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Eros the Bittersweet

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( 6,924 ratings, 1,069 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson explores the complex nature of desire through a unique blend of classical scholarship and poetic insight. The book delves into ancient Greek literature to examine the paradox of love's sweetness intertwined with its inherent pain. Carson's work offers a profound meditation on how longing shapes human experience, without revealing specific plot points.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5100

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you have an interest in the intersections of classical literature, language, and the complexities of love. The author delves into how desire is represented and experienced through ancient texts, offering a unique and engaging perspective on art and culture.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time

A book about romantic love, Eros the Bittersweet is Anne Carson's exploration of the concept of 'eros' in both classical philosophy and literature. Beginning with, "It was Sappho who first called eros 'bittersweet'. No one who has been in love disputes her," Carson examines her subject from numerous points of view, creating a lyrical meditation in the tradition of William Carlos Williams's Spring and All and William H. Gass's On Being Blue.

Epigrammatic, witty, ironic, and endlessly entertaining, Eros is an utterly original book.

Series: Dalkey Archive Essentials

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson is praised for its brilliance and wit, with Anne Carson being recognised as a rare and passionate talent. The book's author is acclaimed as a cunning philosopher and an agile reader, offering fresh insights with a scholarly yet lively approach.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781628973860

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 22 September 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Dalkey Archive Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Sandra Newman

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 190

About the Author

Anne Carson was born in Canada and teaches ancient Greek for a living. Her awards and honors include the Lannan Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Griffin Trust Award for Excellence in Poetry, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the MacArthur "Genius" Award.

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    The ancient Greek lyric poet Simonides of Keos was the first poet in the Western tradition to take money for poetic composition. From this starting point, Anne Carson launches an exploration, poetic in its own right, of the idea of poetic economy. She offers a reading of certain of Simonides' texts and aligns these with writings of the modern Romanian...
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    Norma Jeane Baker of Troy is a partly spoken, partly sung performance piece by poet, essayist, and scholar Anne Carson. It is an exploration of the lives and myths of Marilyn Monroe and Helen of Troyβ€”iconic beauties who lived millennia apart. A thrilling and thoughtful meditation on the destabilising and destructive power of beauty, it had its world premiere at...
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  • Eros the Bittersweet
    Named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time by the Modern Library Anne Carson's remarkable first book about the paradoxical nature of romantic love Since it was first published, Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson's lyrical meditation on love in ancient Greek literature and philosophy, has established itself as a favourite among an unusually broad audience, including classicists,...
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    From poet and classicist Anne Carson comes this translation of the work of Sappho, together with the original Greek. During her life on the island of Lesbos, Sappho is said to have composed nine books of lyrics. Only one poem has survived complete. In If Not, Winter, Carson presents all the extant fragments of Sappho's verse, employing brackets and white...
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