A Feminist Mythology takes us on a poetic journey through the canonical myths of femininity. It is philosophy which re-introduces literary forms such as dialogue and story-telling in the actual writing practice and challenges the notion that myths can’t be philosophy and philosophy can’t be myths. Although there is a rich thread of storytelling running through the history of philosophy, after the 19th and 20th century the traditional treatise arose as the default format of philosophical writing and the incredible variety of philosophical writing styles of the past has been eclipsed. Chiara Bottici proposes an alternative writing style that recovers old philosophical traditions, one that goes from the pre-Socratic philosophers to the Renaissance dialogues and the Enlightenment philosophical novellas.
As such, A Feminist Mythology takes the form of three mythologies which explore the psychoanalytic, feminist and philosophical issues through adopting a literary narrative voice. This voice asks us to read and engage with philosophy in a different way – through stories – in order to explore what it means to be a woman today. The weaves together contemporary, ancient, mythological and political topics to provide what Bottici calls a ‘political imaginary’ which helps us confront and understand the contemporary world.
