Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe: Toward the Revival of Higher EducationYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 286 pages Although the essential books of Western civilization are no longer central in our courses or in our thoughts, they retain their ability to energize us intellectually, says Jeffrey Hart in this powerful book. He now presents a guide to some of these literary works, tracing the main currents of Western culture for all who wish to understand the roots of their civilization and the basis for its achievements. Hart focuses on the productive tension between the classical and biblical strains in our civilization, between a life based on cognition and one based on faith and piety. He begins with the Iliad and Exodus, linking Achilles and Moses as Bronze Age heroic figures. Closely analysing texts and illuminating them in unexpected ways, he moves on to Socrates and Jesus, who internalized the heroic, continues with Paul and Augustine and their Christian synthesis, addresses Dante, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Moliere, and Voltaire, and concludes with the novel as represented by Crime and Punishment and The Great Gatsby. Hart maintains that the dialectical tensions suggested by this survey account for the restlessness and singular achievements of the West and that the essential books can provide the substance and energy currently missed by both students and educated readers. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 31
Page 18
... King Priam the approach of Achilles , who Priam knows is death to Troy : “ And old Priam was the first to see him coming , surging over the plain , blazing / like the star that rears at harvest , flaming up in brilliance . . . So the ...
... King Priam the approach of Achilles , who Priam knows is death to Troy : “ And old Priam was the first to see him coming , surging over the plain , blazing / like the star that rears at harvest , flaming up in brilliance . . . So the ...
Page 25
... King Priam's palace is a splendid structure : And soon He came to Priam's palace , that magnificent structure built wide with porches and colonnades of polished stone , and deep within its walls were fifty sleeping chambers masoned ...
... King Priam's palace is a splendid structure : And soon He came to Priam's palace , that magnificent structure built wide with porches and colonnades of polished stone , and deep within its walls were fifty sleeping chambers masoned ...
Page 27
... King Peleus of the Greek Myrmidons . He will die young , but immortal fame will be his approach to divinity . The more civilized Hector could not have reached the depths of fury felt by Achilles after the insults from King Agamemnon and ...
... King Peleus of the Greek Myrmidons . He will die young , but immortal fame will be his approach to divinity . The more civilized Hector could not have reached the depths of fury felt by Achilles after the insults from King Agamemnon and ...
Page 28
... King Agamemnon , but he is not an absolute monarch in the Renais- sance sense . He is a prince among lesser but also powerful princes . Whether Achilles , a much younger man and commanding the largest personal army in the alliance , is ...
... King Agamemnon , but he is not an absolute monarch in the Renais- sance sense . He is a prince among lesser but also powerful princes . Whether Achilles , a much younger man and commanding the largest personal army in the alliance , is ...
Page 30
... King Priam of Troy makes his way alone to Achilles ' headquarters to plead for his son's body . The still - enraged and steely heart of Achilles is moved , not by pity but by a perception of the old man's courage . After all , Achilles ...
... King Priam of Troy makes his way alone to Achilles ' headquarters to plead for his son's body . The still - enraged and steely heart of Achilles is moved , not by pity but by a perception of the old man's courage . After all , Achilles ...
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Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe: Toward the Revival of Higher Education Jeffrey Peter Hart No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Abraham Achilles Aeneas Agamemnon Alceste ancient areté Aristotle Athens Athens and Jerusalem Augustine beauty beginning Bronze Age Brunetto C. S. Lewis Canto Célimène century certainly chapter Christian civilization cognition Commandment Confessions cosmos course culture Dante Dante's death Divine Comedy Dostoyevsky Egypt Egyptian empire Enlightenment epic everything Exodus experience figure Gatsby Gatsby's Genesis Greek philosophy Hebrew Bible Hector hero heroic holiness Homer Horeb human idea Iliad important Inferno intellectual Israelites Jesus killed King literature live Logos Lord magical mind Molière monotheism monotheistic moral Moses move murder narrative Nick novel Numbers Odysseus passage Paul perhaps Pharaoh pilgrim Dante Plato play poem poet Prince Hamlet Prophets Raskolnikov religious Rendsburg Roman scene seems sense Shakespeare Sinai society Socrates speak spirit student T. S. Eliot tell tension things Thou thought tion tradition Troy truth Ulysses universe Virgil voice Voltaire Western words