Love in the Western world / Denis de Rougemont ; translated by Montgomery Belgion.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rougemont, Denis de, 1906-1985.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Princeton paperbacks

Standardized Title:

Amour et l'Occident. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Literature, Medieval--History and criticism.

Literature, Medieval.

Courtly love in literature.

Love in literature.

Love--History.

Love.

History.

Troubadours.

Albigenses.

Courtly love.

Literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copies 1 & 2)

Physical Description:

392 pages ; 22 cm.

Edition:

Revised and augmented edition, including new postscript.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [1983]

Summary:

In this classic work, often described as "The History of the Rise, Decline, and Fall of the Love Affair," Denis De Rougemont explores the psychology of love from the legend of Tristan and Isolde to Hollywood. At the heart of his ever-relevant inquiry is the inescapable conflict in the West between marriage and passion-the first associated with social and religious responsibility and the second with anarchic, unappeasable love as celebrated by the troubadours of medieval Provence. These early poets, according to De Rougemont, spoke the words of an Eros-centered theology, and it was through this "heresy" that a European vocabulary of mysticism flourished and that Western literature took on a new direction. Bringing together historical, religious, philosophical, and cultural dimensions, the author traces the evolution of Western romantic love from its literary beginnings as an awe-inspiring secret to its commercialization in the cinema. In this thought-provoking, highly entertaining excursion, De Rougemont seeks to restore the myth of love to its original integrity and concludes with a philosophical perspective on modern marriage.

Contents:

Particulars 1982 5

Book I The Tristan Myth

1 Behind the Vogue of the Novel 15

2 The Myth 18

3 Topicality of the Myth, or Reasons for its Analysis 23

4 What the Romance of Tristan Seems to be About 26

5 Some Riddles 30

6 Chivalry v. Marriage 32

7 The Love of the Romance 35

8 The Love of Love 38

9 The Love of Death 42

10 The Love-Potion 46

11 Unhappy Mutual Love 50

12 'Old Tune So Full of Sadness' 54

Book II The Religious Origins

1 The Natural and Sacred 'Obstruction' 58

2 Eros, or Boundless Desire 60

3 Agape, or Christian Love 66

4 East and West 68

5 Reaction to Christianity in European Manners 71

6 Courtly Love: Troubadours and Cathars 74

7 Heresy and Poetry 81

8 Objections 90

9 Arab Mystical Poetry 101

10 A General View of Courtliness 107

11 From Courtly Love to Arthurian Romance 122

12 From Celtic Myths to Arthurian Romance 126

13 From Arthurian Romance to Wagner, via Gottfried of Strasbourg 131

14 What Has Been Ascertained So Far 136

Book III Passion and Mysticism

1 How the Problem Stands 141

2 'Tristan' as the Account of a Mystical Experience 143

3 Curious but Inevitable Transpositions 151

4 Orthodox Mystics and the Language of Passion 153

5 Courtly Rhetoric in Spanish Mysticism 159

6 A Note on Metaphor 164

7 The Mystic Deliverance 167

8 The Twilight of Passionate Love 169

Book IV The Myth in Literature

1 Of the Influence of Literature on Conduct 173

2 The Two Roses 175

3 Sicily, Italy, Beatrice, and Symbols 177

4 Petrarch, the Converted Rhetor 180

5 The Inverted Ideal of 'Gauloiserie' 185

6 The Later History of Chivalry down to Cervantes 188

7 'Romeo and Juliet', and then Milton 189

8 'L'Astree', or From the Mystical to the Psychological 193

9 Corneille, or Giving Battle to the Myth 196

10 Racine, or the Myth Unloosed 200

11 'Phedre', or 'Punishing' the Myth 202

12 Eclipse of the Myth 206

13 Don Juan and the Marquis de Sade 209

14 'La Nouvelle Heloise' 213

15 German Romanticism 217

16 The Myth Withdraws Into the Human Breast 221

17 Stendhal, or The Fiasco of the Sublime 224

18 Wagner, or Completion 227

19 The Myth is Popularized 232

20 The Glorification of Instinct 236

21 The Spread of Passion into Every Sphere 238

Book V Love and War

1 How They Are Similar 243

2 The Warlike Language of Love 244

3 Chivalry: a Rule of Love and War 246

4 Tournaments, or The Myth in Action 248

5 Cannon and Condottieri 251

6 Classic Warfare 254

7 Fighting in Lace Cuffs 257

8 Revolutionary War 259

9 National War 262

10 Total War 264

11 The Transplanting of Passion into Politics 267

Book VI The Myth v. Marriage

1 The Breakdown of Marriage 275

2 The Modern Notion of Happiness 280

3 'It's Wonderful to be in Love!' 281

4 Marrying Iseult? 283

5 From Lawlessness to Eugenics 287

6 The Significance of the Breakdown 291

Book VII Active Love, or Keeping Faith

1 We Must Take Our Stand 299

2 A Critique of Marriage 300

3 Marriage as a Decision 303

4 On Keeping Troth 306

5 Eros Rescued by Agape 311

6 Paradoxes of the Western Attitude 315

7 Beyond Tragedy 319

Appendix Inconclusive and Scientifico-Polemical Postscript

1 Influence and Attacks 327

2 Ambiguity of Influences 328

3 Catharist Renaissance in the Twentieth Century 329

4 Retort to My Critics 331

5 A Mystical Troubadour: Henry Suso 337

6 Troubadours and Cathars 340

7 Tantrism and Courtesy 349

8 On the Invention of Love in the Twelfth Century 352

9 Final Imprecation 362

10 Misunderstanding on Morals 366

11 Passion and Incest 369

12 Passion and Allergy 372

13 Passion and Drugs 374

14 Passion and Marriage 376.

Notes:

Translation of L'Amour et l'occident.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0691065152

9780691065151

0691013934

9780691013930

OCLC:

9620422

Online:

Publisher description