The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-ImitationOxford University Press, USA, 2005 - 272 páginas Many cultures have myths about self-imitation, stories about people who pretend to be someone else pretending to be them, in effect masquerading as themselves. This great theme, in literature and in life, tells us that people put on masks to discover who they really are under the masks they usually wear, so that the mask reveals rather than conceals the self beneath the self.In this book, noted scholar of Hinduism and mythology Wendy Doniger offers a cross-cultural exploration of the theme of self-impersonation, whose widespread occurrence argues for both its literary power and its human value. The stories she considers range from ancient Indian literature through medieval European courtly literature and Shakespeare to Hollywood and Bollywood. They illuminate a basic human way of negotiating reality, illusion, identity, and authenticity, not to mention memory, amnesia, and the process of aging. Many of them involve marriage and adultery, for tales of sexual betrayal cut to the heart of the crisis of identity.These stories are extreme examples of what we common folk do, unconsciously, every day. Few of us actually put on masks that replicate our faces, but it is not uncommon for us to become travesties of ourselves, particularly as we age and change. We often slip carelessly across the permeable boundary between the un-self-conscious self-indulgence of our most idiosyncratic mannerisms and the conscious attempt to give the people who know us, personally or publicly, the version of ourselves that they expect. Myths of self-imitation open up for us the possibility of multiple selves and the infinite regress of self-discovery.Drawing on a dizzying array of tales-some fact, some fiction-The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was is a fascinating and learned trip through centuries of culture, guided by a scholar of incomparable wit and erudition. |
Índice
The SelfImpersonation of Mythology | 3 |
The Mythology of SelfImpersonation | 10 |
Notes 233 | 22 |
Direitos de autor | |
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The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-Imitation Wendy Doniger Pré-visualização limitada - 2004 |
The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was: Myths of Self-Imitation Wendy Doniger Pré-visualização limitada - 2004 |
Palavras e frases frequentes
actor adultery amnesia asked become bedtrick Bianca body Boxletter Brünnhilde called Cary Grant Cavell Chandrashekhara Charles Chudala d'Eon daughter dead death disguised Doniger Doris Day double dream face face-lift fall in love film forget Freud gender genre George Cukor Gunther Gutrune Hermione Hollywood husband imitating impersonating Irene Dunne Isolde Judy killed king kiss Lady Eve live look lover Madeleine male marriage married mask masquerade memory mind mirror mother mythology myths named necklace never Nibelungenlied night novel Orlando Parvati Paula person plastic surgery play plot portrait pretending queen Rainier Rama Random Harvest rape realized recognize reincarnation remarriage remember Rosalind Rupa says scar Scottie self-imitation self-impersonation sexual Shiva Siegfried Siegfried and Brünnhilde Siegfried's Sita Smithy someone soul Stanley Cavell story surgery sword tale Taravati tell theme Thidreks Saga told trick Tristan truth Udayana unconscious variant Vasavadatta Völsunga Saga wife woman women