How Long to Read Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid

How Long Does it Take to Read Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid?

It takes the average reader 9 hours and 46 minutes to read Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid by Jessica A. Westerhold

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

In this thesis, I explore the construction of female erotic desire in Ovid's work as it is represented in the form of mythical heroines. Phaedra-like figures appear in Ovid's poetry as dangerous spectres of wildly inappropriate and therefore destructive, bestial, or incestuous sexuality. I consider in particular the catalogue of Phaedra-like figures in Ars Amatoria 1.283-340, Phaedra in Heroides 4, Byblis in Metamorphoses 9.439-665, and Iphis in Metamorphoses 9.666-797. Their tales act as a threat of punishment for any inappropriate desire. They represent for the normative sexual subject a sexual desire which has been excluded, and what could happen, what the normative subject could become, were he or she to transgress taboos and laws governing sexual relations. I apply the idea of the abject, as it has been formulated by Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler, in order to elucidate Ovid's process of constructing such a subject in his poetry. I also consider Butler's theories of the performativity of sex, gender, and kinship roles in relation to the continued maintenance of the normative and abject subject positions his poetry creates. The intersection of "performance" and performativity is crucial to the representation of the heroines as paradigms of female desire. Ovid's engagement with his literary predecessors in the genre of tragedy, in particular Euripides' and Sophocles' tragedies featuring Phaedra, highlights the idea of dramatically "performing" a role, e.g., the role of incestuous step-mother. Such a spotlight on "performance" in all of these literary representations reveals the performativity of culturally defined gender and kinship roles. Ovid's ludic representations, or "citations," of Phaedra, I argue, both reinvest cultural stereotypes of women's sexuality with authority through their repetition and introduce new possibilities of feminine subjectivity and sexuality through the variations in each iteration.

How long is Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid?

Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid by Jessica A. Westerhold is 568 pages long, and a total of 146,544 words.

This makes it 192% the length of the average book. It also has 179% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 13 hours and 20 minutes to read Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid aloud.

What Reading Level is Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid?

Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid?

Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid by Jessica A. Westerhold is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

To buy Tragic Desire: Phaedra and Her Heirs in Ovid by Jessica A. Westerhold on Amazon click the button below.