Girl Meets Boy: The Myth of Iphis
Author: Ali Smith
Translator: Sang-eun Park
Publisher: Munhakdongne
Hardcover | 195 pages | 195*128mm
| Important! Please read before you order! |
| >>>This book is written in Korean. |
About This Book
Another internationally acclaimed writer contributes a fascinating,
compelling reinterpretation of a myth that resonates deeply today.
Ligdus and Telethusa are having a child, but they cannot afford to have
a girl. Ligdus informs Telethusa that she had better hope for a boy.
While this decision makes them both sad, Telethusa “must/obey.” She
prays to Isis, but births a girl and names her Iphis, a name that
“suited male or female?/a neutral name.” She convinces everyone,
including Ligdus, that Iphis is a boy.
Iphis matures and falls in love with another girl, Ianthe, and is
engaged for marriage, yet s/he is ruled by the sexual norms of the time:
“[P]ossessed by love so strange... no female wants/a female!” but “no
learned art can ever make of me/a boy.” She attempts to reconcile her
love for Ianthe against the pressures of “nature.” The wedding day is
near, Telethusa is desperate, and prays again to Isis. Iphis is
transformed, looking like a boy.
Is Ovid suggesting that what we think is nature is attitude? Does Iphis
grow a penis? Or does Iphis, adopting the characteristics of a boy,
remain a girl married to a girl, undermining traditional values?
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