The Long Journey Home: Re-visioning the myth of Demeter and Persephone for our time

Downing, Christine

ISBN 10: 0877739374 / ISBN 13: 9780877739371

Published by Shambhala, 1994

About this Item

Gently read. May have name of previous ownership, or ex-library edition. Binding tight; spine straight and smooth, with no creasing; covers clean and crisp. Minimal signs of handling or shelving. 100% GUARANTEE! Shipped with delivery confirmation, if you're not satisfied with purchase please return item! Ships USPS Media Mail.

Seller Inventory # OTV.0877739374.VG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Long Journey Home: Re-visioning the myth of Demeter and Persephone for our time
• Publisher: Shambhala
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0877739374
• ISBN 13: 9780877739371
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: very_good

About this title

Synopsis

The myth of Demeter and Persephone is regarded as the myth for women, as Oedipus is the myth for men, yet everyone reads its meaning differently. This diverse collection of writings approaches the myth from many perspectives--historical, literary, psychological, and ecological--and sheds light on the myth's ancient meaning as well as offering new insights into its contemporary implications.

Reviews

Heavily footnoted and broad in scope, this collection begins by examining the inconsistencies of the earliest versions of the Demeter and Persephone myth by Homer and Ovid. By cross-referencing classic and modern thought with literary, cultic and agrarian views, Downing ( The Goddess ) allows the "various interpretations to contradict, complement, complicate, and ultimately enrich one another." Among the issues debated are Demeter's true character and motivations (nurturing, selfless mother vs. obsessed neurotic); the "necessity" of Persephone's rape (a commonplace cruelty vs. her own desires of womanhood); maidenhood vs. menopause; homosexual vs. heterosexual love; the secrets of the Eleusinian mysteries and the Thesmophoria; and life vs. death/renewal. Despite centuries of gender bias in the myth's retelling and translations, Downing and her contributors reclaim the myth as their own: "We hoped that the discovery of a prepatriarchal world," the editor posits, "might help us imagine forward to a postpatriarchal one." Standout contributions include "Learning From My Mother Dying" by Carol P. Christ, poetry by Alma Luz Villanueva and Herta Rosenblatt and John Daughters's wickedly funny "Hades Speaks."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.