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Loading... Eve: A Biography (edition 1999)by Pamela Norris (Author)
Work InformationEve: A Biography by Pamela Norris
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The history of Everywoman--the Book of Genesis's famously debated character Eve: A Biography is the history of Everywoman. Her brief adventure in the Book of Genesis is where the Western idea of woman began, and three thousand years after Eve offered Adam the forbidden fruit, everyone still knows that losing Paradise was Eve's fault. Pamela Norris traces the evolution of Eve's bad reputation, drawing on a rich and diverse tradition of storytelling that embraces myth, folk tale and popular romance, and puts the spotlight firmly on women and their sexuality. From Dinah and Delilah, Pandora and Psyche, to the snaky Lamias and Liliths who haunted nineteenth-century painting and literature, centuries of disobedient women have been linked with Eve, the original bad girl, providing ample ammunition for male fears and fantasies. But Eve's story has also been retold by women, who have found ingenious and often subversive ways to free her from her disreputable past. Stimulating, intriguing and wittily erudite, Eve: A Biography is the entrancing tale of a folk maiden who metamorphoses into a vamp, a mermaid, a bluestocking, a witch, a virgin trapped inside the walls of a fertile garden and finally, perhaps, into a thoroughly modern woman who chews the apple of knowledge with gusto and wouldn't dream of offering Adam a bite. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)222.11092Religions Bible Historical Books Pentateuch GenesisLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The most interesting portion, to me, was the “biographical” end section, which examines the writing and thinking of female authors on the theme, from the Renaissance to modern times. Ranging from intellectual challenges aimed at the heart of the myth to contemporary and experimental fictional treatments, the character and motivations of the feminine archetype are turned upside down and inside out, concluding with the notion that “Eve’s story … is a reminder of the difficult choices and compromises of adult life, the requirement to balance exploration and individuation with social and family demands. … Perhaps what is most important is Eve’s recognition of the need to challenge boundaries, to make the imaginative leap, however difficult, unpredictable and even dangerous, into a new phase of existence.”
Copiously footnoted and containing an extensive bibliography, this 1998 publication belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in women’s history. ( )