Monuments and Maidens The Allegory of the Female Form [Paperback]

Marina Warner explores the tradition of personifying liberty, justice, wisdom, charity, and other ideals and desiderata in the female form, and examines the tension between women's historic and symbolic roles. Drawing on the evidence of public art, especially sculpture, and painting, poetry, and classical mythology, she ranges over the allegorical presence of the woman in the Western tradition with a sharply observant eye and a piquant and engaging style.

AmongMarina Warner's books areFrom the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers(1995),Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary(1983), andJoan of Arc(California, 1999).