Love's Body

by Norman O. Brown

Book Overview

Originally published in 1966 and now recognized as a classic, Norman O. Brown's meditation on the condition of humanity and its long fall from the grace of a natural, instinctual innocence is available once more for a new generation of readers. "Love's Body" is a continuation of the explorations begun in Brown's famous "Life Against Death," Rounding out the trilogy is Brown's brilliant "Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis,"

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394704193
• ISBN13: 9780394704197
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

a real gem.

i stlll read it almost every day !! as i mature i grasp the depth of his trip more and more,,its one of the most important books in my life,,i bought it the day it came out.... i was in college and worked in a book store,i have one question i wish someone couild answer,,why is carl jung nor mentioned once in this otherwise astute compendium etc,,perhaps they wouldnt give permission is all i can figure ...anyone know more ??

Required reading.

Your basic synthesis of history, literature, mythology, psychology and magic. In a voice that is poetic, accessible and provocative. Essential. Mind-expanding. Classic. It changed the way I think. I first read it in 1967. Many re-readings have only reinforced its power. I bought this copy as a present for my son who is now a student at UC Santa Cruz, where Brown once taught. I consider it required reading.

This book gives you a lot to think about

Twenty years ago a friend told me to read Life Against Death. He said it changed his life. I read it and liked it but it didn't change my life. Recently I finally got around to reading this, his second book. I'm afraid I'm too old for any book to change my life, but I thoroughly enjoyed this provocative book. It is a series of meditations, inspired by a wide range of other thinkers who are referenced after each section,as opposed to the unified argument put forward in Life Against Death. As in that book, Freud is an influence, but so is Blake, Buddhism,Roheim, and Nietzsche, who may have provided the aphoristic format. Brown was one of the intellectual gurus of the Sixties, but unlike many others from that time, his ideas hold up thirty years later.

A Masterpiece of intellect and mysticism; a Poem.

This is a profound and learned book that is experienced as much as read. I first found it in college and the reread was an equalling enlightening journey. With insights from Freud, Blake, and buddhist mysticism it destroys the Reality Principle and the traps of literal interpretation. It leads us to know the Silence behind the words.

An extraordinary philosophical journey

Prof. Brown enters into the heart of why we do what we do with references to psychiatry, art, philosophy and history. Yet his extraordinary intellectual approach is emotionally liberating. The book is a demanding but giving book with pleasures reverberating for a lifetime of re-reading.

A wonderful book, too little read, seldom understood

This is the kind of book to keep by the bedside. A few of these aphorisms are enough to think about at one time. Brown is remarkable in the way he gathers tidbits from the past to present a non literal interpretation of the Christian religion. He is much influenced by the poet William Blake. For all those who fear the concretization of the symbolic world in this culture, this is the book to read.