Princeton University Press Ladies` Greek – Victorian Translations of Tragedy

In Ladies' Greek, Yopie Prins illuminates a culture of female classical literacy that emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century, during the formation of women's colleges on both sides of the Atlantic. Why did Victorian women of letters desire to learn ancient Greek, a "dead" language written in a strange alphabet and no longer spoken? In the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, they wrote "some Greek upon the margin--lady's Greek, without the accents." Yet in the margins of classical scholarship they discovered other ways of knowing, and not knowing, Greek. Mediating between professional philology and the popularization of classics, these passionate amateurs became an important medium for classical transmission. Combining archival research on the entry of women into Greek studies in Victorian England and America with a literary interest in their translations of Greek tragedy, Prins demonstrates how women turned to this genre to perform a passion for ancient Greek, full of eros and pathos. She focuses on five tragedies--Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound, Electra, Hippolytus, and The Bacchae--to analyze a wide range of translational practices by women and to explore the ongoing legacy of Ladies' Greek. Key figures in this story include Barrett Browning and Virginia Woolf, Janet Case and Jane Harrison, Edith Hamilton and Eva Palmer, and A. Mary F. Robinson and H.D. The book also features numerous illustrations, including photographs of early performances of Greek tragedy at women's colleges. The first comparative study of Anglo-American Hellenism, Ladies' Greek opens up new perspectives in transatlantic Victorian studies and the study of classical reception, translation, and gender. Review Prins' archival analysis unpicks such conflicting perceptions of increased access to women's education. Engrossing and accessible, Ladies' Greek reveals very different (self-)portraits of female classicists and paves the way for further studies of women's encounters with classical antiquity. ---Rachel Bryant Davies, Journal of Hellenic Studies Ladies' Greek has been nearly twenty years in preparation. . . . It's been worth the wait. This is a wonderful demonstration of archival research, literary history and close reading which takes the discipline of classical reception to a new level. Like the subjects she describes, Prins breathes new life into dead papers, her own dazzling writing dancing across the page. . . . An exhilarating intellectual ride. ---Jennifer Wallace, Modern Language Quarterly Ladies' Greek is an exceptional piece of work. Deftly written, insightful and expansive, the book demonstrates Prins' excellence as a scholar. Prins has produced more than outstanding scholarship, though: her series of encounters with archival materials and the lives and works of past women they represent is both compelling and moving. I will confess that the book took some time to get through, but that is chiefly because I found myself re-reading some of the passages again and again as one might do a great piece of literature. . . . A triumph. ---David Bullen, Classical Review [An] excellent new book. . . . [Prins] brings a perspective combination of biographical insight and historical overview. ---John Kerrigan, London Review of Books [A] splendid new study of late 19th- and early 20th-century female translators of ancient Greek tragedy. . . . Prins gives a fascinating account of the importance of Greek tragedy in translation and theatrical production in the colleges of higher education for women that emerged in this period. ---Emily Wilson, Guardian A wonderful demonstration of archival research, literary history, and close reading, Ladies' Greek takes the discipline of classical reception to a new level. Like the subjects she describes, Prins breathes new life into dead papers, her own dazzling writing dancing across the page. ---Jennifer Wallace, Modern Language Quarterly In Yopie Prins' remarkably wid