The experiences of Tiresias
Subtitle: the feminine and the Greek man
By: Nicole Loraux ; translated by Paula Wissing.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 348
Subjects: Sex role -- Greece.; Femininity.; Masculinity.; Greece -- Civilization -- To 146 B.C.
Description: Nicole Loraux has devoted much of her writing to charting the paths of the Greek "imaginary," revealing a collective masculine psyche fraught with ambivalence as it tries to grasp the differences between nature and culture, body and soul, woman and man. The Experiences of Tiresias, its title referring to the shepherd struck blind after glimpsing Athena's naked body, captures this ambivalence in exploring how the Greek male defines himself in relationship to the feminine.

In these essays Loraux disturbs the idea of virile men and feminine women, a distinction found in official discourse and aimed at protecting the ideals of male identity from any taint of the feminine. Turning to epic and to Socrates, however, she insists on a logic of inclusiveness between the genders, which casts a shadow over their clear, officially defined borders.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [333]-338) and index.