[lit-ideas] Re: The Effects of Reading Military History
- From: eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 14:54:58 -0500
Hi
The other day, I almost bought the James Hillman book on and about War...has
anyone read it?
Best,
Marlena in Missouri
A Terrible Love of War by James Hillman
From Publishers Weekly
Why do we love war? asks Jungian psychoanalyst Hillman, author of the
bestselling The Soul's Code. One might ask in reply, Do we, in fact, love war?
Hillman answers unequivocally in the affirmative, skewering modern pretension
to prefer the Prince of Peace to the god of war. Mars is the central character
in Hillman's exploration of war as an archetypal impulse. "The whole bloody
business," he writes, "reveals a god, therewith placing war among the authentic
phenomena of religion. And that is why it is so terrible, so loved, and so hard
to understand." His portrayal of war as an implacable force, a primary element
of the human condition, is unsettling, as is his description of war as a
"beautiful horror"â?"but he cites enough memoirs and letters written by those
in the heat of battle to convince that it can have a kind of beauty for
combatants. Hillman also effectively evokes the transcendent, Mars-like fury
that overtakes soldiers in battle ("I felt like a god... I was untouchable,"
writes one). Throughout, Hillman offers other disturbing insights: readers may
feel a shock of recognition when he compares our addiction to viewing war
(whether real or cinematic) to the viewing of pornography, noting that we are
all voyeurs. But Hillman's mesmerizing prose loses its impact when he launches
a sneering attack on Christianity (and the U.S., where "we are all Christians")
for being a warrior religion. And perhaps only Jungians will understand his
baffling assertion that aesthetic passion (or, in archetypal terms, devotion to
Venus) can slow our ceaseless rush to war.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.
San Francisco Chronicle
Important reading for our time, as we try to make sense of our terrors. --This
text refers to the Paperback edition.
Publishers Weekly
[Hillman's] portrayal of war as an implacable force, a primary element of the
human condition, is unsettling. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
From world-renowned psychologist and bestselling author of The Soul's Code, a
profound examination of the roots of man's primal love/hate relationship with
war.
War is a timeless force in the human imagination-and, indeed, in daily life. If
recent events have taught us anything, it is that peacetime is not nearly so
constant and attainable as wartime. During the 5,600 years of recorded history,
14,600 wars have been fought-2 to 3 for every year of human history. War is a
constant thing. And yet no one really understands why that is.
In A Terrible Love of War, James Hillman, one of the central figures in
psychology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, fills this great void
and undertakes a groundbreaking examination of the origins, needs, and rewards
of war. Moreover, in this brilliant inquiry, Hillman explores many other
essential questions, such as:
? Is war a necessary part of our human soul and, therefore, a necessary part of
our lives?
? Why do we need enemies?
? What scars does warfare carve on the psyche of its soldiers? And why does it
have such a permanent effect?
? If war is such a "normal" part of our existence, why do we fear it so much?
And alternately, how could we ever embrace a force so destructive, so wanton,
and so inhuman?
? Can the impulse to engage in war be tamed?
Hillman asserts that "if we want war's horror to be abated so that life may go
on, it is necessary to understand and imagine." A Terrible Love of War is a
crucial tool to understanding war-a crucial book for us all.
About the Author
James Hillman has written more than twenty books, including The Force of
Character, Re-Visioning Psychology (nominated for a Pulitzer in 1975), and The
Soul's Code, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 1996.
He is an internationally renowned lecturer, teacher, and psychologist and has
taught at Yale, Syracuse, and the University of Chicago.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Helm lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
. Wars will continue to be fought. They will either escape wars or be drafted
into them where with any luck those in charge will realize they would be
worthless in battle and send them to the rear. They won't be taken into the
Marine Corps which realizes people like that would detrimentally affect the
morale of the troops.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Eric
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 2:48 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] The Effects of Reading Military History
>>This is America. It's still America.
Maybe Lawrence and David and other history readers
can comment on this.
Seems to me that reading even a little military
history reveals how stupid and venal, incompetent
and nasty, humans are. I mean, as opposed to
Barbara Tuchman historical overviews, military
history shows just how close to barbarity our
world is, how little anything has changed. Calling
it "the fog of war" is (except in a very
specialized sense) a misnomer, perhaps a form of
denial. Like imagining we're living in a Star Trek
world. Brutish from Sumer to now with no let up.
It's like we've always been in this fog and the
drunken Roman soldier kills Archimedes over and
over again, killed Archimedes yesterday, today,
and will kill Archimedes tomorrow.
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