Name: The Celestial Hunter
SKU: 53648864
Price: 30.42 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Roberto Calasso

Type

Physical Book

Author

Roberto Calasso

Translated by

Richard Dixon

Publisher

Picador

Year

2021

Language

English

Pages

464

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

21.8x14x3.3 cm

Weight

0.52 kg.

ISBN13

9781250787354

Synopsis "The Celestial Hunter "

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice[Calasso's] flow of associations leaves you feeling not out of your depth, but smarter and better read. --The New York Times Book ReviewThe eighth part of Roberto Calasso's monumental series on the primal forces of civilization The eighth part of Roberto Calasso's singular work in progress that began in 1983 with The Ruin of Kasch, The Celestial Hunter is an inspired and provocative exploration of mankind's relationship with myth, the divine, and the idea of transformation. There was a time, even before prehistory, when man was simply a defenseless animal. The gods he worshiped took the form of other beasts or were the patterns of the stars he saw above him each night in the sky, which he transformed into figures and around which he created stories. Soon, however, man learned to imitate the animals that attacked him and he became a hunter. This transformation, Calasso posits, from defenseless victim to hunter was a key moment, the first step on man's ascendance to power. Suddenly the notion of the hunter became fundamental. It would be developed over thousands of years through the figures that became central to Greek mythology, including the constellations. Among them was Orion, the celestial hunter, and his dog, Sirius. Vivid and strikingly original, and expertly translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon, The Celestial Hunter traces how man created the divine myths that would become the cornerstones of Western civilization. As Calasso demonstrates, the repercussions of these ideas would echo through history, from Paleolithic to modern times. And they would be the product of one thing: the human mind.

Roberto Calasso

(Author)

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Roberto Calasso (1941-2021) was an Italian writer, editor, and essayist known for his erudition and narrative style that blends mythology, history, and literature. His most famous work is The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (1988), an essay-novel about Greek mythology. Among his notable books are also Ka (1996), focused on Hindu tradition, Literature and the Gods (2001) and The Book of All Books (2019), which reinterprets biblical texts from a literary and philosophical perspective.

His literary production, often classified within the essay and philosophical narrative, explores the history of culture and its symbols. In addition to his work as an author, he was the director of Adelphi publishing house, influencing the literary world with his publications and translations.

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