Reception & Subversion – Myths from a Feminist Perspective is the thematic focus of the present eisodos issue 2025 (1). The question of female self-empowerment in misogynistic systems remains as relevant as ever—negotiated in intricate ways in ancient myths as well as in later rewritings and reinterpretations, which are at the heart of this issue. Goddesses, witches, nymphs, (un)faithful wives, and female-gendered mythical creatures, monsters, and statues reappear in subversive ways through what Hans Blumenberg termed the work on myth. They populate bookshelves, theater stages, and television screens, and—at least in the works examined in this issue—offer a critique of inequality, violence, war, and heroic recklessness. Johanna Böttiger explores the gender-fluid figure of the Sphinx, Milena Hofmeister examines three versions of the contested Helen, Franziska Fritsch analyzes Pygmalion’s awakened statue and Ibsen’s resurrected dead, Marisa Morell investigates the conflict between Athena and Medusa, and Leonie Zinth examines the encounter between Circe and Medea.

The contributions gathered here have their origins in a BA seminar held by Sophie Seidler at LMU Munich in the winter semester of 2021/2022.