Splitting the Difference-Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India

Author: Wendy DonigerPublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 2002Language: EnglishPages: 376ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195658906 DescriptionIn this book Wendy Doniger recounts and compares several tales from ancient Greek and Indian mythology to demonstrate that Greek and Indian stories of women resemble each other more than the tales of men in the same culture.Hindu and Greek mythologies teem with gendered narratives of doubling and bifurcation: stories of women and men who are doubled, who double themselves, who are seduced by gods doubling as mortals, whose bodies are split or divided. In this book Wendy Doniger recounts and compares several tales from ancient Greek and Indian mythology to demonstrate that Greek and Indian stories of women resemble each other more than the tales of men in the same cultures. In casting Hindu and Greek mythologies as shadows of each other, Doniger shows that culture is sometimes the shadow of gender. Myth, she argues, response to the complexities of the human condition by multiplying or splitting its characters into unequal parts, where these sloughed and cloven selves animate mythology's prodigious plots of sexuality and mortality.A new Preface, written in her own unique style and especially for this edition, touches upon some of the new discoveries Doniger has made since the publication of the hardback.EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWSDoniger executes her comparative studies of the myriad Indic and Greek traditions with the greatest skill and panache.-George Nagy, Harvard UniversityA work of daunting scholarship, born out of exacting patience and devout passion… a compelling ride through the forgotten/half-forgotten turfs of human fantasies around sexuality)-male, female and androgynous.- Indian review of Books Whatever will become of gender studies? Or Classics? Or theatre? Doniger has scooped them all.- Mary Douglas, University College, LondonContentsACKNOWLEDGMETSPRELUDE: COMPARING TEXTS COMPARING PEOPLE 1ONE :THE SHADOW SITA AND THE PHANTOM HELEN Sita / Helen / Interlude: Saranyu and the Sun and the Shadow / Comparison: Sita And Helen / Conclusion:Abuse and Flight TWO: INDRA AND AHALYA, ZEUS AND ALCMENA Indra as Gautama with Ahalya / Zeus as Amphitryon with Alcmena / Interlude: Pandora / Comparison: Ahalya and Alcmena / Conclusion; Did She Fall, or Was She Pushed? THREE: NALA AND Damayanti, Odysseus and Penelope Sukanya and the Ashvins / Nala and Damayanti / Damayanti and Nala / Penelope / Comparison:Damayanti and Penelope / Interlude: How to Tell a HumanFrom a God / Conclusion; Why Prefer a Human to a God?FOUR: MARIATALE / RENUKA AND SCYLLA / CHARYBDIS Mariatale / Renuka / Scylla and Charybdis / Interlude:Splitting Lucy / Comparison: Heads You Lose/ Conclusion: Put a Bag over Her Head FIVE: TRANSPOSED MALE HEADS AND TALES Transposed Male Heads / Splitting Male Androgynes / Interlude: Self-Impregnating Androgynes / Comparison: Victorians and Others / Conclusion: Mind and Body ( and Soul) SIX: BISEXUAL TRANSFORMATIONS Males into Females in India / Females into Males in India / Males into Females in Greece and Europe / Conclusion: Male and / or Female POSTLUDE: THE SHADOW OF GENDER Notes Bibliography Index 3