A tremendous thing : friendship from the Iliad to the Internet / Gregory Jusdanis.
Material type:
TextPublication details: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2014.Description: x, 213 p. ; 24 cmISBN: - 9780801452840 (cloth : alk. paper)
- 302.34
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book - 7-day loan
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CYA Library Main Collection | 302.34 JUS (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 00000008001 |
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| 302 BRA Intimate relationships / | 302.222 DOU Natural symbols : explorations in cosmology / | 302.23 TUF Envisioning information / | 302.34 JUS A tremendous thing : friendship from the Iliad to the Internet / | 303.30955 BUC Who rules Iran? : | 303.36 ALL The world of Prometheus : the politics of punishing in democratic Athens / | 303.36 NEV Authority in Byzantine provincial society, 950-1100 / |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-209) and index.
The politics of friendship -- Mourning becomes friendship -- Duty and desire -- Friends and lovers -- Afterword: digital friends.
"Friendship encompasses a wide range of social bonds, from playground companionship and wartime camaraderie to modern marriages and Facebook links. For many, friendship is more meaningful than familial ties. And yet is is our least codified relationship, with no legal standing or bureaucratic definition. In A Tremendous Thing, Gregory Jusdanis explores the complex, sometimes contradictory nature of frienship, reclaiming its importance in both society and the humanities today. Ranging widely in his discussion, he looks at the art of friendship and friendship in art, finding a compelling link between our need for friends and our engagement with fiction. Both, he contends, necessitate the possibility of entering invented worlds, of reading the minds of others, and of learning to live with people.
Investigating th eethics, aesthetics, adn politics of friendship, Jusdanis draws from the earliest writings to the present, from the Epic of Glgamesh and the Iliad to Charlotte's Web and "Brokeback Mountain," as well as from philosophy, sociology, evolutionary biology, psychology, and political theory. He asks: What makes friends stay together? Why do we associate frienship with mourning? Des friendship contribute to the formation of political communities? Can friends desire each other? The history of friendship demonstrates that human beings are a mutually supportive species with an innate aptitude to envision and create ties with others. At at a time when we are confronted by war, economic inequality, and climate change, Jusdanis suggests that we reclaim friendship to harness our capacity for cooperation and empaty." -- Provided by the publisher.