Solomon (English, Auburn U.) deconstructs the two centuries of criticism of Pope's long philosophical poem, which was loved by his contemporaries, and has been denigrated and trivialized by recent critics. He concludes that literary critics should not try to interpret philosophy. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

How did the Greeks and Romans perceive rape? How seriously was it taken, and who were seen as its main victims? These are two central questions that Rape in Antiquity: Sexual Violence in the Greek and Roman Worlds (1997), edited by Susan Deacy and Karen F. Pierce, aimed to approach in twelve chapters. Setting out to understand if the ancients had a concept of rape and how it was understood through different angles – including legal, social, cultural and historiographical – Rape in Antiquity made an invaluable contribution to the scholarship on sexual violence in the ancient world, impacting upon the development of new approaches in the decades that followed its publication. Revisiting Rape in Antiquity: Sexualised Violence in Greek and Roman Worlds maps out the influence of Rape in Antiquity while exploring how far cultural changes since the 1990s have reshaped the scholarly landscape. This collection, comprising chapters by established scholars and early career researchers from many countries, provides a new window into sexual – and sexualized – violence. Covering a long chronology, this book journeys from Homer to Byzantium, to modern receptions, to the analysis of wartime rape, ancient Greek tragedy, classical myth, how stories involving rape are retold for children, ancient law and rhetoric, classical art, Ovid, Late Antiquity, modern literature, comic books and cinema. This book is the culmination of a rich scholarly inheritance, setting out new perspectives that will hopefully inspire researchers for decades to come.

In Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible, Frank M. Yamada explores the compelling similarity among three rape narratives found in the Hebrew Scriptures. These three stories the rape of Dinah (Genesis 34), the rape of an unnamed concubine (Judges 19), and the rape of Tamar, daughter of David (2 Samuel 13) move through the same plot progression: an initial sexual violation of a woman leads to escalating violence among men, resulting in some form of social fragmentation. In this intriguing study, Yamada draws from the disciplines of literary and narrative criticism, feminist biblical interpretation, and cultural anthropology to argue for a family resemblance among these three stories about rape."

The word 'rape' today denotes sexual appropriation; yet it originally signified the theft of a woman from her father or husband by abduction or elopement. In the early modern period, its meaning is in transition between these two senses, while rapes and attempted rapes proliferate in literature. This age also sees the emergence of the woman writer, despite a sexual ideology which equates women's writing with promiscuity. Classical myths, however, associate women's story-telling with resistance to rape. This comprehensive study of rape and representation considers a wide range of texts drawn from prose fiction, poetry and drama by male and female writers, both canonical and non-canonical. Combining close attention to detail with an overview of the period, it demonstrates how the representation of gender-relations has exploited the subject of rape, and uses its understanding of this phenomenon to illuminate the issues of sexual and discursive autonomy which figure largely in women's texts of the period.

In celebration of its tercentenary, this collection brings together ten eminent scholars with new perspectives on the poem.

Resisting Rape Culture tackles controversial and harrowing rape myths prevalent in rape culture: namely that sex workers do not get raped, and that they are deserving victims of sexual violence. Commonly, sociocultural discourses depict sex workers as morally deficient and promiscuous, having sex with multiple clients in exchange for payment. Consequently, they are often considered deserving of rape, sexual assault and other forms of abuse, or as people who should expect to receive such treatment. In a way, the Hebrew Bible contributes to such stigmatization of and discrimination against sex workers, given first, its authority and second, its negative portrayals of prostitutes as outsiders. This cutting-edge book describes the rape culture in Hong Kong, focusing on how Hong Kong Christians interpret the Bible concerning prostitutes, and in turn how this affects the treatment of sex workers. Arguably, when interpretations malign the prostitutes in the Bible, and do not critique how the Bible portrays these women, we promote the stigmatization of sex workers and, in doing so, normalise and trivialise sexual discrimination, abuse and violence, ultimately promoting rape culture.

Narrating Rape presents exciting new scholarship on how to read, wrestle with, and respond to sexual violence and rape in and around biblical texts. The fourteen essays represent global contributors and bring together respected senior scholars along with fresh emerging voices. Contributors take on sexual violence in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, as well as the ancient Near Eastern and Roman contexts that informed the production of these texts. There is also a significant focus on using contemporary literature, film, and popular culture (including reality television and music) to read and interpret biblical rape stories. Contributors include: Alexiana Fry, Meredith Warren, Kirsi Cobb, David Tombs, Jeremy Punt, and Gerald West