You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
A shocking and extreme interpretation of culture, history, and the father of psychoanalysis. In Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History, social philosopher Norman O. Brown radically analyzes and critiques the work of Sigmund Freud. Brown attempts to define a non-repressive civilization, draws parallels between psychoanalysis and the theology of Martin Luther, and also examines the revolutionary themes present in western religious thought, such as ideas found in the work of William Blake and Jakob Böhme. “Life Against Death cannot fail to shock, if it is taken personally; for it is a book which does not aim at eventual reconciliation with the views of common sense. The ...
A shocking and extreme interpretation of the father of psychoanalysis.
Norman O. Brown was a scholar, poet and revolutionary who made a lasting impression on the sixties generation. His distinctive fusion of Marxism, psychoanalysis and classical literature inspired students across the United States and in Europe to participate in the political upheaval of that time. His books, including Love’s Body and Life Against Death, are still being used in college classrooms throughout the country. This memorial volume has two sections, the first presenting a previously unpublished autobiographical essay in which Brown details both his family and intellectual background prior to arriving in the United States at the University of Chicago. The second section contains a number of short meditations on his life and work by friends, family and colleagues. The pieces are poetic and insightful, a true testimony to the kind of thinking Brown inspired. They were presented originally during a memorial gathering at the University of California Santa Cruz, which included, among others, his colleagues there: Carl E. Schorske, Jay Cantor, Hayden White, Helene Moglen, Jim Clifford and Nathaniel Mackey.
Here is the final volume of Norman O. Brown's trilogy on civilization and its discontents, on humanity's long struggle to master its instincts and the perils that attend that denial of human nature. Following on his famous books Life Against Death and Love's Body, this collection of eleven essays brings Brown's thinking up to 1990 and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Brown writes that "the prophetic tradition is an attempt to give direction to the social structure precipitated by the urban revolution; to resolve its inherent contradictions; to put an end to its injustice, inequality, anomie, the state of war . . . that has been its history from start to finish." Affiliating himself w...
Originally published in 1966 and now recognized as a classic, Norman O. Brown's meditation on the condition of humanity and its long fall from the grace of a natural, instinctual innocence is available once more for a new generation of readers. Love's Body is a continuation of the explorations begun in Brown's famous Life Against Death. Rounding out the trilogy is Brown's brilliant Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis.
A classic, prescient work dealing with myth and cult which traces the evolution of Hermes from sacred stoneheap and phallus to Homeric Hymn to Hermes and the Hesiodic poems.
None
The Prophetic Tradition: The Challenge of Islam is an enlightening set of lectures given by Norman O. Brown during the 1980s, exploring a wide-ranging array of topics concerning Islam. Brown reveals the overlooked relationship between Islam and early Christianity, exploring Islam’s relation to, and revision of, the Christian tradition, the literary innovation of the Qu’ran, the nature of revolutionary and political Islam, and the vision of a world civilization. Throughout these lectures, which are remarkably pertinent today, Brown seeks to educate the reader on misunderstood areas of Islam, including the split between the Sunni and Shi’ite sects and Islam’s exemplification of the broad themes of art and imagination in human life. The author’s world-historical perspective of religion and tradition gives readers a crucial alternative to the divisive “clash of civilizations” view that paints Islam as at odds with the West. He exposes the unifying strands between Islam and early Judeo-Christian doctrine, showing that Islam is in fact a genuine part of “Western” tradition, and more importantly, part of a global tradition that embraces us all.
From the award-winning journalist and coach: a biography of “the ‘Rain Man’ of golf. It’s a character drama. It’s an underdog story” (Barry Morrow, Academy Award–winning screenwriter). Documentary now in production! In The Feeling of Greatness, second edition, golf coach Tim O’Connor updates his previous biography of the late great, Canadian golfer Moe Norman, who was famous for introducing the single plane golf swing. This edition includes new anecdotes about Moe both on and off the course by golfers, journalists, friends, and family, and offers a more in-depth portrait of the man and golfer, especially in the last years of his life. O’Connor shares with readers his person...
The first book-length study of Norman O. Brown, The Resurrection of the Body brings an order beyond "Western Culture" to the subjects that make up Brown's field of engagement, subjects as diverse as Classical Studies, Philosophy, Philology, Psychoanalysis, Theology, Literature, History, and Marxism. For Brown, each of these subjects is in a very real sense an emanation of the body; that is, Western Culture is the body's attempt to resurrect itself. Examining Brown's works from Hermes the Thief to Closing Time, David Greenham illuminates Brown's fascinating signature style of collage, quotation, and comment. This book also seeks to redress the balance between Brown and his more celebrated contemporary Herbert Marcuse. The Resurrection of the Body is essential reading for any Norman O. Brown scholar.