Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears [Paperback]

Tom Lutz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

"Highly readable. . . . A fascinating and thoughtful book."—Merle Rubin, Los Angeles Times

In this wide-ranging and provocative study, Tom Lutz looks at the ways people have understood weeping from the earliest known representations of tears in the fourteenth century B.C. to the tears found in today’s films. Drawing on works of literature, philosophy, art, and science from the writings of Plato and Darwin to the paintings of Picasso to modern medical journals, he unearths the multiple meanings and uses of tears. Illustrated

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Behind the human eye lies a complex system of dozens of secretory and excretory glands bearing such names as "crypts of Henle" and "Wolfring's glands." These glands combine to produce basal tears that flow into the nasolacrimal duct, which in turn empties into the nose. Under the right conditions of irritation, emotion, or illness, the glands yield more liquid than the nasolacrimal duct can handle, causing tears to spill out and drain over the eyelids. Thus crying, a rare human universal that we share with no other creature, for which reason Charles Darwin called it "a special expression of man."

There you have the basic science behind crying, a branch of inquiry that in literary scholar Tom Lutz's view ought to but does not bear the name "lacrimology" or even "lamentology." Lutz considers the natural history of weeping, writing vigorously and accessibly about the mysterious workings of the human body. But more, he looks into the cultural rules that surround crying, especially those in Western societies that only in the last few decades have established norms whereby women are supposed to cry freely in times of stress and trouble, whereas men are not. Illustrating his cultural history with examples from literature and art, Lutz delivers a fine, eminently readable exercise in popular anthropology, one that will be of wide interest. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Observing that the act of weeping is exclusively human, though its interpretation is by no means universal, Lutz (American Nervousness, 1903) offers a fascinating, multi-disciplinary study of tears. With a fluid style and an astonishingly vast reachAencompassing history, literature, the arts and the social sciencesALutz explores how crying has been portrayed and perceived throughout history. In a dense but essential section, he examines the physiology of tears and cites theorists, Darwin among them, who considered crying a physical, muscular act. Of course, tears are more commonly viewed as expressing "a surplus of feeling over thinking," whether of sorrow, happiness, pain, relief, pride, empathy, catharsis, deception (as in crocodile tears) or any combination of these emotions. Lutz asks not only why we cry, but why we stop crying and how we react to another person's tears. His examination of gender stereotypes and the traditional division of emotional "labor" in our society, according to which women cry and men restrain themselves, is especially provocative. Turning to pop culture, Lutz comments on how contemporary American gender-typing has shifted in books, movies and real life, noting two iconic images: Jacqueline Kennedy's stoic reserve at her husband's funeral and Michael Jordan's open sobbing at a championship victory. This accomplished work is a rich treat for anyone intrigued by emotional displays. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393321037
• ISBN-13: 978-0393321036
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A little bit of something for everyone!, April 17, 2002

By 

Rebecca (Salem, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears (Paperback)

In this book, the author puts his multi-disciplinary knowledge to good use by summarizing literary, artistic, cultural, biological, and psychological analyses of tears. Lutz synthesizes these viewpoints in clear language, accompanied by vivid pictures and illustrations that further clarify his points. With examples ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Freud's rejection of crying as catharsis, the book covers a remarkable amount of material across a great deal of time, while remaining a cohesive text.

Those interested in psychology will appreciate Lutz's analysis of the varied psychological explanations of crying, as well as his perspective on Phineas Gage. Students of anatomy will be impressed by his clear explanation of the lacrimal system and the history of how it came to be understood. Sociologists and anthropologists will be fascinated by his insights into cultural mourning. And fans of literature will enjoy his analysis of tears in fiction, in which he discusses playwrights from Shakespeare to Neal Simon and authors from Socrates to Dostoyevsky. The book even treats crying in relation to films such as Lorenzo's Oil and Titanic!

In effect, although classified as a psychology book, "Crying" has a little something for most everyone. A useful book for analysis, self-reflection, reference or study.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tons of fun examples, but argument-free, July 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears (Hardcover)

I admired Lutz's throughness in accruing examples, and there are many interesting sidebars and historical illustrations, but there's almost no point to this book at all. It reads somewhat like Marjorie Garber's latest works, except it's even more "lite"--it's as if he had been so busy finding things to discuss relative to tears that he forgot to spend time actually discussing what sorrow and sentiment and sentimentality actually mean.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crying as Expressed in Cultural Context, December 15, 2006

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears (Paperback)

"Tears have been central to myth, religion, poetry, and fiction through the ages, but until recently, remarkably little has been written in an attempt to explain and understand tears themselves. Perhaps no other fundamental human activity has received so little direct and sustained attention." ~ Tom Lutz

Tom Lutz presents an understanding of tears to explore crying as expressed in cultural context. He explains the reasons why people don't weep at funerals in Bali, reveals the chemical content of emotional versus lubricating tears, and delves into tribal rituals that seek to wash away psychic pain.

"Crying: The Natural & Cultural History of Tears" looks at tears from every angle an anthropologist could wish for and while Tom Lutz uncovers the mystery and intrigue of tears, he also appeals to the psychologist in us all who longs for deeper explanations. This can at times read more like an intellectual treatise rather than an emotive argument, but all the while, Tom Lutz seems to seek a validation for crying in a world where no one can agree on a similar standard for the shedding of tears. Some cultures have specific rules for when you may or may not cry that seem shockingly cruel on the surface, but reveal an underlying need for survival in difficult circumstances. The harmful mourning rituals of some tribes made horror movies sound like a summer picnic.

The spiritual significance of tears is especially interesting, as is the way humans express their feelings of loss. As Tom Lutz so aptly states: "...without desire there are no tears." Desire takes many forms and at times a desire that is fulfilled is also the cause for tears. We may also fear the loss of what we desire or desire something we can't have and so are then frustrated.

What can you do in the first twelve weeks of life that will ensure a baby doesn't cry as much in the future?

How do parents in tribal situations deal with crying?

Why do some cultures promote weeping and expect demonstrative grief, while
other cultures shun the idea to the point of removing a weeping person from the scene of a funeral?

Why are men more comfortable with crying in our modern society?

A discussion on childcare unveils a few details that didn't seem pertinent to the topic at hand, but do reveal a certain curiosity of the author. The way he explores this topic made me think he may in fact have written this book for an audience of psychologists. While this book is very intriguing, it doesn't seem to reach out to the casual reader, nor does it keep specifically to the topic of emotions.

For the adventurous reader, the topics expand and travel to new destinations, opening the mind to ideas that relate very much to the dimensions of the soul and the deeper understandings of how humans function on all levels of existence. This is not a casual study of emotions, but more of an in depth discussion of everything related to crying and its cultural significance. This topic is fascinating and if you have an interest in Homer, Freud, Plato, Shakespeare, Socrates, Darwin, Hippocrates, Aristotle, Dostoyevsky, Dorothy Parker, D.H. Lawrence, Daniel Goleman and Dr. Benjamin Spock, then this is your book.

Philosophy, psychology, medical terminology and cultural expectation are all cleverly woven together to create a fascinating and well-researched unveiling of why we cry. If you want to research this topic even more, there are lists of movies and books within the pages of this book to keep you busy for years! If you love this book, you may enjoy books by Daniel Goleman, especially "Emotional Intelligence."

~The Rebecca Review