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 22
Page ix
... meaning out of despair . He had two phrases he repeated so often they remained in a student's mind . He would say , " History must be told . ” He explained in various ways that history is to a civilization what personal memory is to an ...
... meaning out of despair . He had two phrases he repeated so often they remained in a student's mind . He would say , " History must be told . ” He explained in various ways that history is to a civilization what personal memory is to an ...
Page xi
... meaning , “ Athens ” represents a philosophic - scientific approach to actuality , with the goal being cognition , while " Jerusalem " represents a scriptural tradition of disciplined insight and the aspiration to holiness . Together ...
... meaning , “ Athens ” represents a philosophic - scientific approach to actuality , with the goal being cognition , while " Jerusalem " represents a scriptural tradition of disciplined insight and the aspiration to holiness . Together ...
Page 29
... meaning of Achilles ' existence is that he is a prince and a great warrior , destined to a short life but immortal “ honor . ” The female person of the young woman Briseis is beside the point here , which is the total meaning of ...
... meaning of Achilles ' existence is that he is a prince and a great warrior , destined to a short life but immortal “ honor . ” The female person of the young woman Briseis is beside the point here , which is the total meaning of ...
Page 33
... meaning . The same honor waits for the coward and the brave . They both go down to Death , the fighter who shirks , the one who works to exhaustion , and what's laid up for me , what pittance ? Nothing and after suffering hardship year ...
... meaning . The same honor waits for the coward and the brave . They both go down to Death , the fighter who shirks , the one who works to exhaustion , and what's laid up for me , what pittance ? Nothing and after suffering hardship year ...
Page 47
... meaning " son of . " The princess very likely would have given him his name in this sense , the " son of " some favorite Egyptian god . In that case , it is possible to speculate that Moses , when he turns wholly against Egypt ...
... meaning " son of . " The princess very likely would have given him his name in this sense , the " son of " some favorite Egyptian god . In that case , it is possible to speculate that Moses , when he turns wholly against Egypt ...
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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