Helen of Troy

Laurie Maguire is Professor of English at Oxford University and has authored or edited six previous books, including Studying Shakespeare and the popular Where There's a Will There's a Way. She has lectured widely at literary festivals in the U.S. and U.K.

• List of Illustrations PrefaceSource AcknowledgmentsConventionsIntroduction: Ab ovoBeginningsStories and Contexts1. Narrating MythWhose Story?AbsenceFragments and NarrativeClosureThe Textual ShudderMyth and RepetitionOriginsMyth and MeaningCauses(En)Closure2. BeautyExcess and DeficiencyNarrating the AbsoluteStaging the AbsoluteDetailing HelenThe Beauty EffectHelen’s BreastsAndrogynyHelen’s ScarRelativizng the AbsoluteHelen and Old AgeBeauty: Subjectivity and ObjectivityBeauty and Nostalgia3. Abducting HelenMissing MomentsHomer, the IliadHerodotus, the HistoriesChaucer and Narrative GapsHelen and CressidaThe Law’s Resolution of Women’s Rights (1632)Statute Change in 1597The Rape of Lucrece (1594)Helen (of Troy)Rape as Revenge4. BlameAccountsCasting Blame: Helen, Paris, and the GodsSidestepping Blame: Sympathy in the IliadCompeting Narratives: the Odyssey"Twisting Eulogy/And Censure Both Together"Voicing Helen: EuripidesHelen Among the SophistsAgency (1): Joseph of ExeterAgency (2): Middle English Troy BooksGeorge Peele, The Tale of Troy (1589)Deifying Helen: John Ogle, The Lamentation of Troy (1594)Mimetic Desire, the Scapegoat, and BlasphemyNaming and Shaming5. Helen and the Faust TraditionForm and Appearance in the English Faust BookHelen in the English Faust BookDr Faustus and LanguageDr Faustus and BoundariesGoethe (1749–1832)Goethe and RepresentationGoethe and the Beauty of LanguageThe Face that Launched a Thousand ShipsJo Clifford (1950– )Clifford’s Helen and Gender Politics6. Parodying HelenComedyThe NovelCaribbean Helen: Derek Walcott, Omeros (1990)NotesReferencesIndex

"Overall, Maguire's book is a remarkably broad literary study of the complex and recurring figure of Helen of Troy. Her work is both comprehensive and detailed, covering a huge body of material both ancient and modern." (International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2011) "In conclusion, this an important work, especially praiseworthy for its wide-ranging critical perspectives and admirable depth of information, and above all for its all-round literary explorations. It is also a very enjoyable read." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 25 March 2011)"It is an important work in the broad area of Classical Reception and it is aimed at both specialists and the general reader; and it is quite remarkable for the vast variety of information, sources and genres surveyed and for the wealth of secondary literature and critical approaches deployed." (Bmcreview, 7 March 2011)"Maguire's book is an unusually effective study of something often invoked in an airy sort of way but difficult to represent concretely and cogently: literature and related arts as an ongoing and continuously motivated enterprise, sometimes almost collective in its workings across great stretches of time." (Translation & Literature, 2010)"M.'s survey is impressively broad in scope ... .An impressive achievement." (The Classical Journal, February 2010)"Erudite and entertaining ... .We are certainly better equipped to understand the phenomenon of such a mysterious narrative lacuna by the end of Maguire's inspirational book." (The Times Literary Supplement, November 2009)“Combining wit, learning, and insight, Maguire offers delightful reading both for the specialist and for the serious general reader." (Library Journal, May 2009)