The Myth of Medea and the Murder of Children

(Hardback)

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Corti focuses on the meaning and importance of the act of child murder in literary treatments of the ancient myth. A projection of commonly experienced emotions that are often repressed and denied, Medea is the central figure in a tragedy encompassing the psychology of abusive individuals as well as the destructive quality of patriarchal institutions. In the Euripidean prototype of the tragedy, child murder exposes the ironic issue of archaic communal values, and in the version by the Roman Seneca, disaster results from decadent emotional excess, but Corti asserts that the ancient custom of "exposing" superfluous infants is relevant to the psychology of both works. The abandonment of infants and persecution of "witches" are essential elements in the context of Pierre Corneille's vision of Medea as absolute authority imposing order on the petty rivalries of aristocratic "children". In the pessimistic drama of the 19th century, Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer, the punitive pedagogy of abusive parents, the disruptive effects of repressed memory, and the persecutory potential of group psychology function together as a constellation of interdependent pathologies. Finally, Corti asserts that the number of 20th-century writers who have presented versions of the myth of Medea suggests that the drama of child murder is peculiarly relevant to the human predicament in our own age. Aimed at students, scholars and other researchers concerned with myth, world literature, cultural and women's studies, gender and the psychology of abuse.

Reviews

"Lillian Corti's impressive study deserves the epithet 'comprehensive' more than most tracings of a Classical myth through Western literature and social thought....In short, [the author's] brilliant treatment of the larger social themes embedded in the story of Jason and Medea produces not only a book to learn from, but a model for other studies of the psycho-ideological roots of major thematic concerns in Western literature."-Donald H. Reiman Editor Shelley and his Circle, The New York Public Library Adjunct Professor of English, University of Delaware
[An] invigorating and original book....Highly recommended for all academic collections.-Choice
Corti's command of the various historical periods and languages is impressive, as are her frequent insightful conclusions....scholars and graduate students of comparative literature and drama will benefit from this book, and Conti's style and language...are generally accessible and clear.-Religious Studies Review
"An invigorating and original book....Highly recommended for all academic collections."-Choice
"[An] invigorating and original book....Highly recommended for all academic collections."-Choice
"Corti's command of the various historical periods and languages is impressive, as are her frequent insightful conclusions....scholars and graduate students of comparative literature and drama will benefit from this book, and Conti's style and language...are generally accessible and clear."-Religious Studies Review

Author Bio

LILLIAN CORTI is an Assistant Professor in the English Department, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She has taught Comparative, World, and Women's Literature at various institutions, including Brooklyn College, Queens College, the University of Tulsa, and Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville, the Congo, where she was a Fulbright Visiting Professor.