From word to canvas : appropriations of myth in women's aesthetic production

185 Pages·2009·1.25 MB·English

by  V.G. Julie Rajan

From Word to Canvas

From Word to Canvas:
Appropriations of Myth
in Women’s Aesthetic Production

Edited by

V.G. Julie Rajan and Sanja Bahun-Radunovi(cid:252)
From Word to Canvas: Appropriations of Myth in Women’s Aesthetic Production,

Edited by V.G. Julie Rajan and Sanja Bahun-Radunovi(cid:252)

This book first published 2009

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2009 by V.G. Julie Rajan and Sanja Bahun-Radunovi(cid:252) and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-0537-8, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0537-7
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations....................................................................................vii

Acknowledgments......................................................................................ix
Introduction
The Feminine Gaze: Looking back and across the Landscape of Myth
Sanja Bahun-Radunovi(cid:252) and V. G. Julie Rajan...........................................1
Chapter One
Blue like Me
Siona Benjamin.........................................................................................11
Chapter Two
The Persephone Figure in Eavan Boland’s “The Pomegranate” and Liz
Lochhead’s “Lucy’s Diary”
Tudor Balinisteanu....................................................................................23
Chapter Three
Caught in a Memory of Mourning on Modern Stage: Mary Zimmerman’s
Post-9/11 Presentation of Orpheus
Erika M. Nelson.........................................................................................51
Chapter Four
Against Monologization: The Subversive Voice of Christa Wolf’s
Cassandra
Kirsten A. Sandrock..................................................................................73
Chapter Five
Woman—Daughter—Actress—Icon—Murderer: Ermanna Montanari
Performs Beatrice Cenci
Raffaele Furno...........................................................................................93
vi Table of Contents

Chapter Six
The Case of Nguyen Nguyet Cam’s Two Cakes Fit for a King:
Female Appropriation of Violent Autochthonous Mythology
through Aesthetic Transmission to the Diaspora
Hanh N. Nguyen and R. C. Lutz..............................................................117
Chapter Seven
The Languages of the Black Medusa: Dorothea Smartt
and Ingrid Mwangi
Maria Cristina Nisco................................................................................141
Note on Editors........................................................................................165

Contributors.............................................................................................167

Index........................................................................................................171
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1-1
Siona Benjamin, Finding Home (Fereshteh) # 74: Lilith..........................17

Fig. 1-2
Siona Benjamin, Finding Home # 45: Sister.............................................19

Fig. 5-1
Ermanna Montanari as Beatrice and Marco Martinelli as Francesco
in Cenci....................................................................................................110

Figs. 7-1 & 7-2
Ingrid Mwangi, Cutting the Mask............................................................158

Fig. 7-3
Ingrid Mwangi, If.....................................................................................160

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Editors are grateful for permission to reprint images from the
following sources: to Siona Benjamin for graciously allowing us to
reproduce her art, both on the cover page (Finding Home #89 “Vashti”
(Fereshteh)), and in the book (Finding Home #74 “Lilith” (Fereshteh), and
Finding Home #45 “Sister”); to Ermanna Montanari and the Teatro delle
Albe for providing us with the copyright to reproduce a photo from her
play Cenci; and to IngridMwangiRobertHutter for permitting us to
reproduce stills from Mwangi’s video-installation Cutting the Mask and
her photo work If. We are indebted to our Contributors whose dedication
throughout the multiple stages of this project has been encouraging and
stimulating. We thank Dušan, Kartik, and Raja, who, in the spirit of
genuine inter-gender consideration, understood our absences and brought
us joy in the intervals of respite.
Finally, the Editors would like to dedicate this book to the global
women-artists who, in an inspiring variety of ways, have endeavored to
trans-value and re-value myths in their own production, transforming the
mythic patterns into active, feminine, re-positionings of cultural dynamics.