Translated Bodies: A ‘Cartographic’ Approach

Abstract

This contribution uses a contemporary comparandum, namely Antonia Byatt’s story The Stone Woman (2003), to think about the ancient idea that the petrification of a female body is not simply the result of a divine intervention or a magical act. On the contrary, this should be understood as the materialisation, the incarnation of an emotional petrification that derives from an inner trauma. To support this hypothesis, an analysis is offered of some case studies taken from ancient myths (the cases of Aglauros, Caenis and Ariadne), which show how the petrification of the body often occurs at a delicate moment in the growth phase of a young woman: that of the transition from childhood to adulthood.