Discourses of the Fall: A Study of Pascal's Pensées Contributor(s): Melzer, Sara E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0520055403 ISBN-13: 9780520055407 Publisher: University of California Press OUR PRICE: $57.37 Product Type: Hardcover Published: April 1986 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | Movements - Existentialism - Religion | Christianity - General - Philosophy | Political |
Dewey: 230.2 |
LCCN: 85024519 |
Series: Study of Pascal's Pensees |
Physical Information: 0.56" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.82 lbs) 184 pages |
Themes: - Religious Orientation - Christian |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: "Here is a unique and penetrating postmodernist invitation to reread Pascal's Pens es. With a full control on two centuries of Pascalian hermeneutics, Sara Melzer leads her readers into a passionate quest far beyond the worn-out search for a paleontological reconstruction of the Pens es's hypothetical final form. She rightly and deeply understands Pascal's writing-- criture--as the complex story of the "Fall of Truth into language." Such a perspective gives to Pascal's fragments a rejuvenated life, a newness, a dramatic and powerful voice for our own culture. In brief, a welcome breeze of fresh air in the Pascalian world "--Edouard Morot-Sir, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "By approaching Pascal's Pens es from the point of view of contemporary critical theory, Melzer sheds new light on this well-known work. Her argument is clear, lucid, and cogent. She has a firm grasp of the major issues at stake in debates among literary critics. I think this is an important work that will be of interest not only to Pascal specialists but also to people who work in the general area of literary theory. . . . One of the genuine strengths of the book is the author's ability to discern the theological implications of issues that preoccupy literary theorists. This is particularly important at a time when students of theology and religion are becoming more and more interested in literary theory. They will find this analysis of Pascal very suggestive."--Mark Taylor, Williams College |