Eros the Bittersweet

Synopsis

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century, Eros the Bittersweet is Anne Carson's brilliant meditation on the nature of desire. Beginning with Sappho's famous description of eros as "bittersweet," Carson moves effortlessly between ancient Greek literature, philosophy, mythology, and poetry, revealing love not as fulfillment but as the tension created by distance, absence, and longing.

Blending the precision of a classicist with the imagination of a poet, Carson transforms scholarship into something luminous, playful, and deeply personal. Erudite without ever feeling inaccessible, Eros the Bittersweet is a landmark work that reshaped the way readers think about love, language, and the classical world, and remains one of the defining works of contemporary literary criticism.

About the Author

Anne Carson is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, and classicist whose work has profoundly influenced contemporary literature. The author of Autobiography of Red, The Beauty of the Husband, Nox, and numerous books of poetry, criticism, and translation, she has received the MacArthur Fellowship, the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Princess of Asturias Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. Celebrated for dissolving the boundaries between scholarship and literature, Carson is widely regarded as one of the most original writers of her generation. This edition includes a new introduction by novelist Sandra Newman.

Publisher

Dalkey Archive Press

Publication Date

August 9, 2022

Format

Paperback

Pages

190

Subjects

Literary Criticism · Classics · Philosophy · Essays · Greek Literature · Nonfiction

ISBN

9781628973860