Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography [Anglais] [Broché]

An intellectual tour-de-force, Forbidden Knowledge is a study of the ethics of literary and scientific inquiry. Shattuck first approaches his subject indirectly, conducting an engaging tour of Western literature: Adam and Eve, Prometheus, Milton's Paradise Lost, Goethe's Faust, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He then uses these tales to address the moral questions raised by mankind's tendency to search for dangerous knowledge. He contrasts J. Robert Oppenheimer's acceptance of guilt for the atomic bombings with Edward Teller's dismissal of the same. In his own field of literary criticism he argues against the neutral analysis of immoral works as "pure literature," illustrating his point with a critique of the Marquis de Sade. Forbidden Knowledge is a stimulating and forceful intellectual argument against moral relativism, as well as a practical approach to difficult ethical problems, from genetic engineering to pornography. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

In this scholarly, provocative and gracefully written study, Shattuck?a distinguished critic (The Banqueting Years) and translator (of Apollinaire)?argues that there are moral taboos (even if they are sometimes unclearly defined) that we dare violate at our peril, that there are indeed limits?both philosophical and physical?to what humankind is meant to know and experience and that from the very beginnings of civilization, a central theme in our thought and literature has been the struggle to understand what those limits are. The book begins in theory and moves to more concrete examples of "forbidden knowledge," from discussions of myths (Prometheus, Orpheus, Adam and Eve), through the Victorians' perplexity over Darwin, to an examination of works of literature (Faust, Paradise Lost, Billy Budd, Frankenstein, Emily Dickinson's poetry, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Stranger) that indicate a fascination or concern with those limits. The second half of this study focuses on what Shattuck calls case histories of what can happen when those limits are pushed and include discussions of the Manhattan Project, DNA research, genetic engineering, serial killers (Ted Bundy; the so-called Moors Murderer) and finally?and at great length?the Marquis de Sade. The book might seem but a thoughtful warning about the destructive power of de Sade and what Shattuck considers sadistic pornography, but a concluding essay makes it clear that his subject is really the history of human curiosity and of the glories and dangers inherent in trying to learn more than one is prepared for. First serial to the New York Times Book Review; Reader's Subscription Book Club main selection; BOMC and History Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

Shattuck (literature, Boston Univ.), the author of The Forbidden Experiment (Kodansha, 1994), enters the culture wars with an examination of the limits of knowledge and the breaking of taboos. Drawing on impressive erudition, he examines the themes of dangerous or forbidden knowledge, the limits of curiosity, and the corrosiveness of doubt in Western literature with detailed examinations of Faust and Frankenstein, as well as Emily Dickinson, Milton, and Melville. In turn, Shattuck examines the special cases of scientific knowledge and sexual liberty. Denying that he is a Luddite, Shattuck offers little about how to curb such knowledge. Nevertheless, he makes an impressive and eloquent case of the dangers of forbidden knowledge and human presumption. For academic collections.?Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

Mr. Shattuck, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the wide range of his learning, writes engagingly and clearly about both literature and science. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

THE BANQUET YEARS, a spirited account of artists in fin-de-siŽcle Paris, elevated Roger Shattuck to prominence. Now in FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE, he extrapolates themes of taboo in literature as diverse as Genesis, Faust and Frankenstein--and applies them to society, politics and science. As he does go on a bit, this abridgment is most welcome. Narrator Howard is very good with his critical interpretation of the text, though he's much drier than the author, whose literary grace, humor and informality are as notable as his erudition. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

Even before Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider made things better with butter in Last Tango in Paris, before Showgirls hit the big screen last year, humanity has been compelled by the forbidden and immoral. Roger Shattuck has written a comprehensive, nuanced exposeof this search for the forbidden throughout the history of Western culture, proving that humanity has been perplexed by the perverse and the proscribed since the origins of civilization, puzzling over this trait through religion, literature, and philosophy. Shattuck develops his thesis by drawing from across the canon, including biblical tales of morality, Milton's Paradise Lost, several versions of Faust, Shelley's Frankenstein, Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dickinson, Melville, Camus, and more. Shattuck's work culminates in a painstaking and searing critique of the works of the Marquis de Sade as the ultimate antithesis of the rules of civilization. A brilliant analysis of the history of Western culture, Shattuck's latest work is a cogent, stimulating read. Ted Leventhal --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

An eminent scholar's exploration of a crucial theme in Western literature and culture: forbidden knowledge. Shattuck (Literature/Boston Univ.) has published many books, including a well-known study of modernism (The Banquet Years, 1968) and a biography (Marcel Proust, 1982) that earned its author the National Book Award. His new book embodies his vision of what literary criticism ought to be (as opposed to current academic trends in literary studies). First, its theme is one of importance to people other than professional literary critics. Second, its language is urbane and engaging. Third, Shattuck writes with originality and imagination yet remains loyal to scholarly standards of evidence and argument. The book traces the problem of forbidden knowledge from its origins in myth and folklore (Prometheus, Pandora, Eve, and Faustus) up through the more modern attempt to deal with its meaning for our moral well-being. He has especially strong chapters on Milton's Paradise Lost, which he sees as a turning point in our understanding of the theme, and Melville's Billy Budd, which he praises by damning comparison with Camus's The Stranger. He also writes about Frankenstein, Emily Dickinson, Mme. de Lafayette. The latter two share the theme of renunciation, the obverse side of the forbidden knowledge topos. The second half of Shattuck's book attempts to negotiate the treacherous pass from literature to real life: Forbidden knowledge as literary theme is supposed to shed light on the moral dilemmas of scientists who worked on the atomic bomb and those who remain at work on the Human Genome Project. Here he is less persuasive. But as a consolation prize we get a wonderfully impassioned chapter against the Marquis de Sade who, according to Shattuck, does not deserve the serious attention that scholars have showered on him. A fine, challenging, and timely work of scholarship and criticism. (First serial to the New York Times Book Review; Book- of-the-Month/History Book Club alternate selections) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

Shattuck first traces, through literary examples, the destruction of the idea that there are things we ought not to know; and then, through artistic and scientific "case studies," he presents a philosophical justification for reintroducing that idea into contemporary life.

The root of the problem with his book lies, I think, in Shattuck's consistent slighting of religion and his apparent inability to perceive that some theological notion of the sacred is necessary to undergird the idea that there are things we ought not know. The consequences of his religious tone-deafness are discernible even when it comes to literary analysis. His otherwise perceptive reading of Emily Dickinson, for example, is hurt by his failure to notice that her poems praising reticence and abstinence are dominated by religious imagery.

But the real problems arise when he moves from literary analysis to philosophy. Lacking the theological support his own study of Milton suggests he needs, Shattuck attempts to place limits on knowledge by relying solely on a nonreligious moral intuition that there ought to be such limits. Immanuel Kant went down this road, and it is perhaps not surprising that Shattuck ends up with an analysis very much like Kant's--arguing that we can discern whether a piece of knowledge is forbidden by examining the will of the person seeking it. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .

A riveting account of the ways in which man's darkest impulses conflict with common sense. From the lessons learned in "Paradise Lost" and the events which transpired in the tales of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein to unlocking the secrets of the atom, Shattuck's brilliant synthesis of history and literature is utterly relevant to our times and addictively readable.