Gender, Creation Myths and their Reception in Western Civilization: Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve

Description

This volume offers an instructive comparative perspective on the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths about the creation of humans in relation to each other, as well as a broad overview of their enduring relevance in the modern Western world and its conceptions of gender and identity. Taking the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, is crucial to an understanding of that society, it presents the different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions over a range of periods and places. It thereby demonstrates that the myths reflect fundamental continuities, evolutions and developments across cultures and societies: in no context are these more apparent than with regard to gender. Chapters explore the role of gender in Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian creation myths and their reception traditions, demonstrating how perceptions of ‘male’ and ‘female’ dating back to antiquity have become embedded in, and significantly influenced, subsequent perceptions of gender roles. Focusing on the figures of Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve and their instantiations in a broad range of narratives and media from antiquity to the present day, they examine how variations on these myths reflect the concerns of the societies producing them and the malleability of the stories as they are recast to fit different contexts and different audiences. The study takes as its starting point the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, both male and female, is crucial to an understanding of that society. Different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions at different periods and places, reflect fundamental evolutions and developments in society, particularly with regard to gender. This project thus investigates the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian stories of the creation of the primordial couples – Prometheus and Pandora and Adam and Eve – and their reception in the Western world, shedding light on attitudes towards male and female, at a range of influential periods and places. It explores how the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths stand out from each other, and also cross-fertilise between each other at different times and cultures, as well as examining what the respective depictions of male and female reveal about the roles and perceptions of the different genders both in their original sources and in their receptions in later societies. Through analysis of how and why the tales have been recast and adapted at various periods, it considers how far the myths still have relevance in the modern Western world by considering both traditions separately, and also by teasing apart points at which they intermingled or separated, thereby deepening our understanding of the two main threads that are assumed to have given shape to Western civilization. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication CONTENTS FIGURES AND TABLES CONTRIBUTORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION Notes PART I VISUAL SYMBOLISM: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF CREATION CHAPTER 1 THE USE OF PROMETHEUS AS AN EXEMPLAR IN THIRD-CENTURY ROME Notes CHAPTER 2 INNOCENT IN SENSE AND IN BODY: ADAM AND EVE IN THEIR MANDORLAS (FOURTH CENTURY-THIRTEENTH CENTURY) A Roman debt Latin consciousness Overcoming Prometheus Notes CHAPTER 3 PROMETHEUS PLASTICATOR: RECEPTIONS OF THE CREATION MYTHEME IN ART Prometheus plasticator Prometheus plasticator and Christianity Renaissance reception Post-Renaissance and modern receptions Notes PART II CREATION NARRATIVES AS A MODEL FOR MARRIAGE CHAPTER 4 EVE AND PANDORA: MYTHS IN DIALOGUE 1. The myth of Prometheus and Pandora 2. The Jewish myth (Bible and Midrash)17 3. The Jewish myth and the Greek myth Conclusion Notes CHAPTER 5 TEMPTING TREASURES AND SEDUCTIVE SNAKES: PRESENTING EVE AND PANDORA FOR THE YOUNGEST READERS Pandora Eve Presenting Eve and Pandora for the youngest readers Notes CHAPTER 6 THEMATIC INTERCULTURAL CORRESPONDENCE ON THE CREATION OF THE PERFECT WOMAN AND THE FALLING IN LOVE WITH HER (OVID, IBN HAZM, IBN HASDAI, IBN ZAKBAL AND ALHARIZI) The doctrine of love according to Ibn Hazm On falling in love while asleep or based on a description Discussion and examples: Variations of Hebrew literature from the Middle Ages Conclusion Notes PART III PANDORA, EVE AND THE FEMININE IDEAL CHAPTER 7 ADAM AND EVE: REFLECTIONS ON A RELATIONSHIP The uneven relationship between man and woman God and human beings Notes CHAPTER 8 EVE, THE FIRST WOMAN: ON CHOICE AND RESPONSIBILITY The character of Eve in light of the interpretations of the story about her creation in Chapter 2 The character of Eve in light of the interpretations of the story about the sin in chapter 3 Eve as creator: An additional look at Eve – Genesis 4 Summary Notes CHAPTER 9 ABSOLVING EVE: MEDIEVAL WOMEN WRITERS REMODELLING THE CREATION AND THE FALL1 Marie de France, ‘Del reclus e del vilein’ (Of the Hermit and the Peasant) The Lady, La response du Bestiaire (The Response to the Bestiary of Love) Jehan Le Fevre, Le livre de Leesce (The Book of Gladness) Conclusion Notes PART IV IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATIONS OF THE CREATION NARRATIVE CHAPTER 10 A STORY OF ADAM AND EVE FOR SOVIET CHILDREN AND ADULTS: THE DIVINE COMEDY , A PUPPET SHOW BASED ON THE BIBLE The Divine Comedy The Lilith tradition The reception of Lilith in the Divine Comedy Eve in the Divine Comedy Social commentary in the Divine Comedy Conclusion Notes CHAPTER 11 GENDER ARCHETYPES AND NATIONAL AGENDAS IN THE HEBREW CREATION MYTH OF THE DAFFODIL Notes CHAPTER 12 GENESIS 3.15 AND 16 AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL The texts: Genesis 3.15–16 ‘And he shall rule over you’ ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman’ In short and in summation Notes PART V POSTMODERN RECEPTIONS CHAPTER 13 ‘THE BEAUTIFUL TRAP INSIDE US’: PANDORAN SCIENCE FICTION AND POSTHUMAN PERSONHOOD Overview Mimetic creation and memetic reception histories Pandora’s psyche and other (femme) fatal(e) anti-Prometheanisms Pandora’s posthumanity in some recent scholarship ‘Pandora’s kopis’ and Atlantean ‘Hope’ in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey ‘You open the box and you fi nd yourself there’: Unboxing Pandoras in Ex Machina (etc.) and The Girl with All the Gifts Anti-Promethean posthumankind Revolutionary Pandoran replicants in Ridley Scott Notes CHAPTER 14 RIDLEY SCOTT’S PROMETHEUS AND THE HUMAN PANDORA* Analysis of the film Scholarship on the film Conclusion Notes CHAPTER 15 PANDORA’S SPLIT: READING THE MYTH OF PANDORA IN CRUEL BEAUTY Pandora and the idea of gender differentiation Pandora and gender transformations Cruel Beauty: Synopsis14 The emergence of Pandora in Cruel Beauty The prince and Carl Jung’s theory of the shadow Resisting the gender binary A new paradigm Notes CHAPTER 16 ADAM THE ALIEN, EVE THE ROBOT: THE REINTERPRETATION OF ADAM, EVE, PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA IN JAPANESE MANGA AND ANIME Japanese creation myths A brief look at Christianity in Japan Adam and Eve in manga and anime Prometheus and Pandora in manga Conclusion Notes CONCLUSION Notes BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX