The silence of animals
Subtitle: on progress and other modern myths
By: John Gray
Publisher: Allen Lane; Penguin
Published: 2013
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9781846144509; 9780141969022
Subjects: Human beings; Animal nature; Humanism; Philosophical anthropology
Description: The powerful, beautiful and chilling sequel to the bestselling Straw Dogs John Gray draws on an extraordinary array of memoirs, poems, fiction and philosophy to make us re-imagine our place in the world. Writers as varied as Ballard, Borges, Freud and Conrad are mesmerised by forms of human extremity - experiences on the outer edge of the possible, or which tip into fantasy and myth. What happens to us when we starve, when we fight, when we are imprisoned? And how do our imaginations leap into worlds way beyond our real experience? The Silence of Animals is consistently fascinating, filled with unforgettable images and a delight in the conundrum of our existence - an existence which we decorate with countless myths and ideas, where we twist and turn to avoid acknowledging that we too are animals, separated from the others perhaps only by our self-conceit. In the Babel we have created for ourselves, it is the silence of animals that both reproaches and bewitches us.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references ( pages 211-223).