Rape of Lucretia and the Founding of Republics

Download or read book Rape of Lucretia and the Founding of Republics written by Melissa M. Matthes and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Matthes (U. of Maryland) stages a conversation between feminism and republicanism to analyze the linkage between "founding stories" of republics, sexual violence, and gender hierarchy. While pointing out the differences in the retellings of Lucretia's rape by Livy, Machiavelli, and Rousseau, she argues that their commonality is in appropriating the classical tale to support the view that the alternative to violence is citizenship and politics infused with common good notions of agency, action, and community. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR