Eros And Eris

This narrative has three related intentions. The first, and primary in sheer volume of discussion, is to consider Greek and Latin literature as a prism through which Greco-Roman civilization may be understood, but through the specific lens of the interweave of two concepts, eros (love) and eris (strife). Neither of these apparently opposed modes of human behavior is presented without the other; the two are repeatedly intertwined with each other, from the description of how our world came into being to the various threads of epic and lyric poetry that offer accounts of human-divine, divine-divine and human-human interaction. Thus, beginning with Hesiod's Theogony and the surviving Homeric epics, (the Iliad and the Odyssey), I go on to consider Greek lyric, tragic and comic poetry-from Sappho and Pindar to Aiskhylos and Sophokles and Euripides to Aristophanes to Menander-and in turn I observe how the issue of eros/eris further plays out in Roman poetry, from Lucretius and Virgil to the panoply of lyric poets that includes Catullus as well as Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid on the one hand and satirists like Juvenal on the other. The theme plays out in the most serious and the most humorous of modes. A briefer discussion-a kind of interlude-will include Plato (specifically, the Symposium) and a consideration of the visual arts will single out a handful of works in which this theme is particularly well represented, offering a complement to the literary articulation. My intention is to draw conclusions regarding this aspect of Greco-Roman culture while recognizing differences inherent in Greek versus Roman thinking that mark them both as a continuum and as distinct from each other. In what amounts to an extended epilogue, the third component of my narrative traces the eros/eris theme as it continues to play out in Western literature, suggesting this theme as one of the many instruments through which Western civilization erects a complex edifice built on Greek and Roman-and Hebrew biblical (included in this epilogue)-foundations. The discussion extends beyond the Bible to the Chanson de Roland to Dante's Divine Comedy to Pierre Corneille's Le Cid to Nikos Kazantsakis' The Odyssey: A Sequel to the magnificent contemporary poem by Nobel-prize-winner, Derek Walcott, Omeros, and to the musical, West Side Story. More simply put-given my inclusion of a discussion of the Baghavad Gita with respect to this theme-I ask how all of this might reflect more broadly and deeply on what humans are about, across the range of our cultures and civilizations, West and East.

The articles in this book display the originality and creativity of Eros and Eris, and their important role in the history of our culture, particularly in the history of philosophy and its role in today's systematic philosophy. Although these contributions to a hermeneutical phenomenology in this compilation are organized in a linear-chronological order (treating Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Cusanus, Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger and Levinas), they all carry out their own hermeneutical movement in the history of philosphy on the basis of a commitment with out life, here and now, and a thematic, professional interest. Among the contributors are: R. Bernasconi, J. Colette, J.F. Courtine, L. Dupré, Kl. Düsing, J. Greisch, J. Kockelmans, P.-J. Labarrière and G. Jarczyk, E. Levinas, Al. Lingis, J.-L. Marion, O. Pöggeler, W. Richardson, P. Ricoeur, J. Sallis, M. Theunissen and S. IJsseling.

Ancient Greek Beliefs explores the mysteries of the ancient myths and religious beliefs of a great people. The text is divided into three sections, Greek mythology, the ancient Greeks, and conclusions. A brief history and lengthy glossary are included. The book is designed as a basic text for the introduction to ancient Greek mythology and beliefs, and the text muses about the religious lessons we might learn from them. It contains abridged stories of Greek mythology, including the extant Greek plays, and considers portions of the works of the great writers, including Aeschylus, Euripides Hesiod, Homer, Plato, and Sophocles. It opens a comprehensive window into the lives of these great ancient people.

"... a major study of the poetry." -- Sandra M. Gilbert, New York Times Book Review "... the first book-length study to approach H.D. from a feminist perspective.... Psyche Reborn is a valuable book not only for H.D. specialists but also for those interested in twentieth-century intellectual history." -- Cheryl Walker, Signs "... lucid, deeply informed assessment... " -- Joanne Felt Diehl, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature "Indiana University Press should be heartily commended for promoting Psyche Reborn in paperback, hence making this vital critical work more widely available." -- Lesbian and Gay Studies Newsletter "... a richly documented, polemical, and intelligent study... Friedman's is a splendid and rewarding achievement." -- The Year's Work in English Studies

Paracritical Hinge is a collection of varied yet interrelated pieces highlighting Nathaniel Mackey’s multifaceted work as writer and critic. It embraces topics ranging from Walt Whitman’s interest in phrenology to the marginalization of African American experimental writing; from Kamau Brathwaite’s “calibanistic” language practices to Federico García Lorca’s flamenco aesthetic of duende and its continuing repercussions; from H. D.’s desert measure and coastal way of knowing to the altered spatial disposition of Miles Davis’s trumpet sound; from Robert Duncan’s serial poetics to diasporic syncretism; from the lyric poem’s present-day predicaments to gnosticism. Offering illuminating commentary on these and other artists including Amiri Baraka, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Wilson Harris, Jack Spicer, John Coltrane, Jay Wright, and Bob Kaufman, Paracritical Hinge also sheds light on Mackey’s own work as a poet, fiction writer, and editor.

This book traces the various configurations of food as hunger, desire, and appetite which point to the complex dialectic of consumption and consummation of ideas and forms underpinning the arts. It examines the relationship between nature and science, space and the act of artistic creation, desire and the arts, appetite and hunger. One of the aims of the book is to explore established theoretical and historical conceptions of “nature” in the arts and re-think their relationship to appetite in the globalized world. Examining the many guises and figurations of hunger in literature and the arts, this book gives an overview of the themes that emerge from the idea of the Hunger Artist alongside the fact of food: the latter’s significance as a barometer of social class; its rich source as a metaphor in literature and art; its unequal distribution throughout the world; and the means by which its consumption can lead to gluttony and further exploitation of the “hungry.” One of the great strengths of this book is the trans-disciplinary nature of the contributions achieved by mapping how the arts in their representation of social, psychological, political, and philosophical perspectives draw attention to the problems associated with excessive human cravings.

The Past in the Present brings together, for the first time, contemporary ideas from both the psychoanalytic and humanistic therapy traditions, looking at how trauma and enactments affect therapeutic practice. Enactments are often experienced as a crisis in therapy and are understood as symbolic interactions between the client and therapist, where personal issues of both parties become unconsciously entwined. This is arguably especially true if the client has undergone some form of trauma. This trauma becomes enacted in the therapy and becomes a turning point that significantly influences the course of therapy, sometimes with creative or even destructive effect. Using a wealth of clinical material throughout, the contributors show how therapists from different therapeutic orientations are thinking about and working with enactments in therapy, how trauma enactment can affect the therapeutic relationship and how both therapist and client can use it to positive effect. The Past in the Present will be invaluable to practitioners and students of analytic and humanistic psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, analytic psychology and counselling.