Scholtz, Andrew. 2007. Concordia discors: Eros and Dialogue in Classical Athenian Literature. Hellenic Studies Series 24. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_ScholtzA.Concordia_Discors.2007.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Problem
Texts will always bear the stamp of their social-cultural-political matrix. But when they actively engage tensions within that matrix, when they reflect on what throws their world off balance, then we often find “lapses in unity at the level of plot and characterization” [2] —ambient dissonance, one might call it, marring the harmonious unity of the literary Kunstwerk.
Symptomatic Reading
Dialogical Reading
Dialogical and Deconstructive Reading
Contextual Considerations: Erôs and polis
Self-Assertive erôs
Communal erôs
Mutual love, shared hate for a common foe, “therein lieth the cure of many an evil”—or so Aeschylus’ Furies would have us believe. For when we think and feel alike, then are we liable to feel empowered to defeat our enemies and achieve our desires. Let us not, then, mistake this “spirit of common love” for some sort of philanthropic compassion. Again, it is just as aggressive as its self-assertive erôs counterpart. Only now, “team spirit,” consensus and cooperation, outweigh individualism.
Overview of Book
Footnotes