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. This book 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, this book demonstrates how women turned to this genre to perform a passion for ancient Greek, full of eros and pathos. It focuses on five tragedies 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 Hilda Doolittle. The book opens up new perspectives in transatlantic Victorian studies and the study of classical reception, translation, and gender. "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."--Publisher's description Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 CONTENTS......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Between Alpha and Omega......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 16 An Ode in Greek......Page 22 “Some Greek upon the Margin”......Page 26 “Ought Women to Learn the Alphabet?”......Page 33 Translating Greek Tragedy......Page 47 Virginia Woolf’s Agamemnon Notebook......Page 56 Cassandra between the Stage and the Page......Page 66 OTOTOTOI......Page 73 “So Harsh a Chain of Suffering”......Page 78 Greek Verbs in Me......Page 83 “A Goodly Company of Lady-Translators”......Page 104 The Flight of Io, to America and Back to Greece......Page 116 Behold and See......Page 137 Electra at Girton College......Page 145 Electra at Smith College......Page 158 New Measures for New Women......Page 173 “A Brisk Interchange of Letters”......Page 176 Euripidean (De)Cadence......Page 184 H.D.’s Euripides: Feet, Feet, Feet, Feet......Page 201 Modern Maenads......Page 223 Jane Harrison’s Thrill......Page 230 Bryn Mawr College Rituals......Page 239 Reading the Surface......Page 254 Refractions of Antigone......Page 257 How to Read Ladies’ Greek......Page 263 Notes......Page 268 Bibliography......Page 286 Index......Page 310