The Glory of Hera: Greek Mythology and the Greek Family - Softcover

Philip E. Slater

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807057959 ISBN 13: 9780807057957

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1971

Synopsis

The ancient Athenians were "quarrelsome as friends, treacherous as neighbours, brutal as masters, faithless as servants, shallow as lovers - all of which was in part redeemed by their intelligence and creativity". Thus writes Philip Slater in this classic work on narcissism and family relationships in 5th-century Athenian society. Exploring a rich corpus of Greek mythology and drama, he argues that the personalities and social behaviour of the gods were neurotic, and that their neurotic conditions must have mirrored the family life of the people who perpetuated their myths. The author traces the issues of narcissism to mother-son relationships, focusing primarily on the literary representation of Hera and the male gods and showing how it related to devalued women raising boys in an ambitious society dominated by men. "The role of homosexuality in society, fatherless families, working mothers, women's status, and violence, male pride, and male bonding - all these find their place in Slater's analysis, so honestly and carefully addressed that we see our own societal dilemmas reflected in archaic mythic narratives all the more clearly".

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

This deeply probing and elegantly written book interprets the charged sexual structure of the ancient Greek family and compares ancient Greek narcissism with that of contemporary middle-class America.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

"This deeply probing and elegantly written book interprets the charged sexual structure of the ancient Greek family and compares ancient narcissism with that of contemporary middle-class America."--Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1971
• ISBN 10: 0807057959
• ISBN 13: 9780807057957
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 540