Alone of All Her Sex (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Marina Warner
- First Published: 1976
- Type of Work: Social criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction, History, Religion and spirituality
- Subjects: Mothers, Parents and children, Sexism, Sex or sexuality, Sin or Original sin, Women’s issues, Christianity, Women, Theology, Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint
Form and Content
In the culture of Western Christianity, the Virgin Mary has symbolized the ideal of female virtue. Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary examines different facets of Mary’s persona to see how her myth and cult developed from the origins of Christianity to the present. Warner’s interest in the myth of the Virgin arose from her experiences of parochial education whose rituals of devotion to Mary were designed to foster ideas of sexual purity and chastity in young women. By studying the ways in which the Virgin’s myth was...
[The entire page is 2145 words long]
