Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2022 -

Magoulick (English, Georgia College and State Univ.) examines a myth that is popular and widespread, ancient and modern: the myth of the goddess. In her feminist critique, she works toward equality of rights and opportunities for all genders and provides "gender-focused perspectives and tools" (p. 23) for analysis and explanation of cultural formations. She explores prehistoric, neolithic, and historical evidence for a monocultural goddess myth but concludes that contemporary conceptions and concerns reduce "the goddess" to an essence that did not vary over many centuries. She also examines literary myths of matriarchy and images of "the bad goddess" in film and television and the "good goddess" in popular fiction. She considers works of art and literature with insight and clarity, especially the work of Margaret Atwood, Jean Auel, and N. K. Jemisin, and her discussions of Mary Lefkowitz and Marija Gimbutas are careful and illuminating. Especially notable is Magoulick's comparative summary of examples of goddesses in the conclusion--particularly pages 191-93, in which she displays her theory in compact form. This is exemplary scholarship!Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.