Why is ‘love’ taken for granted as a part of human experience? And why is sexual or romantic love in particular so important to us? This book aims to find out, tracing the intellectual history of sexual love, from the ancient Greeks to the modern day. Erotic Love in Sociology, Philosophy and Literature shows how discourses of love have intersected with social and cultural trends, as well as with personal events and experiences. Beginning with the queering of love in Greek antiquity, it looks at how sexual love has been sung about, fictionalized and theorized as a cornerstone of the formation of Western culture. From the courtly love of twelfth-century troubadours and the rise of affective individualism in the eighteenth century, to the way the novel helped catalyze and crystallize the hopes and contradictions of love and marriage, these are decisive episodes in the history of romantic love. Lastly, the book deals with how sociologists and feminist theorists have made sense of the liberalization of sexuality over the last fifty years, especially given the post-romantic pragmatism of commercialized dating practices. Arguing against the over-rationalism of intimate life, Erotic Love in Sociology, Philosophy and Literature recognizes the need to liberate love from patriarchal, racist and homophobic prejudices, and highlights the value of literary and sociological traditions to emphasize how they dignify the rhapsodies and the sufferings of love.
Why is ‘love’ taken for granted as a part of human experience? And why is sexual or romantic love in particular so important to us? This book aims to find out, tracing the intellectual history of sexual love, from the ancient Greeks to the modern day. Erotic Love in Sociology, Philosophy and Literature shows how discourses of love have intersected with social and cultural trends, as well as with personal events and experiences. Beginning with the queering of love in Greek antiquity, it looks at how sexual love has been sung about, fictionalized and theorized as a cornerstone of the formation of Western culture. From the courtly love of twelfth-century troubadours and the rise of affective individualism in the eighteenth century, to the way the novel helped catalyze and crystallize the hopes and contradictions of love and marriage, these are decisive episodes in the history of romantic love. Lastly, the book deals with how sociologists and feminist theorists have made sense of the liberalization of sexuality over the last fifty years, especially given the post-romantic pragmatism of commercialized dating practices. Arguing against the over-rationalism of intimate life, Erotic Love in Sociology, Philosophy and Literature recognizes the need to liberate love from patriarchal, racist and homophobic prejudices, and highlights the value of literary and sociological traditions to emphasize how they dignify the rhapsodies and the sufferings of love.
Dedication
Epigraph
Introduction: Love is Love is Love.
1. Eros in Ancient Athens
2. Platonic Love
3. Courtly Love
4. Affective Individualism and the Conjugal Family
5. Novel Passions
6. Lawrence’s Love
7. The Classical Sociology of Love
8. Religion, Rationality and Eroticism in Max Weber
9. Love in Late Modernity
Conclusion: Reclaiming the Romantic Imaginary
References
Index
A philosophical and intellectual history of passionate love, exploring why the romantic imagination forms such a central part of human social life.
Finn Bowring is Senior Lecturer of Sociology at Cardiff University, UK. He is the author of Science, Seeds and Cyborgs: Biotechnology and the Appropriation of Life (2003) and Hannah Arendt: An Introduction (2011).
Offers fascinating, wide-ranging scholarship on erotic love.
*Times Higher Education*
Erotic Love in Sociology, Philosophy and Literature provides rich
intellectual resources to think with, and about, love. In a sweep
that takes us from ancient Athens through courtly love to late
modernity, it demands that we engage with the multiple lenses
through which love has been understood – such as the philosophical,
the literary, the historical, the political and the sociological.
It is a thoughtful, ambitious and deeply engaged book,
characterised by a generosity of intellectual engagement and a
marked curiosity about the power of feeling. It is a book to learn
from, but also to enjoy.
*Claire Langhamer, Professor Of Modern British History, University
of Sussex, UK*
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