Among Marina Warner's books are From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers (1995), Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (1983), and Joan of Arc (California, 1999).
"Why should Truth be a woman? or Nature? or Justice? or Liberty? Not, certainly, because women have been more free, just, truthful, nor even (though this has a double edge) more natural. Marina Warner sets out to breathe some life into the army of petrified personages that litters Western cityscapes."--Lorna Sage, "Observer"
"Why should Truth be a woman? or Nature? or Justice? or Liberty? Not, certainly, because women have been more free, just, truthful, nor even (though this has a double edge) more natural. Marina Warner sets out to breathe some life into the army of petrified personages that litters Western cityscapes."--Lorna Sage, "Observer"
Warner investigates a recurrent motif in allegory, ``the female form as an expression of desiderata and virtues,'' looking at literary and visual forms from classical times to the present. She assumes a working knowledge of classical writings, but her presentation is clearly thought out, and not burdened down with jargon, esoterica, or non-sequiturs. At the center of Warner's argument is an attempt to understand the paradox of using the form of a woman to represent ideas that are not considered womanly (Justice is represented as a woman, but not because women are thought to be just). She raises issues that are important to the continued development of a scholarly discipline of women's studies, as well as breaking new ground in the literary interpretation of traditional myths and images. Highly recommended. Patricia Scott, Comparative Arts Dept., Ohio Univ., Chillicothe
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