The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony
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Product Description
Book Description
The most interesting book to come out of Italy since Umberto Eco's THE NAME OF THE ROSE
Product Description
THE MARRIAGE OF CADMUS AND HARMONY is a book without any modern parallel. Forming an active link in a chain that reaches back through Ovid's METAMORPHOSES directly to Homer, Roberto Calasso's re-exploration of the fantastic fables and mysteries we may only think we know explodes the entire world of Greek mythology, pieces it back together, and presents it to us in a new, and astonishing, and utterly contempory way. (19921027)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Calasso has a depth and range of knowledge of every variant of Greek myth which is matched only by his remarkable storytelling capabilities. At once informative about every aspect of a wide range of Greek myths, his style is also fluid and subtle, surprising and unacademic, reading with the ease of a novel. Borne through the variations on the pattern of the myths of the ancient culture, Calasso's powerful use of a simple device utterly engages and refreshes the stories and gives them (oh, cliche! - but it is true) contemporary relevance and a liveliness whilst at the same time revealing their origin. His central tool is simple: he briefly, decisively, tells and re-tells every myth in each form in which it has occurred - and then draws all strings together with a simplicity and wonder that indicates true genius, blurring the distinction between storytelling, traditional myth and structure. Both fascinating and new on the one hand and displaying a homage to the stories unlike anyone since Graves on the other, Calasso's stunningly insightful book captures the essence not only of each myth but of the whole mythology and its function, and bears you irresistably through a beautiful world made new again through these echoes, echoes which reflect nothing so much as ourselves. And if that isn't mythic, I don't know what is. The best book ever written on Greek mythology.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Truly an excellent book - conveying in it's veiled scholarship the intangible essence of myth. It is not the 'Golden Bough' of myth (nor is it Clancy or Harry Potter) as the reviewer above has it - as Calasso goes to great lengths not to espouse any particular mythographic theory (especially not a ritualistic one). His aim is not to put forward any one mythographic reading, such as the Jungian or Levi-Straussian perspective etc., but simply to reiterate the myths and tacitly show their essence in their telling and in their structure. it is in their retelling that the nature of the mythic becomes slowly apparent to the reader, not due to the battering of any scholarly argument. often as Calasso shows there is no true cannon for myths, but there are a variety of versions. As the author shows through his links and explanations, these variations are all on a theme - all have at heart some psychologically archetypal content - the stories may change, but the archetypal symbols forever remain the same. highly recommended for anyone who grew up on Grave's awfully pragmatic historical approach to the myths and wishes to learn something of their real, mysterious nature. If mythography interests you then I also recommend anything by Jung (a particularly good introduction is 'Man and his Symbols') or anything by C. Kerenyi (particularly 'Dionysos' or 'The Myth of the Divine Child and the Mysteries of Eleusis - essays on a science of mythology' - co-written with Jung).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I agree with other reviewers - not an easy read. Yet having started I had to finish. There are some interesting insights. But it is the overall, cumulative effect of the writing that counts, which in weird (or maybe not) way reflects the inscrutable, contradictory, or (to use a distinction he makes)enigmatic, nature of mythology. I learned probably more about the inner nature and meaning of myths than from anything else I've ever read or heard. Final verdict - I wouldn't have missed it but was glad to finish!- with a sense of achievement rather than recreation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Cheer For Cadmus & Harmony
"We enter the mythical when we enter the realm of risk. It is a spell the soul casts on itself"
What an incredible way to approach Greek mythology. Europa, Dionysus. Read more
What an incredible way to approach Greek mythology. Europa, Dionysus. Read more
Published 3 months ago by demola
brilliant recreation of classical world view for adults
I have often thought that the magic of classical mythology - that sense of wonder at its stories of flawed heroes and capricious gods - had to be created in childhood by parents... Read more
Published 12 months ago by rob crawford
Greek mythology
If you want to know more about Greek mythology, Calasso's book will give you a thrilling if sometimes tortuous journey.
Published 12 months ago by roughyed666
myths unchained
Why did I feel impelled to read a book of which I understood less than 30%? Why did I feel I finally got the Greek myths despite this? Tough but essential. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. Cheshire
Essential
Despite the familiar subject matter, one of the very few truly original books I've ever encountered: beautifully written, and ineffable as all great art should be. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2009 by C. Quinn
Adelphica
Roberto Calasso is probably unreadable and at a certain attempt even this book (his most popular both in the sense of notoriety and accessibility) is. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2006 by CarloMarcio
Eye-popping
All of Roberto Calsso's book are unreadable. Except this, which issublime. Be clear about what this is not: it's not a traditonal historicalnovel, a mythology textbook, or merely... Read more
Published on 21 April 2004
Interesting, but who is it aimed at?
This is clearly the work of a highly intelligent & original scholar. But - it is also VERY obscure. If you want a primer in Greek mythology, look elsewhere! Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2001
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