Book
Gender and Communication in Euripides’ Plays
Between Song and Silence
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J.H. Kim On Chong-Gossard
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2008
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About this book
The prominent role of women in Greek drama has always fascinated readers. This book proposes that women in Euripides’ plays communicate in ways constructed by the tragic genre itself as ‘female.’ Yet these women’s words are surprisingly not uniformly dangerous or excessively emotional, as has traditionally been thought. Rather, Euripides’ women resort to ‘female’ ways of talking in order to enable others to understand them and their unique point-of-view. Aspects of women’s speech—song, silence and secret-keeping as female verbal genres, and the challenges of speaking out of place—contribute to Euripides’ portrayal of women as different from men. Originating in a culture where putting women under scrutiny was part of daily life, Euripides’ tragedies dramatise women’s constant struggle to control language.
Author / Editor information
J. H. Kim On Chong-Gossard, Ph.D. (1999) in Classical Philology, University of Michigan, is a Lecturer in Classics at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Research interests include gender in Greek tragedy, and Roman sexual scandals in Suetonius’ biographies.
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 31, 2008
eBook ISBN:
9789047442769
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
270
