Sexual Symmetry: Love in the Ancient Novel and Related Genres

Description

"In the Greek romances," writes David Konstan, "sighs, tears, and suicide attempts are as characteristic of the male as of the female in distress; ruses, disguises, and outright violence in defense of one's chastity are as much the part of the female as of the male." Exploring how erotic love is represented in ancient amatory literature, Konstan po

"Modern readers of the ancient novels ... can consider themselves fortunate, for the pleasure they take in those novels will be doubled by David Konstan's Sexual Symmetry, which shows that the love relationship a their centers consists of a pairing of equal partners utterly unique in ancient literary constructions of eros and foreign to most modern ones as well."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review