Rosina Neginsky's compelling study of Salome is an inquiry into how that figure, and the myth that has been created about her, has changed over time. Beginning with the history and myth in Biblical times, Neginsky follows Salome through Christian theology and myths of woman, the beautiful Salome of the Renaissance, and the seducer-destroyer she becomes in Oscar Wilde and in the nineteenth century generally. Neginsky looks at painting as well as literary texts to uncover the assumptions at work in the alluring princess we know as 'Salome.' - Françoise Meltzer, Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities, Chair of Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, USA In a remarkable display of interdisciplinary erudition, Rosina Neginsky explores the Salome myth across the centuries, in different artistic media. This is a fine book, rich in sensitive analyses and new interpretations of a wide variety of works of visual art, literature and music. Peter Cooke Senior Lecturer in French Studies, University of Manchester The unique case of a martyrdom in the ancient world transformed into the myth of a femme fatale - the decapitation of John the Baptist at the dawn of Christianity - has inspired artists in all disciplines and exemplifies the evolution through time of the place of women in Western society. In this remarkable multidisciplinary study, which begins with the Bible and continues through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Rosina Neginsky unveils all the facets of the myth and leads us across the centuries in a subtle and insightful way, from sculpture and painting to literature and music. Gustave Flaubert, Gustave Moreau, Oscar Wilde or Richard Strauss, by choosing the theme of Salome, attain universal status.

Geneviéve Lacambre Honorary General Curator of the Patrimony, former Director of the Musèe Gustave Moreau, Paris, France Salome: The Image of a Woman Who Never Was is a book that focuses on the single figure of Salome, but this focus, as the author Rosina Neginsky explains, allows her to examine the process of myth generation, the link between how stories proliferated about Salome and how they do so about women in society in general. [.] [A]nyone interested in the intersections between cultural norms and art or the feminist movement in the period will find that this focus on one particular iteration of mythical woman can add to ongoing conversations about the ideology of Victorian gender. Year's Work in English Studies, 95: 1 (2016).