Foundations of Violence, Volume One Death and the Displacement of Beauty

The Pursuit Of Death And The Love Of Death Has Characterized Western Culture From Homeric Times Through Centuries Of Christianity, Taking Particular Deadly Shapes In Western Postmodernity. This Necrophilia Shows Itself In Destruction And Violence, In A Focus On Other Worlds And Degradation Of This One, And In Hatred Of The Body, Sense And Sexuality. In Her Major New Book Project Death And The Displacement Of Beauty, Grace M. Jantzen Seeks To Disrupt This Wish For Death, Opening A New Acceptance Of Beauty And Desire That Makes It Possible To Choose Life. Foundations Of Violence Enters The Ancient World Of Homer, Sophocles, Plato And Aristotle To Explore The Genealogy Of Violence In Western Thought Through Its Emergence In Greece And Rome. It Uncovers Origins Of Ideas Of Death From The Beautiful Death Of Homeric Heroes To The Gendered Misery Of War, Showing The Tensions Between Those Who Tried To Eliminate Fear Of Death By Denying Its Significance, And Those Like Plotinus Who Looked To Another World, Seeking Life And Beauty In Another Realm. Section 1: Beauty, Gender And Death 1. Redeeming The Present: The Therapy Of Philosophy -- 2. Symptoms Of A Deathly Symbolic -- 3. Denaturalizing Death -- 4. Towards A Poetics Of Natality Section 2: Out Of The Cave Introduction -- 5. The Rage Of Achilles -- 6. Odysseus On The Barren Sea -- 7. The Murderous Misery Of War -- 8. Whose Tragedy? -- 9. Parmenides Meets The Goddess -- 10. How To Give Birth Like A Man -- 11. The Open Sea Of Beauty -- 12. The Fault Lines Of Flourishing -- Section 3: Eternal Rome? Introduction 13. Anxiety About Nothing(ness): Lucretius And The Fear Of Death -- 14. 'if We Wish To Be Men': Roman Constructions Of Gender -- 15. Valour And Gender In The Pax Augusta -- 16. Dissent In Rome -- 17. Stoical Death: Seneca's Conscience -- 18. Spectacles Of Death -- 19. Violence To Eternity: Plotinus And The Mystical Way -- Bibliography. Grace M. Jantzen. Includes Bibliographical References.

The pursuit of death and the love of death has characterized Western culture from Homeric times through centuries of Christianity, taking particular deadly shapes in Western postmodernity. This necrophilia shows itself in destruction and violence, in a focus on other worlds and degradation of this one, and in hatred of the body, sense and sexuality. In her major new book project Death and the Displacement of Beauty, Grace M. Jantzen seeks to disrupt this wish for death, opening a new acceptance of beauty and desire that makes it possible to choose life.
Foundations of Violence enters the ancient world of Homer, Sophocles, Plato and Aristotle to explore the genealogy of violence in Western thought through its emergence in Greece and Rome. It uncovers origins of ideas of death from the 'beautiful death' of Homeric heroes to the gendered misery of war, showing the tensions between those who tried to eliminate fear of death by denying its significance, and those like Plotinus who looked to another world, seeking life and beauty in another realm.

Annotation The pursuit of death and the love of death has characterized Western culture from Homeric times through centuries of Christianity, taking particular deadly shapes in Western postmodernity. This necrophilia shows itself in destruction and violence, in a focus on other worlds and degradation of this one, and in hatred of the body, sense and sexuality. In her major new book project Death and the Displacement of Beauty, Grace M. Jantzen seeks to disrupt this wish for death, opening a new acceptance of beauty and desire that makes it possible to choose life.Foundations of Violence enters the ancient world of Homer, Sophocles, Plato and Aristotle to explore the genealogy of violence in Western thought through its emergence in Greece and Rome. It uncovers origins of ideas of death from the 'beautiful death' of Homeric heroes to the gendered misery of war, showing the tensions between those who tried to eliminate fear of death by denying its significance, and those like Plotinus who looked to another world, seeking life and beauty in another realm The pursuit and love of death has characterized Western culture since Homeric times. Foundations of Violence enters the ancient world of Homer, Plato and Aristotle to explore the genealogy of violence in Western thought. It covers the origins of ideas of death--the "beautiful death" of Homeric heroes-through to the gendered misery of war. Jantzen examines the tensions between those who tried to eliminate fear of death by denying its significance, and those like Plotinus who looked to another world for life and beauty At the height of the bombardment of Sarajevo, so the story goes,1 a string quartet visited that city.