The Persephone Myth in Young Adult Fiction

From Girl to Woman

Cristina Salcedo González (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

248 Seiten

2024
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-40119-8 (ISBN)

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Investigating the widespread but understudied presence of the Persephone myth within 21st-century young adult literature, Cristina Salcedo González analyses six young adult novels which incorporate a reworking of this ancient Greek myth. Through the identification of mythic themes (‘mythemes’) and patterns within these novels, González shows that these works evoke the female life cycle and develop current perceptions of the female maturational experience. As a result, González makes an important contribution in establishing the cultural significance of young adult literature in the world of classical reception. These novels, all written by women, also inflect or interpret the myth in ways influenced by their contemporary contexts, specifically the impact of the novels’ target readership on the aspects of the myth that are either emphasised (e.g. Persephone’s descent into the underworld; her existence there; and her re-ascent) or de-emphasised (e.g. the mourning and wanderings of Demeter).

This book makes original methodological contributions – through its innovative dual perspective of myth criticism and classical reception – to our understanding of the academically neglected genre of young adult literature and the reception of the myth of Persephone. As a result, González makes an important contribution in establishing the cultural significance of young adult literature in the world of classical reception.

Cristina Salcedo González is Assistant Professor and Lecturer in English at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations

1. Introduction

PART I. THE REVALUATION OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY: THE MULTIPLE FACES OF PERSEPHONE FROM ANTIQUITY TO MODERNITY

2. Classical Persephone
3. From medieval Persephone to romantic Proserpine
4. Persephone in twentieth-century and nineteenth-century literature written in English

PART II. PERSEPHONE ADAPTED FOR YOUNG ADULT READERS: THE YOUNG WOMAN’S JOURNEY INTO ADULTHOOD

5. Persephone’s revival in contemporary popular media and young adult culture
6. Mourning Persephone: adolescence and depression (Dangerous Spaces by Margaret Mahy)
7. Lost Persephone: adolescence and the inevitability of change (The Water’s Edge by Louise Tondeur)
8. Sick Persephone: eating disorders and mental health (Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson)
9. Abducted Persephone: violence against young women (Bone Gap by Laura Ruby)
10. Persephone and toxic love: adolescence and infernal relationships (House of Women by Lynn Freed)
11. Searching Persephone: identity formation, self-esteem and gender violence (Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block)
12. From girl to woman: female rites of passage and underworld journeys
13. Conclusions

Notes
Bibliography
Index
Appendix: young adult rewritings of the Persephone myth in English literature from 1980 to 2023

Erscheint lt. Verlag	12.12.2024
Reihe/Serie	Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Weitere Religionen
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-350-40119-6 / 1350401196
ISBN-13	978-1-350-40119-8 / 9781350401198
Zustand	Neuware