The Way of All Flesh: The Romance of Ruins
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Book Overview
A wonderfully witty, erudite, and insightful book about the way "things fall apart" -- about the inevitable ruin of everything from bodies and works of art to ideals and whole societies InThe Way of All FleshMidas Dekkers argues that things are at their most beautiful when they decay, provided they are given the chance. Old buildings are usually pulled down or restored. Aging people desperately try to act and look young, becuase novelty, youth and beauty are equated in our minds with what is desirable. Only mankind is bothered by the realization that "life is a way of dying slowly." By ignoring or evading the lure of decay, which has its own attractions, are we simply trying to escape from the truth? With the idiosycratic erudition of the european intellectual -- Roberto Calasso and Umberto Eco come to mind -- Dekkers stresses that our aversion to decay and mortality makes our lives shallow. This is the meditative essay as written by Fellini; Dekkers that ancient Rome's days of decline were its finest, andThe Way of All Fleshis a profound and entertaining meditation on what it means to outlive one's usefulness, when the wheel of fortune has gone full circle.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0374286825
ISBN13:9780374286828
Release Date:October 2000
Publisher:Farrar Straus Giroux
Length:280 Pages
Weight:0.85 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"
Related Subjects
Aging Biological Sciences Biology Cultural Death Essays & Commentary Gothic & Romantic Health, Fitness & Dieting Health, Fitness & Dieting Movements & Periods Parenting & Relationships Politics & Social Sciences Psychology Psychology & Counseling Science Science & Math Science & Scientists Science & Technology Social Science Social SciencesCustomer Reviews
1 rating
Meandering black humor
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
My only semi-negative comment about this book is that if you're a person who expects/requires an essay writer to start with a thesis, prove it through argument and then return to it (i.e. have a point) you may find this book somewhat frustrating. I however am not one of those people and found Dekkers' morbid ramblings quite entertaining. (Especially when he goes on about rotten foods being delicacies and how his grandmother was an expert carrion-eater.) Recommended for goths. ;)
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