Truth or Death: The Quest for Immortality in the Western Narrative Tradition
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"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.
Ch. 1Ulysses, or the happiness of mortals45Ch. 2The shield of Aeneas64Ch. 3Gilgamesh : the human condition81Ch. 4The birth of the world and the genesis of knowledge97Ch. 5Knowledge as inner drama133Ch. 6Knowledge of eros148Ch. 7The paths of knowledge180Ch. 8Reading the gospel197Ch. 9The sin of ignorance232Ch. 10The sublimation of heroism257Ch. 11The transfer of heroism265Ch. 12The heroism of the poet297Ch. 13The magic lantern321Ch. 14A singular madness343Ch. 15The ghost of truth369Ch. 16The heroism of reason386
