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
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Page iv
... Civilization - Study and teaching . I. Title . LCIOII .H365 2001 370.11'2 - dc21 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library . 2001022241 The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and ...
... Civilization - Study and teaching . I. Title . LCIOII .H365 2001 370.11'2 - dc21 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library . 2001022241 The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and ...
Page ix
... civilization what personal memory is to an individual : an essential part of identity and a source of meaning . He also said that the goal of education is the citizen . He defined the citizen in a radical and original way arising out of ...
... civilization what personal memory is to an individual : an essential part of identity and a source of meaning . He also said that the goal of education is the citizen . He defined the citizen in a radical and original way arising out of ...
Page x
... civilizations and other cultures in relation to it . In a democracy such as ours the goal must be to have as many people as possible grasp their civilization this way , because they participate in the governing function either directly ...
... civilizations and other cultures in relation to it . In a democracy such as ours the goal must be to have as many people as possible grasp their civilization this way , because they participate in the governing function either directly ...
Page xi
... civilization has answered this question not either - or but both - and , both Athens and Jerusalem . The interaction between Athens and Jerusalem has been a dynamic one , characterized by tension , attempted synthesis , and outright ...
... civilization has answered this question not either - or but both - and , both Athens and Jerusalem . The interaction between Athens and Jerusalem has been a dynamic one , characterized by tension , attempted synthesis , and outright ...
Page xii
... claim distinctive excellences for Western civilization , will doubtless seem to many culturally unforgivable . But that is part of the catastrophe . Acknowledgments I wish to express my gratitude to Jacques Barzun xii Preface.
... claim distinctive excellences for Western civilization , will doubtless seem to many culturally unforgivable . But that is part of the catastrophe . Acknowledgments I wish to express my gratitude to Jacques Barzun xii Preface.
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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