Overview

In this text, the author aims to present a cultural biography of the first woman. Her brief adventure in the book of Genesis is where the Western idea of woman began. The text traces the evolution of Eve's bad reputation, drawing on myth, folk tale and popular romance, and puts the spotlight firmly on women and their sexuality. Centuries of disobedient women have been linked with Eve, the original bad girl, and the author offers a tale of a folk maiden who metamorphoses into a vamp, a mermaid, a witch or a virgin, all trapped inside the walls of a fertile garden, and finally, perhaps, into a thoroughly modern woman.

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9780814758120

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Reviews

A valuable book, essential reading for anyone interested in tracing the ways in which the story of Eve has influenced Western understandings of gender. -Carolyn See,The Washington Post Norris' touch is at once playful and wise... [She] is a consistently deft and imaginative critic. -Salon A fascinating 'biography' of the women of Western Myth, folklore, and legend... Norris illuminates how persistent ideas of woman as both life- and death-giving, attractive and dangerous, innocent and knowing have changed over time. -Library Journal,starred review An important addition to the literature of women's studies. -Publishers Weekly,starred review <ti1>Eve excites me because it provides such a rich cluster of stories around the image of Eve through Western culture. -Lillian S. Robinson,The Women's Review of Books

<p> Norris' touch is at once playful and wise.. . . [She] is a consistently deft and imaginative critic.

Author Information

Pamela Norris has taught English in London, Paris, and Zagreb. Her publications include an anthology of Victorian women poets and collections of medieval and Renaissance poetry in addition to Everyman Library editions of the novels of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen, and the poetry of the Bronte sisters. Her writing has recently appeared in the Literary Review and The Independent on Sunday.

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