- Paperback: 369 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press (Sep 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312146027
- ISBN-13: 978-0312146023
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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- #61 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Philosophy
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Product Description
Product Description
Examining the meaning of moral responsibility in literature and in our everyday lives, Shattuck also suggests that we live in a violated world that dismisses taboos and fails to heed the wisdom of that which is sacred. Forbidden Knowledge is a scintillating work that does nothing less than trace the tragic arc of Western literatue and culture, exploring the notion of forbidden knowledge from the sexual innocence of Adam and Eve to the sexual excesses of the Marquis de Sade and beyond.
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First Sentence
A few years ago a meeting of prominent scientists and science writers in Boston devoted a session to discussing what motives had brought them to the pursuit of science. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
A few years ago a meeting of prominent scientists and science writers in Boston devoted a session to discussing what motives had brought them to the pursuit of science. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Shattuck's book, calling for moderation and humility in our pursuits of knowldege, embodies its own contradiction -- a far-reaching and erudite treatise on the necessity of maintaining limits. Each of the individual essays has much to recommend it but as a whole, his enterprise took me aback. His learned discussions on Milton, Madame de la Fayette, and de Sade (despite his obvious reluctance to engage such a subject -- he puts off the literary analysis of Sade's works as long as possible) are refreshing -- few authors in modern times have seriously questioned the epistemological bases by which we order of lives and labors, let alone trace its intellectual history. He does an especially admirable job discussing the positive aspects of taboo in Dickinson and de la Fayette -- he helps us to appreciate that personal restraint does not always mean uptight prudery. Yet, his book is also unsettling as well. Shattuck's argument could be taken as a justification for anti-intellectualism (people may feel that any mental effort beyond MTV is "beyond their limits") and his belief that we should "know our limits" leads one to ask: how can those limits be established and who has the power to do so? (the scientific decision on limiting research into recombitant DNA notwithstanding, the question remains: do all fields of human endeavor needs limits and, especially in subjective fields as such as the humanities, can we really encourage restraint on creativity?) Shattuck's own far reaching literary exploration belies his own cautioning against curiousity and, even though I can respect his ambivalence toward progress (which is one aspect of modernism), his suggestions appear insubtantial rather than practical. Modern science may be creating new Frankensteins and Hydes that we'll have to face in the future but I think the greater problem to face is a lack of curiosity: growing illiteracy, social nihilism, the deadening influence of mass media on our conscience, and increasing apathy to art, literature, science, and politics by increasing numbers of people. Shattuck's eloquent book speaks intelligently of one potentially dangerous human tendency - overweening thrist for knowledge - but he fails to resolve the contradictions in his own presentation as well as the opposite situation: do we really want curiosity and imagination to be discouraged and inflexible limits to be placed upon us? Shattuck the moralist may want this but Shattuck the literary scholar keeps demonstrating the opposite. This dazzling work of literary criticism (one of the few genuinely readable pieces of lit. crit. in a long while) defeats its own argument: Shattuck's book is just too smart and intellectually alive to believe that intellectual limits are a good thing.
Format:Paperback
I find the concept of forbidden knowledge a profound one. Mr. Shattucks has raised some important questions, especially in relation to science and scientific resonsibility.However, I wish the "forbidden knowledge" question had been extended to the realm of psychology. That would have been thought provoking as well, especially in our hyper analyzed, over examined and obsessive age. On the whole,I found the book dry and tedious, and I finished it with difficulty.
Format:Paperback
Shattuck's prose is energetic and free of the obtuse sociological newspeak that disfigures so many other books on like topics. He is strongest (to me at least) where his expertise lies: in the analysis of literature and legends and what these are telling us about fundamental aspects of human nature. I will comment critically on the middle section of the book, where he discusses modern genetics, the area of my expertise. Shattuck understands the current state of knowledge to a degree outstanding for someone without formal training. However, he betrays his limitation by failing to point out that all our sophiscticated knowledge of human genotype, that is, the exact sequence and structure of each gene, far outstrips our understanding of what these genes exactly do. And beyond this, we have no earthly clue about how each gene interacts with other genes (there are 100,000 of them at least), and even beyond that, how these gene interactions change with age, experience, and exposure to the environment. The dangerous conceit is, that once we have the completed the Genome Project, decisions about people's lives might be made by governments and insurance companies based solely on knowledge of genotype. I believe this conceit can be avoided, and that we should push forward, but the danger ought to be acknowledged. Despite this shortcoming, I give Shattuck a five because I so thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned so much from it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beware of "Fear of Freedom"
This book has many commentaries and that supposes that it has disquieted to the readers. But, as all in Internet, the base of these commentaries corresponds overwhelmingly to... Read more
Published on 10 Dec 1998
Tough question, great attempt
Shattuck's concern is the following: Is there knowledge that we should better label "forbidden"? Read more
Published on 28 Aug 1998
The Dead White European Males Were Right
Just what IS 'forbidden knowledge'? Roger Shattuck answers brilliantly in this absorbing book: the knowledge of ourselves. And how come we're not supposed to know? Read more
Published on 26 Mar 1998
A mind provoking book
This book is of the rarest kind of books; it is as enjoyable as a coffe-table book and in the same time it runs so deep and academic without being pedantic. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 1998
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