Hospitality and Treachery in Western Literature

In works of Western literature ranging from Homer’s __Odyssey__ to Albee’s __Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?__ the giving and taking of hospitality is sometimes pleasurable, but more often perilous. Heffernan traces this leitmotiv through the history of our greatest writings, including Christ’s Last Supper, Macbeth’s murder of his royal guest, and Camus’s short story on French colonialism in Arab Algeria. By means of such examples and many more, this book considers what literary hosts, hostesses, and guests do __to__ as well as __for__ each other. In doing so, it shows how often treachery rends the fabric of trust that hospitality weaves. In works of Western literature ranging from Homer’s Odyssey to Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the giving and taking of hospitality is sometimes pleasurable, but more often perilous. Heffernan traces this leitmotiv through the history of our greatest writings, including Christ’s Last Supper, Macbeth’s murder of his royal guest, and Camus’s short story on French colonialism in Arab Algeria. By means of such examples and many more, this book considers what literary hosts, hostesses, and guests do to as well as for each other. In doing so, it shows how often treachery rends the fabric of trust that hospitality weaves. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction: Crossing the Threshold 13 1 Classical Hospitality 25 2 Biblical Hospitality 53 3 Beowulf And Gawain: Monstrosity, Reciprocity, Seduction 93 4 Staging Hospitality: Shakespeare 129 5 Wordsworth, Coleridge, And The Spirit Of Place 161 6 Rousseau To Stendhal: The Eroticized Hostess 182 7 Fielding to James: Domesticity, Mating, Power 214 8 Proust’s Hostesses 264 9 Joyce, Woolf, Camus 295 Epilogue 345 Notes 349 Bibliography 400 Index 417 In works of Western literature ranging from Homer's Odyssey to Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This book traces this leitmotiv through the history of our greatest writings, including Christ's Last Supper, Macbeth's murder of his royal guest, and Camus' short story of French colonialism in Arab Algeria.