Disarming the Canon: Exploring Tepper’s Rewriting of Euripides
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: SummaryThe relevance of the classical canon has been the subject of much heated debate, especially in a contemporary post-colonial and ostensibly post-patriarchal context. The adaptation of classical works is one way in which authors and academics have sought to problematise the perceived value of this canon, and the influence it has on contemporary attitudes. Yet the study and discussion of these contemporary adaptations has often largely ignored work by authors in liminal genres such as science fiction. This reveals yet another way in which canons may be problematised another centre which cannot hold. This article explores the mechanisms of adaptation used by such a liminal author, Sheri S. Tepper, in her science fiction novel The Gate to Women’s Country (1988), which writes back to the past by adapting three plays by Euripides – Iphigenia at Aulis (410BC), Iphigenia in Tauris (412BC), and The Trojan Women (415BC). I argue that, by writing in the genre of science fiction, Tepper is uniquely situated to destabilise contemporary patriarchal worldviews rooted in a classical past and perpetuated by a classical canon. This article demonstrates the value of the critically neglected genre of science fiction in reframing the old order to posit a new one.
Source: Journal of Literary Studies
Author: Nicole Best
Institution: University of Pretoria
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $388
OpenAlex ID: W2895316784