November 17, Vol. While contemporary Western culture tends to characterize Eros with, for example, the romantic comedies starring Meg Ryan, wedding magazines with too-perfect brides pictured on their covers and five-pound boxes of heart-shaped chocolate, these essays look at Eros across time and culture. And while there is no one conclusion, none of them looks on love as a happy experience.
Buttenwieser Professor in Classics and co-editor of the book. But while the discussion in the Symposium was sparked by a complaint that the Greek poets neglected Eros, Erotikon was organized in response to the grand role that conceptions of love have played in our imaginations since their time.
This visual from the film Vertigo , which also is found in the book, Erotikon , illustrates the feeling of dizziness, but, says Professor Thomas Gunning, it represents much more. That grappling takes place from the classical through the contemporary eras. Tracy proposes that this tragic vision allows us to affirm Eros while also recognizing its destructive potential.
Shadi Bartsch co-edited Erotikon with Tom Bartscherer. Essays explore new perspectives about nature of love and erotic desire By Jennifer Carnig News Office.
