Hospitality and Treachery in Western Literature
In works of Western literature ranging from Homer's 'Odyssey' to Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' the giving and taking of hospitality is sometimes pleasurable, but more often perilous. Heffernan traces this leitmotiv through the history of our greatest wr...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Yale University Press,
2014.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | CONNECT |
| Summary: | In works of Western literature ranging from Homer's 'Odyssey' to Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' the giving and taking of hospitality is sometimes pleasurable, but more often perilous. Heffernan traces this leitmotiv through the history of our greatest writings, including Christ's Last Supper, Macbeth's murder of his royal guest, and Camus's short story on French colonialism in Arab Algeria. By means of such examples and many more, this book considers what literary hosts, hostesses, and guests do to as well as for each other. In doing so, it shows how often treachery rends the fabric of trust that hospitality weaves. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| ISBN: | 1306715245 9781306715249 9780300206845 0300206844 |
