AEGiS-BKREV: Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture

(BKREV) Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture

Routledge, 29 W 35th St., New York, NY 10001. 384p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-415-92174-0. $35.00.
Jonathan Dollimore. 1998.

Philosophers have grappled with death and poets have told of its beauty and pain. The intertwined relationship between death and desire has been around since Odysseus and the Sirens' song, providing much to think about, discuss openly, and write about, even into today's era of AIDS where sex and death are the bedfellows. This is not a book that one can pick up and read from cover to cover over a short period of time. It has to be read slowly, in order to understand Dollimore's "remarkable ability to explain complex ideas with eloquence and grace." This is a provocative book which will make one look at sexual desire in a different way. He states: "In this book I have wanted to reach non-specialist readers without making the patronizing assumption that they will be alienated by all but the superficial. I have not just summarized texts from afar, but have preferred instead to explore them close-up in the hope of getting inside a writer's mood, language, sensibility and philosophy. But I have only included material which I regard as potentially interesting and accessible to any thoughtful reader."

He has more than succeeded in this task. Beginning with "Eros and Thanatos, Change and Loss in the Ancient World" to "Fatal Confusions: Sex and Death in Early Modern Culture" to "Freud: Life as a Detour to Death" and finally to "Promiscuity and Death," he has summarized some of the world's most noted writings on death, desire, and loss. A highly recommended book for all academic libraries.

Keywords: Death

Copyright (c) 1999 - Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.
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Copyright © 1999 - The University of Illinois at Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.

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