History is how we have learnt to think about ourselves. It's not as though the Greeks and Romans are static entities out there to be discovered and translated. We make them speak, we talk to them, and they inform what we say.
Mary BeardRead
I don't think that we are completely dominated by what we have inherited from the past, but it is the case that as far back as you can go - just to Homer, but also to the literature of Rome, the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance - what you will find is that women's voices are not taken seriously.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Women's voices in literature have often been marginalized throughout history.
This quote by Mary Beard highlights the persistent issue of women's voices being overlooked in literary traditions, reflecting on how the historical inheritance from figures like Homer and the literature of subsequent eras has often failed to take women seriously. It serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for recognition and equality in the representation of women's perspectives in cultural narratives.
Themes
WomenLiteratureVoiceHistoryRepresentation
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about gender representation in literature, you might quote this to emphasize historical biases.
More from Mary Beard
All quotes →What politicians do is they never get the rhetoric wrong, and the price they pay is they don't speak the truth as they see it. Now, I will speak truth as I see it, and sometimes I don't get the rhetoric right. I think that's a fair trade-off.
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I'd quite like to be in Caligula's court - living in the back room somewhere and just being able to observe.
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Whatever you say about popular culture, people like people who know things, who are experts, and it doesn't particularly matter what they look like.
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There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would want people to stop reading the 'Odyssey.' But I want them to read it with their eyes open. To notice it and then to think what it says about us.
Mary BeardRead
It wasn't until I got to Cambridge that I discovered active discrimination against women.
Mary BeardRead
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