Here are 100 books that Antigone fans have personally recommended if you like Antigone. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Interrogating Antigone in Postmodern Philosophy and Criticism

Lenart Škof Author Of Antigone's Sisters

From my list on Antigone and feminist ethics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always searched for personalities – mythological, literary, or real – affirming the highest ethical claims for justice. Sophocles’s Antigone is, without doubt, the preeminent example of this ethical demand, based on ancient unwritten laws and related demands for human dignity. As a woman, Antigone also presents the forgotten and suppressed orders of femininity, which were present in all archaic religions and mythologies, but later repressed and fully replaced with exclusively male Gods. I’m therefore interested in books that guide us in this search for the power of ethics and femininity and hope this list will give you an idea of the rich ethical potentials that we possess.  

Lenart's book list on Antigone and feminist ethics

Lenart Škof Why Lenart loves this book

This excellent collection of essays brings some of the key readings of Sophocles’ Antigone in an ethical and feminist key. It includes, among others, interpretations by Tina Chanter, Luce Irigaray, and Bracha L. Ettinger. In the fascinating lineup of chapters, the book guides us through political, psychoanalytical, and sexual genealogies and classical interpretations of this Greek myth, thus providing the authoritative scholarship on a female figure of Antigone.  

By S.E. Wilmer (editor) , Audrone Zukauskaite (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Interrogating Antigone in Postmodern Philosophy and Criticism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Antigone has become a major figure in current cultural discourse thanks to the late twentieth-century interpretations by such controversial theorists as Lacan, Derrida, Irigaray, Zizek, and Judith Butler. This collection of articles by distinguished scholars from a variety of intellectual disciplines (including philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism, theatre, and the classics) provides a postmodern perspective on the ethical and political issues raised by this ancient
text and recent theatrical productions. The contributors provide an array of perspectives on a female figure who questions the role of the patriarchal state.


If you love Antigone...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Book cover of In the Beginning, She Was

Lenart Škof Author Of Antigone's Sisters

From my list on Antigone and feminist ethics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always searched for personalities – mythological, literary, or real – affirming the highest ethical claims for justice. Sophocles’s Antigone is, without doubt, the preeminent example of this ethical demand, based on ancient unwritten laws and related demands for human dignity. As a woman, Antigone also presents the forgotten and suppressed orders of femininity, which were present in all archaic religions and mythologies, but later repressed and fully replaced with exclusively male Gods. I’m therefore interested in books that guide us in this search for the power of ethics and femininity and hope this list will give you an idea of the rich ethical potentials that we possess.  

Lenart's book list on Antigone and feminist ethics

Lenart Škof Why Lenart loves this book

Luce Irigaray’s book includes her powerful interpretation of Antigone but also brings a mature account of her on the role of the feminine within Western thought. In the Beginning, She Was, Irigaray guides us back to the Presocratics in order to reinstate the Goddess which was absent in the Western philosophical and religious discourses until the 20th century.       

By Luce Irigaray ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Beginning, She Was as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this new book, crucial for understanding her journey, Luce Irigaray goes further than in Speculum and questions the work of the Pre-Socratics at the root of our culture. Reminding us of the story of Ulysses and Antigone, she demonstrates how, from the beginning, Western tradition represents an exile for humanity. Indeed, to emerge from the maternal origin, man elaborated a discourse of mastery and constructed a world of his own that grew away from life and prevented perceiving the real as it is. To recover our natural belonging and learn how to cultivate it humanly is imperative and needs…


Book cover of Feminist Readings of Antigone

Lenart Škof Author Of Antigone's Sisters

From my list on Antigone and feminist ethics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always searched for personalities – mythological, literary, or real – affirming the highest ethical claims for justice. Sophocles’s Antigone is, without doubt, the preeminent example of this ethical demand, based on ancient unwritten laws and related demands for human dignity. As a woman, Antigone also presents the forgotten and suppressed orders of femininity, which were present in all archaic religions and mythologies, but later repressed and fully replaced with exclusively male Gods. I’m therefore interested in books that guide us in this search for the power of ethics and femininity and hope this list will give you an idea of the rich ethical potentials that we possess.  

Lenart's book list on Antigone and feminist ethics

Lenart Škof Why Lenart loves this book

This book is a fascinating collection of essays on Antigone, written by key contemporary thinkers, such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Bracha L. Ettinger, and Adriana Cavarero. Hegel daringly compared Antigone to Socrates and Jesus and this book shows the full range of ethical questions and consequences, related to Antigone and her highest ethical demand. Through this book, the fictitious woman from Sophocles’ drama written 2,500 years ago, incarnates in front of us as a living figure of contemporary feminine ethics.

By Fanny Soderback (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Feminist Readings of Antigone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New and classic essays on Antigone and feminist philosophy.


If you love Jean Anouilh...

Book cover of Coyote Weather

Coyote Weather by Amanda Cockrell,

Coyote weather is the feral, hungry season, drought-stricken, and ready to catch fire. It’s 1967, and the American culture is violently remaking itself while the country is forcibly sending its young men to fight in a deeply unpopular war.

Jerry has stubbornly made no plans for the future because he…

Book cover of The Matrixial Borderspace

Lenart Škof Author Of Antigone's Sisters

From my list on Antigone and feminist ethics.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always searched for personalities – mythological, literary, or real – affirming the highest ethical claims for justice. Sophocles’s Antigone is, without doubt, the preeminent example of this ethical demand, based on ancient unwritten laws and related demands for human dignity. As a woman, Antigone also presents the forgotten and suppressed orders of femininity, which were present in all archaic religions and mythologies, but later repressed and fully replaced with exclusively male Gods. I’m therefore interested in books that guide us in this search for the power of ethics and femininity and hope this list will give you an idea of the rich ethical potentials that we possess.  

Lenart's book list on Antigone and feminist ethics

Lenart Škof Why Lenart loves this book

In her work, Bracha L. Ettinger proposes to depart in our thinking from a difference that is feminine and argues for the “matrixial” sphere as a corporeal locus that incarnates in our various human becomings toward the other – such as through compassion or empathy. This book has a Foreword written by Judith Butler and navigates through some of the key phenomena in ethics of femininity, including the original Ettingerian concept of prematernal and prenatal compassion.

By Bracha Ettinger ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Matrixial Borderspace as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Artist, psychoanalyst, and feminist theorist Bracha Ettinger presents an original theoretical exploration of shared affect and emergent expression, across the thresholds of identity and memory. Ettinger works through Lacan's late works, the anti-Oedipal perspectives of Deleuze and Guattari, as well as object-relations theory to critique the phallocentrism of mainstream Lacanian theory and to rethink the masculine-feminine opposition. She replaces the phallic structure with a dimension of emergence, where objects, images, and meanings are glimpsed in their incipiency, before they are differentiated. This is the matrixial realm, a shareable, psychic dimension that underlies the individual unconscious and experience.

Concerned with collective…


Book cover of Why Have Children? The Ethical Debate

Trevor Hedberg Author Of The Environmental Impact of Overpopulation: The Ethics of Procreation

From my list on philosophers about whether it’s okay to have kids.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been researching and teaching about moral issues for more than a decade. How people procreate and how often they procreate has a huge impact on both the children born and others who interact with them. Yet even in academic philosophy – a discipline that often questions the appropriateness of ordinary behavior – the moral scrutiny of having children has been lacking. As I observed the population continue to rise and the circumstances of future people become more precarious, I thought the ethics of procreation needed deeper investigation. I hope my recent work on this topic will help others think more carefully about the moral complexities of having and raising children.

Trevor's book list on philosophers about whether it’s okay to have kids

Trevor Hedberg Why Trevor loves this book

Christine Overall’s approach to the ethics of procreation draws more heavily on feminist philosophy than my other recommendations.

Understanding the aspects of procreation and pregnancy that exclusively impact women is crucial to informed ethical reflection on the issue, and Overall is one of the foremost experts on this aspect of procreative ethics.

Overall also intertwines her discussion of procreative ethics with questions about why having children is valuable and what motivates a decision to have them.

By Christine Overall ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Why Have Children? The Ethical Debate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A wide-ranging exploration of whether or not choosing to procreate can be morally justified -- and if so, how.

In contemporary Western society, people are more often called upon to justify the choice not to have children than they are to supply reasons for having them. In this book, Christine Overall maintains that the burden of proof should be reversed: that the choice to have children calls for more careful justification and reasoning than the choice not to. Arguing that the choice to have children is not just a prudential or pragmatic decision but one with ethical repercussions, Overall offers…


Book cover of The Lark

Paul Camster Author Of Apocalypse, Third Edition

From my list on females overcome evil opponents to save the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

As Rebecca Roberts in Apocalypse was an ancestor whose achievements have been largely ignored-maybe because of gender-it seemed to be time to redress the balance. A female author may have done the job better, but none stepped forward at the time and Hollywood screenwriter K.Lewis was keen to write a screenplay, requiring a concept screenplay outline as a guide. It was that which later became the 1st Edition of Apocalypse.

Paul's book list on females overcome evil opponents to save the world

Paul Camster Why Paul loves this book

A different aspect of the life of Joan of Arc.

The translations are by Christopher Fry-who wrote The Brontes of Haworth, the YorkshireTV series featuring Emily Bronte`s life, and Lillian Hellman. The latter version of The Lark is a reminder that she features in the Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave movie Julia—set in the troubled period before WW2 when both Julia in the film and a main character in my book face the bad side of Fascism.

Her radical view of religion and belief that a seemingly invincible foe could be beaten was important in convincing the—mainly female followers of Rebecca Roberts in my book that they had a chance against overwhelming odds.

By Jean Anouilh , Lillian Hellman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lark as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Jean Anouilh, adapted by Lillian Hellman, Anouilh, Jean, Hellman, Lillian


If you love Antigone...

Book cover of Temple of Dreams: A Novel of Now and Then

Temple of Dreams by Carolyn Mathews,

Homeless following the death of his adoptive parents in a car crash and the subsequent loss of their farm tenancy, Seb decides to enrol as a residential student at the Asklepios Foundation, a College of Natural Medicine, boasting a sanctuary modelled on an ancient Greek healing temple. Spending a night…

Book cover of Pauvre Bitos ou Le Dîner de Têtes

Graeme Fife Author Of The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine - France 1793-1794

From my list on the terror of the French Revolution.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a professional writer for over 40 years. Much of my work has been focused on biographies and historical drama for radio. Both topics involve extensive research. The French Revolution has always fascinated me. The stories about the wild extremes of human behaviour exercise a morbid power on the imagination. I have written much on the subject and the people caught up in, and often generating, the madness and inhuman folly. I have, I believe, developed a particular feel for the period and the lesson it teaches us. My book about the Terror is the culmination of many years of study and deliberation. I write well, vividly, and forcefully and I speak and read French.

Graeme's book list on the terror of the French Revolution

Graeme Fife Why Graeme loves this book

Anouilh shapes his play in parallel reference to two of the most traumatic periods in French history: the immediate aftermath of the 1945 Liberation and the end of the Terror with the death of Robespierre. In post-war France, a group of friends hit on a plan to explore what twisted logic shapes the individual who gets caught up in the violence of oppression. They invite a local man, one Bitos, to attend a masked dinner where each of the guests will take on the role of a prominent figure of the Revolution, Bitos himself, who has greatly profited by collaboration with the occupiers, to take on that of Robespierre, whom Thomas Carlyle referred in his magisterial History of the French Revolution as the ‘sea-green incorruptible’, from the tinted spectacles he wore.

Carlyle’s prose is lush, baroque, strong meat but well worth dipping into. The idea is brilliant as a vehicle…

By Jean Anouilh ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pauvre Bitos ou Le Dîner de Têtes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Poor Bitos” is the strongest and most strikingly contemporary of Jean Anouilh’s plays. With freezing precision and extraordinary theatrical skill, Anouilh here exposes the evil at the heart of political extremism, with specific reference to the French people but with implications that are tragically universal. The principal character is one André Bitos, a thin-lipped, Eichmann-like public prosecutor with a fanatical sense of justice that outrages every normal feeling of compassion. Bitos since the close of World War II has made it his gruesome business to track down fellow countrymen suspected of collaborating with the Germans and to bring about their…


Book cover of Beauvoir in Time

Don Kulick Author Of A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea

From my list on see the world with fresh eyes.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an anthropologist who has written or edited more than a dozen books on topics that range from the lives of trans sex workers, to the anthropology of fat. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, and Scandinavia. I work at Uppsala University in Sweden, where I am a Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology, and where I direct a research program titled Engaging Vulnerability.

Don's book list on see the world with fresh eyes

Don Kulick Why Don loves this book

This recently published excavation of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex is almost as thick as Beauvoir’s massive tract, but don’t let that put you off. The photo of Beauvoir on the cover conveys an insouciant “Yeah, sure” attitude, and Meryl Atman uncannily channels that sentiment into a dazzlingly authoritative and entertaining discussion of why the overwhelming majority of the criticism of Beauvoir’s famous tome happens to be misguided and wrong. The book is about gender, race, sexuality, class, and privilege, but it isn’t a polemic. It is an exercise in critical reading at its most invigorating.

By Meryl Altman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beauvoir in Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Beauvoir in Time situates Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex in the historical context of its writing and in later contexts of its international reception, from then till now. The book takes up three aspects of Beauvoir's work more recent feminists find embarrassing: "bad sex," "dated" views about lesbians, and intersections with race and class. Through close reading of Beauvoir's writing in many genres, alongside contemporaneous discourses (good and bad novels in French and English, outmoded psychoanalytic and sexological authorities, ethnographic surrealism, the writing of Richard Wright and Franz Fanon), and in light of her travels to the U.S. and…


Book cover of Can't Get Enough

Evette Davis Author Of Woman King

From my list on dystopian stories for the bada** feminist in us all.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve worked in journalism, politics, and public policy for 30-plus years and watched as the extreme voices gained the most traction on either side of a debate. On social media, these minority views often dominate the discussion. 48 States is a stand-alone novel highlighting the problems of extremist viewpoints in a civil society. I also have another book series that features a political consultant who discovers she's a witch and joins a secret society that uses magic to manipulate elections to protect humanity. Bottom line: if I can’t fix political discourse for a living, I can write science fiction novels that contemplate how to do it.

Evette's book list on dystopian stories for the bada** feminist in us all

Evette Davis Why Evette loves this book

I don't remember how I found this series, but I was immediately taken with the fast-paced romance stories featuring tough-as-nails women who find dragons as their mates. It’s tough to combine blood-thirsty and sexy, but somehow she pulls it off while mixing the species. Of all the series I’ve come across this one probably has the most raw sex, but it seems to work and isn’t too much to take. Sex is such a tricky thing in novels., it really needs to be done well or it’s a distraction. Again what I like in this series, is that the women drive the narrative. 

By G.A. Aiken ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Can't Get Enough as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Visit the world of New York Timesbestselling author G.A. Aiken’s Dragon Kin series in this hilarious and thrilling companion story that’s not to be missed! Also the author of The Blacksmith Queen, Aiken combines zany humor, unparalleled world-building, and unconventional love in her captivating and unforgettable series.
 
Renowned for his fighting prowess, Ailean the Wicked has a new conquest in mind—the gorgeous dragoness Shalin the Innocent. While he’s saving her from her enemies, he plans to prove that even in human form a bad-boy dragon can show a girl a good time that’s truly off the scale . .…


If you love Jean Anouilh...

Book cover of Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS

Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS by Amy Carney,

When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

Book cover of Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions

Marilyn S. Greenwald Author Of The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate

From my list on activists who made sacrifices for big change.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have loved animals since I was a child, and when I was in college, someone introduced me to the work of Cleveland Amory, who was a prominent arts critic for much of his life. But Amory also became one of this nation’s first full-time animal activists and, as I learned later, someone who abandoned a lucrative and high-profile writing career to focus on his work for animal rights and anti-cruelty causes. I wrote a biography of Amory and began to read about the passion, mindset, and single-minded determination of activists of all stripes and how many made great sacrifices to join movements that have changed our lives and mindsets.

Marilyn's book list on activists who made sacrifices for big change

Marilyn S. Greenwald Why Marilyn loves this book

This collection of essays by pioneering feminist Gloria Steinem introduces the reader to the roots of modern-day feminism and the specific challenges Steinem and others faced to obtain what we consider today to be simple rights.

This book combines history, biography, and sociology, and Steinem captivated me with her clear and concise writing style, wit, and dry sense of humor. In addition to recounting her own experiences (such as her assignment as a reporter to pose as a Playboy bunny), she tells the stories of such varied subjects as First Lady Pat Nixon, Marilyn Monroe, author Alice Walker, and others.

I read this book shortly after it was published in 1983, and I read it again in 2020; both times I was shocked at the every-day indignities women faced routinely, and I was repeatedly encouraged by the bravery of Steneim and others to take on the mostly-male “establishment.”

Steinem reminds…

Book cover of Interrogating Antigone in Postmodern Philosophy and Criticism
Book cover of In the Beginning, She Was
Book cover of Feminist Readings of Antigone

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