Occasional Papers
Carnal Knowledge
Wendy Doniger explores how the concepts of carnal knowledge and carnal ignorance—the result of sexual betrayal, infidelity, and lies about sexual identity—are expressed in the Hebrew Bible, ancient Sanskrit literature, Shakespeare, and contemporary Hollywood film. In particular, she investigates the tension between carnal knowledge and carnal ignorance as it is expressed in the mythology of the bedtrick (that is, sex with someone who pretends to be someone else).
Authors
Robert Alter
Kwame A. Appiah
T. J. Clark
J.M. Coetzee
Arthur Danto
Mike Davis
Natalie Zemon Davis
Wendy Doniger
Gerald Early
Christina Gillis, ed.
Anthony Grafton
Seamus Heaney
Eva Hoffman
Michael Ignatieff
Stephen Katz
Bert Keizer
Ivan Klima
Maya Lin
Alan Liu
Margaret Lock
Kenzaburô Ôe
Robert Pinsky
Michael Pollan
Sebastião Salgado
Peter Sellars
Maurice Sendak
Kathleen Woodward