A Tremendous Thing: Friendship from the "Iliad" to the Internet

Gregory Jusdanis

Published by Cornell University Press 2015

A Tremendous Thing

Friendship from the "Iliad" to the Internet

Gregory Jusdanis

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801454752

Overview
Contents

About this book

Gregory Jusdanis explores the complex, sometimes contradictory nature of friendship, reclaiming its importance in both society and the humanities today.

Author / Editor information

Gregory Jusdanis is Humanities Distinguished Professor at The Ohio State University and the author of several books, including Fiction Agonistes: In Defense of Literature and The Necessary Nation.

Reviews

Erudite and eloquent.... Though he draws on the work of historians, sociologists, and philosphers to contextualize his literary sources, the book's claim to novelty lies in its examination of how a few select themes relating to friendship have been portrayed in fiction.

William Flesch, Brandeis University, author of Comeuppance: Costly Signaling, Altruistic Punishment, and Other Biological Components of Fiction:

In A Tremendous Thing, Gregory Jusdanis argues that we love literary works in something like the way we love friends, so that literary passion and friendship are mutually illuminating. His own example, in the care, patience, and devotion he gives to his reading and his thought, is the best demonstration of the argument he makes.

Theodore Ziolkowski, Class of 1900 Professor of German and Comparative LiteratureEmeritusPrinceton University, author of Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic:

A Tremendous Thing is profoundly thoughtful and thought-provoking in its approach. Written in an accessible, even conversational style, it is a pleasure to read and has broad interdisciplinary appeal. Gregory Jusdanis's presentation of the changing nature of friendship from antiquity to the modern world is impressive.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The Politics of Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
2. Mourning Becomes Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
3. Duty and Desire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
4. Friends and Lovers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Afterword: Digital Friends Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 224
Keywords: friendship in history; friendship defined; friendship in art; frienship in literature; invented worlds; human empathy; sociology of friendship

eBook

Published: February 6, 2015
ISBN: 9780801454752