Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

53 Recensioner: 4.5
Längd: 9T 24min
Språk: Engelska
Format
Kategori: Historia

“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?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Utgivningsdatum

Ljudbok: 29 mars 2022

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Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

53 Recensioner: 4.5
Längd: 9T 24min
Språk: Engelska
Format
Kategori: Historia

“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?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Utgivningsdatum

Ljudbok: 29 mars 2022

Taggar

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Femke
25 aug. 2022
This book is not, like her books before, a fictional story about classical women, but more an actual article on how the (in)famous women from the classics are treated by us and how unfair that sometimes might be. This audiobook felt like sitting in a uni bench listening to the most interesting and witty professor lecturing a most fascinating subject. Not great if you want to be swept away in a story, but amazing if you want to learn something new in the easiest and most fun way possible.
Guro
31 dec. 2022
I can truly recommend this book to anyone that found Greek mythology interesting as a child but has grown up to realize that what we have been told is not only surfaced level but in some instances wrong. I might need to read it again just to fully understand all that is being told.
Suki
8 sep. 2022
Very well written, splendid, vivid narration, just not my cup of tea. Way too modern and feminist for me. IMHO this is not how the Greeks would have read their myth (without any mytho-poetic license at all). This bundle of essays that try to make real women out of archetypes may refresh you on the stories but I couldn't handle more than four myths being reanalysed in a hyper modern, anachronistic, politically correct, overly emotional, materialist fashion.
Magdalena
14 juli 2022
Måste läsas! En genomgång över våra mytiska kvinnofigurer och hur deras framställning har ändrats genom historien och versioner!
Sascha Bloch
29 jan. 2023
Forfriskende at høre om græsk mytologi med fokus på kvinderne. De lader ikke mændene noget tilbage at ønske, hverken i stridslyst, hævngerrighed, stolthed eller udspekulerethed, snarere tværtimod.
Ula
12 jan. 2023
Excellent, highly recommend! Will come back to it for sure
Paddy
5 sep. 2022
Natalie Haynes is delightfully smart as always.
Alise
18 feb. 2023
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