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 64
Page ix
... thought long and deeply about edu- cation , his masters becoming Friedrich Nietzsche and William James , both of whom he saw as attempting to bring meaning out of despair . He had two phrases he repeated so often they remained in a ...
... thought long and deeply about edu- cation , his masters becoming Friedrich Nietzsche and William James , both of whom he saw as attempting to bring meaning out of despair . He had two phrases he repeated so often they remained in a ...
Page x
... thought , its philosophical and religious controversies , its scientific development , its major works of the imagina- tion . The citizen in this sense need not know quantum mechanics , neu- tron theory , non - Euclidean geometry , or ...
... thought , its philosophical and religious controversies , its scientific development , its major works of the imagina- tion . The citizen in this sense need not know quantum mechanics , neu- tron theory , non - Euclidean geometry , or ...
Page xi
... thought and feeling . Such revelation is endless , almost by definition . Attention to it is the work of a lifetime . For the practical purposes of college education , a good introduction can consist of a single one - year course , that ...
... thought and feeling . Such revelation is endless , almost by definition . Attention to it is the work of a lifetime . For the practical purposes of college education , a good introduction can consist of a single one - year course , that ...
Page 3
... thought leading to theories of relative deprivation and refer- ence groups . Perhaps thought requires contradiction . As Lionel Trilling once observed , " whenever we put two emotions into juxtaposition we have what we can properly call ...
... thought leading to theories of relative deprivation and refer- ence groups . Perhaps thought requires contradiction . As Lionel Trilling once observed , " whenever we put two emotions into juxtaposition we have what we can properly call ...
Page 8
... thought . In order to under- stand ourselves and to illuminate our trackless way into the future , we must understand Jerusalem and Athens . ” דיי Strauss insisted repeatedly that though individuals in regard to ulti- mate decisions ...
... thought . In order to under- stand ourselves and to illuminate our trackless way into the future , we must understand Jerusalem and Athens . ” דיי Strauss insisted repeatedly that though individuals in regard to ulti- mate decisions ...
Other editions - View all
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