Steve Shepherd
asked:
I know this has be touted as a feminist story, but is it hostile to men like some feminist literature tends to be? I totally understand there will be horrible men in this, because greek mythology is full of those, but I don't want to be demonized while reading it. Thanks for any answers.
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Ceecee
What makes Circe a feminist story is the fact that it is a woman's story from beginning to end. Circe is the protagonist and the focus of the novel; men pass in and out of her life, but they never take over the action or divert attention from her. There are some who behave badly (we find out that she has very good reasons for turning them into pigs), but they are very minor characters, soon gone and forgotten. The few men Circe allows into her heart--Daedalus, Odysseus, and later his son Telemachus--are good men, and portrayed sympathetically. (Some of the male gods are complete jerks, but then so are some of the goddesses; that's because they are immortal, and different from us puny humans.Miller does an excellent job of showing just how different they are, in my opinion.)
Bottom line, if you're a man reading this book, you won't feel scapegoated or blamed for being male--but be prepared to spend a lot of time concerned with women's work, like weaving and gardening and brewing herbal remedies. If you can handle the female focus and the lack of traditional "action scenes", then you will enjoy yourself.
Bottom line, if you're a man reading this book, you won't feel scapegoated or blamed for being male--but be prepared to spend a lot of time concerned with women's work, like weaving and gardening and brewing herbal remedies. If you can handle the female focus and the lack of traditional "action scenes", then you will enjoy yourself.
Greg Fishbone
If you've read Homer's Odyssey, you'll already know Circe as the goddess who turns men into pigs. This character has *never* been down with patriarchy. Miller's novel has impressively fleshed out the character's backstory, personality, and motives, adding just those few inventions necessary to create coherent narrative and character arcs. This book is remarkably true to its source material, so if you read it as feminist literature, then the Homeric tradition would have to be feminist literature as well.
Jenel
Men are not demonized.
Craig
I didn't feel that way at all. Circe cares quite a bit for men and a part of the story is the guilt she feels about how her actions led to the death of many men and her quest to make it right.
Robert Blumenthal
Actually, it’s much easier on men than Raymond Carver ever was. And much more so than Anne Bronte was in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Sigrid
It's a neoliberal feminism that extolls individual self-realization without solidarity with men or women from lower classes. Circe's relationships with different men define her "growth." This is not a critique of the patriarchy and causes little discomfort.
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Mar 13, 2019 08:44PM · flag