Truth or death
Subtitle: the quest for immortality in the western narrative tradition
By: Thierry Hentsch ; translated by Fred A. Reed.
Publisher: Talonbooks
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Vancouver
Language: eng
Number of pages: 412
Subjects: Religion and literature.; Death in literature.; Truth in literature.
Description: "In the tradition of James Frazer, Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, Thierry Hentsch retells, with new urgency and a keen critical eye, "the story of the West" that shapes our perception of the world. Yet, "the story of the West" does not exist. Only a reading of its most seminal texts - from Ulysses to Hamlet, from the Torah to the Gospels, from Plato to Descartes - can bring it alive." "His tale turns on a startling discovery: The Christian message of immortality is conditional. To overcome death - the touchstone of the human condition - the believer must accept the Truth of salvation. Western civilization, by replacing God with technoscience, offers the universal promise that salvation may now be gained on earth. Yet, as a condition, it would impose its own absolute morality on the world. Truth or Death: the Biblical injunction is ours as well."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Translation of: Raconter et mourir.