The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society [Paperback]

Susan Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

In her award-winning examination of the nature of war, A Chorus of Stones, critically acclaimed author and feminist Susan Griffin showed new ways of thinking about society and war, about private and public lives. In The Eros of Everyday Life, she once again takes readers on a startling journey, showing the profound connections between religion and philosophy, science and nature, Western thought and the role of women, and the supremacy of abstract thought over the forces of life. Featuring the brilliant original title essay that is nothing less than an intellectual and emotional exploration of the nature of Western society itself, as well as Susan Griffin's best previously published essays of the past decade, The Eros of Everyday Life combines the beautiful lyricism and sensibility of a poet with the intellectual rigor of one of the finest and most original minds writing today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poet Griffin offers a collection of essays exploring the social and philosophical connections between science and nature from a feminist perspective.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Readers and fans have come to expect much from Griffin. Her last book, A Chorus of Stones (LJ 9/15/92), was a finalist for a Pulitzer and a National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. Griffin easily delivers with her latest work, a collection of her best essays over the past ten years, plus some new pieces. Continuing her well-established feminist quest to examine women's roles in society, Griffin eloquently addresses what she considers the nightmarish fashion in which Western culture similarly treats women and nature. She dresses up resplendent autobiographical pieces and keen social commentary with a poet's lyricism and a scholar's intellect. In "A Collaborative Intelligence," she concludes, "The task is to study the nightmare that has driven us to self-destruction." She accomplishes this task and sets readers to reflecting on how to bring Western society back from the brink. For women's studies collections.?Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385473990
• ISBN-13: 978-0385473996
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #558,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Griffin has written over twenty books, including non-fiction, poetry and plays. Her work addresses many social and political issues, social justice, the oppression of women, ecology, war and peace, economic inequities and democracy. Often she approaches her subjects at a slant, using and following the music of language, metaphor, stories and incidents from her own life to reveal the underside of larger histories and realms. Her book, A Chorus of Stones, the Private Life of War, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a NY Times Notable book in the year it was published. Woman and Nature, considered a classic of environmental writing, is credited for inspiring the eco-feminist movement. The Book of the Courtesans introduced a hidden chapter in women's history. Along with her co-editor, Karin Carrington, who is a psychotherapist, she has just completed editing an anthology called Transforming Terror, Remembering the Soul of the World, with a preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and contributions from thinkers, psychologists, spiritual and political leaders and poets from diverse cultures and religions, including Mahmoud Darwish, Riane Eisler, Fritjof Capra, Huston Smith, Ariel Dorfman, Dan Ellsberg, and Fatema Mernissi. She is at work now on a novel about climate change and a non-fiction book, The Book of Housewifery, about the hidden meanings and values in domesticity. She and her work have been given many awards, among them a Guggenheim Foundation Award and an Emmy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Susan for President!, March 15, 2002

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Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLO... (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society (Paperback)

I'm astounded that nobody here has reviewed this fine book, a series of essays that provide an exquisite blend of the public and the personal, all woven together in a fine, sincere prose so characteristic of this author.

Although the themes dealt with here are similar to those in her A CHORUS OF STONES, these are formatted more as straight-up essays with occasional dashes of literary experimentation. They are readable and revelatory in their interconnection of women's issues, feminism, ecology, history, and contemporary events, all held together around the central theme of Eros.