The Rapes Of Lucretia: A Myth And Its Transformations
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: Very good
Pages: Good
Few myths in Western culture have proven as enduringly provocative as the story of Lucretia — the Roman noblewoman whose violation by Tarquinius Superbus and subsequent suicide ignited a revolution that toppled a monarchy and birthed a republic. Ian Donaldson's The Rapes of Lucretia: A Myth and its Transformations is a landmark work of literary and cultural scholarship that traces the astonishing afterlife of this ancient Roman legend across more than two millennia of art, literature, philosophy, and politics. With scholarly precision and critical elegance, Donaldson charts how the Lucretia narrative has been interpreted, contested, and reinvented — from Livy and Ovid through Shakespeare's poem The Rape of Lucrece, to the paintings of Titian and Rembrandt, the operas of Britten, and the philosophical writings of Augustine, who famously questioned whether Lucretia's suicide was an act of virtue or sin. This study illuminates the profound tensions embedded in the myth — around gender, honour, power, and political freedom — revealing how each age has reshaped Lucretia in its own image. For anyone drawn to the intersection of classical antiquity and its enduring cultural legacy, this is an essential and revelatory read.
Author: Ian Donaldson
Format: Hardback
Published: 1982, Oxford University Press
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
Few myths in Western culture have proven as enduringly provocative as the story of Lucretia — the Roman noblewoman whose violation by Tarquinius Superbus and subsequent suicide ignited a revolution that toppled a monarchy and birthed a republic. Ian Donaldson's The Rapes of Lucretia: A Myth and its Transformations is a landmark work of literary and cultural scholarship that traces the astonishing afterlife of this ancient Roman legend across more than two millennia of art, literature, philosophy, and politics. With scholarly precision and critical elegance, Donaldson charts how the Lucretia narrative has been interpreted, contested, and reinvented — from Livy and Ovid through Shakespeare's poem The Rape of Lucrece, to the paintings of Titian and Rembrandt, the operas of Britten, and the philosophical writings of Augustine, who famously questioned whether Lucretia's suicide was an act of virtue or sin. This study illuminates the profound tensions embedded in the myth — around gender, honour, power, and political freedom — revealing how each age has reshaped Lucretia in its own image. For anyone drawn to the intersection of classical antiquity and its enduring cultural legacy, this is an essential and revelatory read.