The Callisto Myth from Ovid to Atwood
Initiation and Rape in Literature
Description
Kathleen Wall traces the myth through fifteen works of English, American, and Canadian literature, providing a fresh, feminist reading of these narratives. Among the works analysed are selections by Margaret Atwood, Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy, and George Elliot. The resulting text reveals many facets of the realities of women's experience from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. And ultimately, Wall shows rape to be an expression of dominance rather than lust, giving increased support to the definition suggested by feminists. Wall demonstrates that the Callisto myth is a powerful archetype which illustrates both the victimization of women and their search for independence and autonomy, an archetype that should not be ignored by modern women.
Reviews
"Her interpretations are always fresh...This is a first-rate literary criticism." Estella Lauter, Department of Humanistic Studies: Literature and Language, University of Wisconsin "The Callisto Myth invites any reader with a lively curiousity into the sacred grove of litcrit where fiction can be savoured as art as well as storytelling." Valerie Frith, The Toronto Star