Synopses & Reviews
In
Love, Sex and Tragedy Simon Goldhill lifts the veil on our inheritance of classical traditions and offers a witty, engrossing survey of the Greek and Roman roots of everything from our overwhelming mania for "hard bodies" to our political systems. Encompassing Karl Marx, Clark Gable, George W. Bush, Oscar Wilde, and Sigmund Freud, Goldhill takes great delight in tracing both follies and fundamental philosophical questions through the centuries and continents to the birthplace of Western civilization as we know it. Underlying his brisk and learned excursions through history and art is the foundational belief, following Cicero, that learning about the classics makes a critical difference to our self-understanding. Whether we are considering the role of religion in contemporary society, our expectations about the boundaries between public and private life, or even how we spend our free time, recognizing the role of the classics is integral to our comprehension of modern life and our place in it.
"Confident, intelligent and assertive; [Love, Sex and Tragedy] stands up for 'classics' without apology, without snobbishness and without conservatism."and#8212;Oliver Taplin, Guardian
"Goldhill . . . takes us through the looking glass into antiquity and shows us some of the sights that he thinks most interesting and informative. . . . Anyone who goes on the journey will be amused, surprised, and enlightened."and#8212;Mary K. Lefkowitz, New York Sun
"A passionate, witty, and broad-ranging exploration of the ancient foundations of our world. . . . There is a widening gap between our perceptions and the ancient sources. Goldhill closes that gap with this lively and multi-layered challenge to assumptions embedded in modern life."and#8212;Lizzie Speller, Observer
Review
"Love, Sex and Tragedy is great, and great fun, the kind of book you find yourself reading out to your other half as you go along-a sparkling, erudite, and amusing remedy for our collective historical amnesia, a book that persuasively argues that without an understanding of our classical roots we are stumbling in the dark, missing vital information about who we really are and why we do the things we do. What do we mean by democracy? Why and how do we mix up history and myth and at what price? Whom do we love and how? Which bodies do we want and why? How do we entertain ourselves, and to distract us from what horrors? Simon Goldhill forces us to examine what we increasingly ignore: our radical reliance on a history we barely know."
Synopsis
"If you do not know where you come from, you will always be a child." Cicero wasn't talking about being a child in the sense of enjoying life in a state of ignorant bliss. He was, rather, adamant that those who don't understand their origins are consigned to a life without power or authority, without the ability to act fully in the world.
Love, Sex & Tragedy is acclaimed classicist Simon Goldhill's corrective to our state of ignorance. Lifting the veil on our inheritance of classical traditions, Goldhill offers a witty, engrossing survey of the Greek and Roman roots of everything from our overwhelming mania for "hard bodies" to our political systems.
Marx, Clark Gable, George W. Bush, Oscar Wilde, and Freud—Goldhill's range here is enormous, and he takes great delight in tracing both follies and fundamental philosophical questions through the centuries and continents to the birthplace of Western civilization as we know it. Underlying his brisk and learned excursions through history and art is the foundational belief, following Cicero, that learning about the classics makes a critical difference to our self-understanding. Whether we are considering the role of religion in contemporary society, our expectations about the boundaries between public and private life, or even how we spend our free time, recognizing the role of the classics is integral to our comprehension of modern life and our place in it.
When Goldhill asks "Who do you think you are?" he presents us with the rarest of opportunities: the chance to let him lead us, firmly but with a wink, back two thousand years to where we are.
About the Author
Simon Goldhill, the author or editor of many books, is professor of Greek literature and culture at King's College, Cambridge.
Table of Contents
A Life in Ruins
i who do you think you are?
1. The Perfect Body
2. A Manand#8217;s Thing?
3. The Female Body and#8211; Soft and Spongy, Shaved and Coy
4. His and Hers and#8211; A Love Story?
5. Greek Love
6. A Man Is a Man Is a . . .
7. Longing for Sappho
8. Doing What Comes Naturally?
ii where do you think you are going?
1. The Empire of Religion
2. Superstars of the Flesh
3. Sex and the City
4. Whatand#8217;s Athens to Jerusalem?
5. Greek is Heresy!
6. Knowing the Answer
iii what do you think should happen?
1. Does Politics Need History?
2. Athenian Democracy and#8211; Changing the Map
3. The Good Citizen
4. The Critics of Democracy and#8211; Experts and Education
5. A Question of Betrayal
6. The Will of the People
iv what do you want to do?
1. Thatand#8217;s Entertainment!
2. The Question of Tragedy
3. The Gladiator and the Baying Crowd and#8211; and#8216;At My Command, Unleash Helland#8217;
4. The Last Supper
v where do you think you come from?
1. A Greece of the Imagination
2. Founding Fathers and#8211; From Keats to Hollywood and Back
3. Finding the Fatherland and#8211; Where Freudand#8217;s Oedipus Comes From
4. The Mother of All Stories and#8211; The Greek Oedipus
5. The Myth of Origins
6. History Today
Notes
Further Reading
Picture Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements