In ancient Greece, women's daily lives were occupied by various forms of labor. These experiences of work have largely been forgotten. Andromache Karanika has examined Greek poetry for depictions of women working and has discovered evidence of their lamentations and work songs. Voices at Work explores the complex relationships between ancient Greek poetry, the female poetic voice, and the practices and rituals surrounding women's labor in the ancient world. The poetic voice is closely tied to women's domestic and agricultural labor. Weaving, for example, was both a common form of female labor and a practice referred to for understanding the craft of poetry. Textile and agricultural production involved storytelling, singing, and poetry. Everyday labor employed-beyond its socioeconomic function - the power of poetic creation. Karanika starts with the assumption that there are certain forms of poetic expression and performance in the ancient world which are distinctively female. She considers these to be markers of a female "voice" in ancient Greek poetry and presents a number of case studies: Calypso and Circe sing while they weave; in Odyssey 6 a washing scene captures female performances. Both of these instances are examples of the female voice filtered into the fabric of the epic. Karanika brings to the surface the words of women who informed the oral tradition from which Greek epic poetry emerged. In other words, she gives a voice to silence.

Voices at Work is ambitious and original in its subject matter and scope and will complement the steady stream of scholarship on gender, women's performances, and female speech in ancient Greece. -- Laura Kathleen McClure, University of Wisconsin

About the Author
Andromache Karanika is an associate professor of classics at the University of California, Irvine.

Reviews
This fascinating investigation of a previously neglected topic will appeal to those interested in classics, gender studies, and the history of work. Choice Drawing from a wealth of ancient and comparative sources, and harnessing a range of theoretical approaches, Karanika offers a landmark study of female labour and Greek poetics. The book... offers important new insights into Greek poetry. -- Barbara Graziosi Times Higher Education Voices at Work adds to a growing corpus of scholarship on female vocality in the ancient world and, with its focus on the nexus between the female voice, women's labour and poetics, brings an important and valuable new dimension to the field. Cloelia: Women's Classical Caucus Newsletter In this challenging and sophisticated book, Andromache Karanika works against the grain of ancient disdain for songs related to women and work, in order to (re)establish the central pace of femininity and labor in ancient poetics... Karanika successfully adumbrates a diverse array of genres and gendered voices which are muted or silenced in ancient sources and modern scholarship. Her work demonstrates a mastery of a multitude of evidence... Karanika's monograph deserves a wide audience. -- Peter Miller Bryn Mawr Classical Review



Book Information
ISBN 9781421412559
Author Andromache Karanika
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 567g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 26mm