Grace Dane Mazur: Forbidden Looking (July 2008)

What is looking, Grace Dane Mazur asks, that it should be so enticing, so fatal, and so forbidden?  How is looking different from seeing?  What kind of insight is gained from forbidden looking, and is it worth the consequences? Mazur considers these questions through the lens of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and reflects on the differences in how Rubens, Virgil, and Ovid represent Orpheus’ famous look back.