Alone Of All Her Sex: The Myth And The Cult Of The Virgin Mary
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
From the venerated altarpieces of the Renaissance to the whispering devotions of ordinary believers, the figure of the Virgin Mary stands as one of the most powerful and enduring icons in Western civilization — and Marina Warner's Alone of All Her Sex is the definitive account of how she came to be so. Warner chronicles the construction of the Marian myth across two millennia, tracing how the Church Fathers, medieval theologians, artists, and poets shaped a vision of ideal womanhood — virginal, obedient, and sorrowing — that served not only as a spiritual ideal but as a profound instrument of social control over women. Combining the rigor of a historian with the sensitivity of a cultural critic, Warner argues that the cult of Mary is inseparable from the patriarchal structures that created it, drawing on theology, art history, folklore, and psychoanalysis to construct a breathtaking and unsettling portrait of faith and femininity. Her prose is lucid, impassioned, and deeply learned, illuminating the paradox at the heart of Marian devotion: that the most exalted of women was defined entirely by her difference from — and superiority to — all other women. For anyone who has ever wondered how a single figure could inspire such reverence and such oppression in equal measure, this book holds the answer.
Author: Marina Warner
Format: Hardback
Genre: Religion
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
From the venerated altarpieces of the Renaissance to the whispering devotions of ordinary believers, the figure of the Virgin Mary stands as one of the most powerful and enduring icons in Western civilization — and Marina Warner's Alone of All Her Sex is the definitive account of how she came to be so. Warner chronicles the construction of the Marian myth across two millennia, tracing how the Church Fathers, medieval theologians, artists, and poets shaped a vision of ideal womanhood — virginal, obedient, and sorrowing — that served not only as a spiritual ideal but as a profound instrument of social control over women. Combining the rigor of a historian with the sensitivity of a cultural critic, Warner argues that the cult of Mary is inseparable from the patriarchal structures that created it, drawing on theology, art history, folklore, and psychoanalysis to construct a breathtaking and unsettling portrait of faith and femininity. Her prose is lucid, impassioned, and deeply learned, illuminating the paradox at the heart of Marian devotion: that the most exalted of women was defined entirely by her difference from — and superiority to — all other women. For anyone who has ever wondered how a single figure could inspire such reverence and such oppression in equal measure, this book holds the answer.