From Library Journal
This slim volume consists of numerous brief chapters on various aspects of the Greek concept of Eros, particularly as propounded in lyric poetry (especially that of Sappho) and in Plato's Phaedrus. If the essay has a theme, it is that many Greeks saw Eros as a sense of lack that fruitfully combined both pain and pleasure. This thesis is not new, but the author's style is, combining subtle interpretation with a sometimes startling poetic sensitivity. The result leaves one wondering about the intended audience. The general public may find its textual emphasis and frequently elusive tone an obstacle, while specialists may question the validity of various exegesesor of this theory of Eros, which is only one of many. But overall there is a fine beauty to the work, and it deserves a reading. Thomas M. Robinson, Classics Dept., Univ. of TorontoCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Library Journal 11-15-86
"There is a fine beauty to the work, and it deserves reading."


Choice 12-86
"Highly recommended."


Michael Ondaatje
"Anne Carson is a rare talentbrilliant and full of wit, passionate and also deeply moving."


Book Description
A book about love as seen by the ancients, Eros is Anne Carson's exploration of the concept of "eros" in both classical philosophy and literature. Beginning with: "It was Sappho who first called eros 'bittersweet.' No one who has been in love disputes her. What does the word mean?", Carson examines her subject from numerous points of view and styles, transcending the constraints of the scholarly exercise for an evocative and lyrical meditation in the tradition of William Carlos William's Spring and All and William H. Gass's On Being Blue. Epigrammatic, witty, ironic, and endlessly interesting, Eros is an utterly original book by an author whose acclaim has been steadily growing since the book was first published in 1986 by Johns Hopkins.

FROM THE PUBLISHER