Stealing Helen: The Myth of the Abducted Wife in Comparative Perspective

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It's a familiar story: a beautiful woman is abducted and her husband journeys to recover her. This story's best-known incarnation is also a central Greek myth-the abduction of Helen that led to the Trojan War. Stealing Helen surveys a vast range of folktales and texts exhibiting the story pattern of the abducted beautiful wife and makes a detailed

Reviews

"Ultimately, the book's greatest merit may lie . . . in his [Edmunds'] broad horizons--in his delight at discovering similarities between classical literature and the tales and experiences of people across the globe."---Barbara Graziosi, Times Higher Education
"Edmunds brings to this rich, sophisticated book an innovative approach to the Helen story: he looks at it with a comparative eye." * Choice *
"An excellent, important book in both its methodology and data. . . . Edmunds has brought about a leap of quality in understanding the myth of Helen."---Ephraim Nissan, Fabula
"A weighty contribution to the study of Helen as well as the study of folklore in ancient Greece."---Ryan Platte, Journal of Hellenic Studies

Author Bio

Lowell Edmunds is professor emeritus of classics at Rutgers University. He is the author of Oedipus: The Ancient Legend and Its Later Analogues and the editor of Approaches to Greek Myth.