges, reviving enthusiasms of the forgotten and famous, from A. Mary F. Robinson to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is a definitive literary history that will influence future scholars, but any reader may binge on it like a beautiful BBC drama."—Alison Booth, University of Virginia"This original, elegant, and beautifully written book combines deep classical learning and superb transatlantic archival research to produce a wonderful account of Victorian women's intense love affair with ancient Greek. Yopie Prins's classical expertise helps scholars who cannot read Greek toward magnificent new literary interpretations."—Mary Loeffelholz, Northeastern University"Ladies' Greek is a highly anticipated, wide-ranging, and meticulously researched book. Its compelling and original conclusion makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Victorian Hellenism."—Laura McClure, University of Wisconsin–Madison