yadiramarron

I was alternately enthralled and bored by this book, and remain baffled as to how to categorize it. It contains lovely, ephemeral passages that made me think in new ways about both the nature of eros and the classical poetry and philosophy Carson references -- how Eros exists in the moment of desire short of attainment, in the futile grasping of hands for the apple in Sappho's poem, in the pain and pleasure of holding ice described by Sophocles. Carson demonstrates beautifully that in literature, and perhaps in life -- the line is very blurry here -- Eros consummated ceases to be Eros. Less compellingly, the book also contains long passages on the Greek alphabet and advent of written language which are connected to Eros by tenuous and ever changing metaphor. Read it if you enjoy Greek poetry and thinking about the nature of romantic love, but you may find the greatest payoff to be in the first few chapters.

2022-11-14 16:35