Words of Love
Passionate Women from Heloise to Sylvia Plath
Pamela Norris(Author)
William Collins (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 1. January 2049
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-00-655222-2 (ISBN)
Description
A rich, diverse social and cultural history of the development of romantic love in the West. From the earliest recorded history to the present, women have bucked convention, subverted stereotypes and willingly risked their reputations, their livelihoods -- sometimes even their lives -- for love. Throughout this often tumultuous history, they have also recorded their experiences of romance, passion and sex in voices distinctively their own, at once erudite and erotic, which vividly capture the pleasurable as well as the painful aspects of being a woman in love. How did it feel, for example, to be a Japanese court lady, playing a delicate and dangerous game of political manoeuvring and illicit, moonlit assignations? Or to be the object of courtly love, raised to an impossible ideal only to be abandoned, in many cases, by troubadours more interested in vaunting their own skill and flattering their masters than in the supposed inspiration for their songs? Across nations and eras, women of all ages and walks of life have written of their feelings, passions and regrets in terms ranging from the ardently intimate to the desperately embittered.
This rich, diverse and innovative exploration of women's interpretations of love -- ranging from medieval poets to Victorian novelists, through Daphne de Maurier to Sylvia Plath -- sheds light not only on the ways in which women over the centuries have responded to conventions of romance, gender and status, but also on the societies in which they moved and the times in which they lived. Writing with emotional sympathy, scholarly vigour and intellectual insight, Pamela Norris breathes life and passion back into the women who have thronged the centuries since Heloise, and illuminates cultures at once distant and -- in the profoundly personal passions of the women who recorded them -- immediately and movingly familiar.
A rich, diverse social and cultural history of the development of romantic love in the West. From the earliest recorded history to the present, women have bucked convention, subverted stereotypes and willingly risked their reputations, their livelihoods -- sometimes even their lives -- for love. Throughout this often tumultuous history, they have also recorded their experiences of romance, passion and sex in voices distinctively their own, at once erudite and erotic, which vividly capture the pleasurable as well as the painful aspects of being a woman in love. How did it feel, for example, to be a Japanese court lady, playing a delicate and dangerous game of political manoeuvring and illicit, moonlit assignations? Or to be the object of courtly love, raised to an impossible ideal only to be abandoned, in many cases, by troubadours more interested in vaunting their own skill and flattering their masters than in the supposed inspiration for their songs? Across nations and eras, women of all ages and walks of life have written of their feelings, passions and regrets in terms ranging from the ardently intimate to the desperately embittered.
This rich, diverse and innovative exploration of women's interpretations of love -- ranging from medieval poets to Victorian novelists, through Daphne de Maurier to Sylvia Plath -- sheds light not only on the ways in which women over the centuries have responded to conventions of romance, gender and status, but also on the societies in which they moved and the times in which they lived. Writing with emotional sympathy, scholarly vigour and intellectual insight, Pamela Norris breathes life and passion back into the women who have thronged the centuries since Heloise, and illuminates cultures at once distant and -- in the profoundly personal passions of the women who recorded them -- immediately and movingly familiar.
This rich, diverse and innovative exploration of women's interpretations of love -- ranging from medieval poets to Victorian novelists, through Daphne de Maurier to Sylvia Plath -- sheds light not only on the ways in which women over the centuries have responded to conventions of romance, gender and status, but also on the societies in which they moved and the times in which they lived. Writing with emotional sympathy, scholarly vigour and intellectual insight, Pamela Norris breathes life and passion back into the women who have thronged the centuries since Heloise, and illuminates cultures at once distant and -- in the profoundly personal passions of the women who recorded them -- immediately and movingly familiar.
A rich, diverse social and cultural history of the development of romantic love in the West. From the earliest recorded history to the present, women have bucked convention, subverted stereotypes and willingly risked their reputations, their livelihoods -- sometimes even their lives -- for love. Throughout this often tumultuous history, they have also recorded their experiences of romance, passion and sex in voices distinctively their own, at once erudite and erotic, which vividly capture the pleasurable as well as the painful aspects of being a woman in love. How did it feel, for example, to be a Japanese court lady, playing a delicate and dangerous game of political manoeuvring and illicit, moonlit assignations? Or to be the object of courtly love, raised to an impossible ideal only to be abandoned, in many cases, by troubadours more interested in vaunting their own skill and flattering their masters than in the supposed inspiration for their songs? Across nations and eras, women of all ages and walks of life have written of their feelings, passions and regrets in terms ranging from the ardently intimate to the desperately embittered.
This rich, diverse and innovative exploration of women's interpretations of love -- ranging from medieval poets to Victorian novelists, through Daphne de Maurier to Sylvia Plath -- sheds light not only on the ways in which women over the centuries have responded to conventions of romance, gender and status, but also on the societies in which they moved and the times in which they lived. Writing with emotional sympathy, scholarly vigour and intellectual insight, Pamela Norris breathes life and passion back into the women who have thronged the centuries since Heloise, and illuminates cultures at once distant and -- in the profoundly personal passions of the women who recorded them -- immediately and movingly familiar.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for 'The Story of Eve': 'The ground this book covers is extraordinary: it is both scholarly and readable.' Fay Weldon, Books Gazette 'This fascinating book is full of provocative argument, retrospective indignation, and meticulous scholarship.' Jessica Mann, Literary ReviewPraise for 'The Story of Eve': 'The ground this book covers is extraordinary: it is both scholarly and readable.' Fay Weldon, Books Gazette 'This fascinating book is full of provocative argument, retrospective indignation, and meticulous scholarship.' Jessica Mann, Literary Review
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
125 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-655222-2 (9780006552222)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Pamela Norris read English at Bristol University and has an MA in Renaissance Studies. She taught English at the University of Zagreb in Yugoslavia and in Paris, and is now a freelance writer and critic. Her publications include a collection of Victorian women's poetry, and critical editions of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. Her magesterial 'The Story of Eve' was published by Picador in 1998.
Pamela Norris read English at Bristol University and has an MA in Renaissance Studies. She taught English at the University of Zagreb in Yugoslavia and in Paris, and is now a freelance writer and critic. Her publications include a collection of Victorian women's poetry, and critical editions of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. Her magesterial 'The Story of Eve' was published by Picador in 1998.
Pamela Norris read English at Bristol University and has an MA in Renaissance Studies. She taught English at the University of Zagreb in Yugoslavia and in Paris, and is now a freelance writer and critic. Her publications include a collection of Victorian women's poetry, and critical editions of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. Her magesterial 'The Story of Eve' was published by Picador in 1998.