The Daughters of Metis

Abstract

From its very beginnings, patriarchal dominion has always established its authority and won legitimacy by a subversion of the feminine that arises out of an implicit recognition of feminine power. Swallowing Metis, Zeus secures the stable order of his divine rule; sacrificing Iphigenia, Agamemnon asserts his authority as sovereign; denying the Erinyes their vengeance, Athena founds the human community that bears her name. Each of these stories articulates a dimension of the tragic dialectic of patriarchal dominion: a feminine power is subverted in a foundational act of decision designed to establish and consolidate patriarchal authority; this act of subversion then wins legitimacy by repression as it is designated inevitable and identified with the natural order of things. Yet, the structure of this dialectic is tragic, animated by the attempt to control the very excess that conditions its own possibility. The original act of subversion and its subsequent repression is accomplished by a transformative political intelligence known as j qft, which carries the sense of cunning, deception and craftiness as much as that of wise counsel and political acumen. The patriarchy itself depends upon the habit of thinking it most needs to control. But Metis does not submit quietly to the appropriations of the patriarch; she remains operative and effective, underlying and undermining the structure and stability of the patriarchy itself. She lives in the figure of her daughter, Athena, born from the very head of her father as the intractable upsurge of power that emerges from that original act of consumption by which