Stephen Greenblatt, winner of the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, tackles the origins of humanity through the most enduring story of all time.
Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the
Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of twelve books,
including The Swerve- How the World Became Modern, which won the
National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, as well as the New York
Times bestseller Will in the World- How Shakespeare Became
Shakespeare and the classic university text Renaissance
Self-Fashioning.
He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature
and of The Norton Shakespeare, and has edited seven collections of
literary criticism.
A compelling, all-encompassing story of myth, theology and belief
... He delves deftly and lucidly into theology... Fascinating
*Spectator*
Thrilling … a study of western disenchantment, of intellectual
progress, of the fading powers of the myths of a simpler age. But
it is a more complex study than that. It is also an ode to human
creativity and to the powerful grip of narrative
*Guardian*
Fascinating
*Sunday Times*
Enthralling, thrilling… Along the way, there is an often hilarious
account of scholastic efforts to rationalise the myth’s illogic,
and an array of entertaining heresies… What gives Greenblatt’s
“intellectual adventure” its tension and excitement is a sense of
his own divided loyalties
*Observer*
Erudite, wide-ranging, thought-provoking and elegantly
fashioned
*Irish Independent*
Greenblatt, on excellent form here, visits familiar destinations
... with fresh eyes, and opens up new interpretative vistas ...
Hefty themes are covered in this spellbinding book, but the
learning is worn lightly.
*BBC History magazine*
This is a learned book, but Greenblatt’s passion for story-telling
makes it read like a series of fascinating anecdotes… The Rise and
Fall of Adam and Eve is exhilarating to read and a feast for the
mind
*Sunday Times*
Greenblatt is utterly engaging.
*Prospect*
Greenblatt's inexhaustible curiosity goes without saying; what
makes this book a wonder is its passion … nothing less than a love
story, a hymn. Who would have thought scholarship could be so
ardent or so poignant?
*Howard Jacobson, winner of the MAN Booker Prize*
Pellucid, absorbing and for many contemporary readers surely
definitive account
*New Statesman*
Tunnelling upwards from the murky beginnings of our origin myth
through its myriad interpretations by Augustine, Michelangelo,
Durer, Milton, Darwin and more, this riveting book raises essential
questions about the nature of narrative.
*Sunday Times*
Thought-provoking
*The Times*
Greenblatt sets out to tell the story of the story – and it’s just
as fascinating. Greenblatt canters through millennia of human
history with ease
*The Times*
With all his usual clarity and freshness, one of our foremost
literary historians and critics sets out a comprehensive picture of
how a story foundational for European civilization developed, from
its origins in western Asia to its much-contested place in the
post-Darwinian world… This is a rich, learned, lively book, which
should engage all who are interested in the history of our
imagination and the interweavings of faith, poetics, and
philosophy.
*Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury*
Vibrant and accessible… It is a fascinating subject, and Greenblatt
brings to it all the skill of his distinguished career as a scholar
and cultural interpreter. His narrative moves briskly from one
(arguably) historically pivotal moment to the next. His reading of
Milton, whom he greatly admires, is especially illuminating. The
whole book is lit up with flashes of insight… This is a very
engaging book which explores a rich seam in European history and
culture… Well worth reading
*Tablet*
Human beings have always told stories about who we are and where we
came from … In this enchanting book, Stephen Greenblatt puts this
ancient story into historical, literary, and artistic context,
helping to illuminate how we humans have chosen to think about
ourselves.
*Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of THE BIG
PICTURE*
While some of the conclusions are provocative, that’s always half
the fun with Greenblatt.
*The Catholic Herald*
[A] wonderfully readable account of the most potent of all
myths
*Mail on Sunday*
A fascinating book, which throws light on a good many dark corners
about what we think we know
*Methodist Recorder, *Books of the Year**
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