The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece

Nonfiction, History, Ancient History, Greece, Rome, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece by Claude Calame, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Claude Calame ISBN: 9781400849154
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: August 18, 2013
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Claude Calame
ISBN: 9781400849154
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: August 18, 2013
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece offers the first comprehensive inquiry into the deity of sexual love, a power that permeated daily Greek life. Avoiding Foucault's philosophical paradigm of dominance/submission, Claude Calame uses an anthropological and linguistic approach to re-create indigenous categories of erotic love. He maintains that Eros, the joyful companion of Aphrodite, was a divine figure around which poets constructed a physiology of desire that functioned in specific ways within a network of social relations. Calame begins by showing how poetry and iconography gave a rich variety of expression to the concept of Eros, then delivers a history of the deity's roles within social and political institutions, and concludes with a discussion of an Eros-centered metaphysics.

Calame's treatment of archaic and classical Greek institutions reveals Eros at work in initiation rites and celebrations, educational practices, the Dionysiac theater of tragedy and comedy, and in real and imagined spatial settings. For men, Eros functioned particularly in the symposium and the gymnasium, places where men and boys interacted and where future citizens were educated. The household was the setting where girls, brides, and adult wives learned their erotic roles--as such it provides the context for understanding female rites of passage and the problematics of sexuality in conjugal relations. Through analyses of both Greek language and practices, Calame offers a fresh, subtle reading of relations between individuals as well as a quick-paced and fascinating overview of Eros in Greek society at large.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece offers the first comprehensive inquiry into the deity of sexual love, a power that permeated daily Greek life. Avoiding Foucault's philosophical paradigm of dominance/submission, Claude Calame uses an anthropological and linguistic approach to re-create indigenous categories of erotic love. He maintains that Eros, the joyful companion of Aphrodite, was a divine figure around which poets constructed a physiology of desire that functioned in specific ways within a network of social relations. Calame begins by showing how poetry and iconography gave a rich variety of expression to the concept of Eros, then delivers a history of the deity's roles within social and political institutions, and concludes with a discussion of an Eros-centered metaphysics.

Calame's treatment of archaic and classical Greek institutions reveals Eros at work in initiation rites and celebrations, educational practices, the Dionysiac theater of tragedy and comedy, and in real and imagined spatial settings. For men, Eros functioned particularly in the symposium and the gymnasium, places where men and boys interacted and where future citizens were educated. The household was the setting where girls, brides, and adult wives learned their erotic roles--as such it provides the context for understanding female rites of passage and the problematics of sexuality in conjugal relations. Through analyses of both Greek language and practices, Calame offers a fresh, subtle reading of relations between individuals as well as a quick-paced and fascinating overview of Eros in Greek society at large.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Searching for the Oldest Stars by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Kierkegaard's Writings, XXI, Volume 21 by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Mathematical Aspects of Nonlinear Dispersive Equations (AM-163) by Claude Calame
Cover of the book The End of the West: The Once and Future Europe by Claude Calame
Cover of the book How to Think about War by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Barbershops, Bibles, and BET by Claude Calame
Cover of the book The One vs. the Many by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Of Empires and Citizens by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Soul Dust by Claude Calame
Cover of the book In Amazonia by Claude Calame
Cover of the book The Undiscovered Self by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Tracks and Signs of the Animals and Birds of Britain and Europe by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Masada by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Genealogy of the Tragic by Claude Calame
Cover of the book Chosen Nation by Claude Calame
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy