Impotence

Impotence PDF Author: Angus McLaren
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226500934
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
As anyone who has watched television in recent years can attest, we live in the age of Viagra. From Bob Dole to Mike Ditka to late-night comedians, our culture has been engaged in one long, frank, and very public talk about impotence—and our newfound pharmaceutical solutions. But as Angus McLaren shows us in Impotence, the first cultural history of the subject, the failure of men to rise to the occasion has been a recurrent topic since the dawn of human culture. Drawing on a dazzling range of sources from across centuries, McLaren demonstrates how male sexuality was constructed around the idea of potency, from times past when it was essential for the purpose of siring children, to today, when successful sex is viewed as a component of a healthy emotional life. Along the way, Impotence enlightens and fascinates with tales of sexual failure and its remedies—for example, had Ditka lived in ancient Mesopotamia, he might have recited spells while eating roots and plants rather than pills—and explanations, which over the years have included witchcraft, shell-shock, masturbation, feminism, and the Oedipal complex. McLaren also explores the surprising political and social effects of impotence, from the revolutionary unrest fueled by Louis XVI’s failure to consummate his marriage to the boost given the fledgling American republic by George Washington’s failure to found a dynasty. Each age, McLaren shows, turns impotence to its own purposes, using it to help define what is normal and healthy for men, their relationships, and society. From marraige manuals to metrosexuals, from Renaissance Italy to Hollywood movies, Impotence is a serious but highly entertaining examination of a problem that humanity has simultaneously regarded as life’s greatest tragedy and its greatest joke.

Impotence

Impotence PDF Author: Angus McLaren
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226500934
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Get Book Here

Book Description
As anyone who has watched television in recent years can attest, we live in the age of Viagra. From Bob Dole to Mike Ditka to late-night comedians, our culture has been engaged in one long, frank, and very public talk about impotence—and our newfound pharmaceutical solutions. But as Angus McLaren shows us in Impotence, the first cultural history of the subject, the failure of men to rise to the occasion has been a recurrent topic since the dawn of human culture. Drawing on a dazzling range of sources from across centuries, McLaren demonstrates how male sexuality was constructed around the idea of potency, from times past when it was essential for the purpose of siring children, to today, when successful sex is viewed as a component of a healthy emotional life. Along the way, Impotence enlightens and fascinates with tales of sexual failure and its remedies—for example, had Ditka lived in ancient Mesopotamia, he might have recited spells while eating roots and plants rather than pills—and explanations, which over the years have included witchcraft, shell-shock, masturbation, feminism, and the Oedipal complex. McLaren also explores the surprising political and social effects of impotence, from the revolutionary unrest fueled by Louis XVI’s failure to consummate his marriage to the boost given the fledgling American republic by George Washington’s failure to found a dynasty. Each age, McLaren shows, turns impotence to its own purposes, using it to help define what is normal and healthy for men, their relationships, and society. From marraige manuals to metrosexuals, from Renaissance Italy to Hollywood movies, Impotence is a serious but highly entertaining examination of a problem that humanity has simultaneously regarded as life’s greatest tragedy and its greatest joke.

Receptions of Antiquity

Receptions of Antiquity PDF Author: Jan Nelis
Publisher: Academia Press
ISBN: 9038218834
Category : Civilization, Classical
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
"This volume presents a series of papers which cover the general theme of the reception of antiquity, a topic which has in recent years become a discipline in itself, or what some might call a 'cross-discipline'. Indeed the Nachleben of the (culture of) classical antiquity, and of antiquity as a whole, manifests in a number of diverse domains, opening up the field of reception studies to scholars from disciplines other than Classics. This collection of papers illustrates this diversity, uniting as it does original research by scholars from a variety of disciplines: classicists, historians, theatre historians, architectural historians, psychologists, archaeologists, artists, and more, all of whom have treated some aspect of the so-called 'classical tradition' by means of their own individual approaches, leading to a volume rich and dense in themes and methodologies. 'Receptions of antiquity' has been written by friends of Freddy Decreus, in honour of his career, and in celebration of his thought."--

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, Book I

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, Book I PDF Author: Aad Kleywegt
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047405676
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
This work provides a full commentary on the first book of Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, an epic which has received increased attention in the last few decades, as may be seen from two recent editions (1997 and 2003). Its first aim is to clarify the text, which is sometimes rather difficult and, in places, still not established with certainty. Apart from this philological aspect, the literary merits of the poem have also been taken into account.

Oral Performance and Its Context

Oral Performance and Its Context PDF Author: Chris Mackie
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047412605
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This volume is concerned with aspects of orality and literacy in the ancient world. It arises from the tremendous contemporary interest among scholars in questions of how literacy and orality co-exist and interact in the ancient world. The contents of the book are refereed papers originally presented at the fifth biennial 'Orality and Literacy in ancient Greece' held at The University of Melbourne in 2002. Papers are offered by scholars from Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia which deal with a range of periods and genres in antiquity, from Homer through to Roman literature. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the ancient world.

Linguistics into Interpretation

Linguistics into Interpretation PDF Author: Johannes M. van Ophuijsen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004351264
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This volume is a sustained exercise in the genre of secondary literature which aims at explaining a literary work as much as possible in and through the author's own words. A crucial passage in direct speech by different speakers from the History of Herodotus, the earliest long Greek prose text, has been made the object of a systematic effort to distill and analyse the linguistic characteristics relevant to its interpretation, by confronting it with the rest of the work as well as with earlier and contemporary writings. This is done with the primary aim of placing the interpretation of a major author on the firmest ground available, the author's ipsissimi verba. The result, made accessible by full indexes, will prove helpful to readers of any part of Herodotus' History.

A Commentary on the Letters of M. Cornelius Fronto

A Commentary on the Letters of M. Cornelius Fronto PDF Author: Hout
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004351302
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 743

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Book Description
This is the first commentary on the letters of Marcus Cornelius Fronto (c. 90-95 - c. 167). It aims at an extensive grammatical, stylistic and historical interpretation of the letters and the ancient testimonies on Fronto. The author demonstrates where Fronto stands in Latin literature; hence the numerous quotations of parallel, similar and dissentient passages from Fronto and other writers. The letters are written in a pure, simple style, with a great deal of colloquialisms and many a post-classical turn of phrase. The many archaisms show how Fronto as a philologist had a comprehensive knowledge of pre-Cicero Latin. This commentary, based on the Teubner-edition by the author (Leipzig 1988), offers a thorough explanation of Fronto's style and language, e.g. of his archaisms and colloquialisms, identification of the persons mentioned, and the chronology of the letters. Seven elaborate indices complete this book.

Augustan and Julio-Claudian Athens

Augustan and Julio-Claudian Athens PDF Author: Geoffrey C. R. Schmalz
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900417009X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
While there is now renewed interest in the history of Athens under the Roman empire, the Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods remain relatively neglected in terms of extended study. Thus the only comprehensive historical works on the period and its epigraphy remain those of Paul Graindor, which were published before the discovery of the Athenian Agora and its epigraphical wealth. This study aims to help provide a basis for new research on early Roman Athens, in the form of an epigraphical and historical reference work, in two parts. The Epigraphical Catalogue (Part I) represents both a companion and supplement to the Attic corpus of the "Inscriptiones Graecae" (Minor Editio) as it pertains to the Augustan and Julio-Claudian period. The Prosopographical Catalogue (Part II) offers an updated prosopography of the period as it relates to the material of the Epigraphical Catalogue. An appendix provides a chronological list of the period's major office-holders, liturgists, and priesthoods.

Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B.

Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis, K.C.B. PDF Author: Joseph Parkes
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description


Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis

Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis PDF Author: Joseph Parker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description


The Empire of the Self

The Empire of the Self PDF Author: Christopher Star
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421407264
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Christopher Star uncovers significant points of contact between Seneca and Petronius, two important Roman writers long thought to be antagonists. In The Empire of the Self, Christopher Star studies the question of how political reality affects the concepts of body, soul, and self. Star argues that during the early Roman Empire the establishment of autocracy and the development of a universal ideal of individual autonomy were mutually enhancing phenomena. The Stoic ideal of individual empire or complete self-command is a major theme of Seneca’s philosophical works. The problematic consequences of this ideal are explored in Seneca’s dramatic and satirical works, as well as in the novel of his contemporary Petronius. Star examines the rhetorical links between these diverse texts. He also demonstrates a significant point of contact between two writers generally thought to be antagonists—the idea that imperial speech structures reveal the self.