the Experiences of Tiresias: Feminine and Greek Man

In The Experiences of Tiresias, its title referring to the shepherd struck blind after glimpsing Athena's naked body, Nicole Loraux explores the ambivalence in 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 an inclusiveness between the genders, which casts a shadow over their clear, officially defined borders."Nicole Loraux documents, with delicate sensitivity to text and context, the mobility of the contrast between 'man' and 'the feminine.'... [Her] readings of tragedy are particularly compelling."--Mary Margaret McCabe, The Times Literary Supplement"Loraux is a pioneer in the analysis of gender difference and sexuality in classical Greece. Strongly opposed to polarized interpretations of 'masculine' and 'feminine,' she illuminates the complex and often contradictory interrelationship of the sexes in real life and in the Greek/Athenian social 'imaginary.'... An essential work of classical scholarship."--Choice