Title:
The celestial hunter
Il cacciatore celeste. English
Format:
Book
ISBN:
9780374120061
9781250787354
Subject Term:
Summary:
"An inspired and provocative exploration of mankind's relationship with myth, the divine, and the idea of transformation"--
The Celestial Hunter, the eighth part of Roberto Calasso's singular opus that began in 1983 with The Ruin of Kasch, is an inspired and provocative exploration of humanity's relationship with myth, the divine, and the idea of transformation. There was a time, even before prehistory, when man was an almost defenseless animal. The gods he worshipped took the form of other beasts or were embodied in the patterns of the stars, which he transformed into figures and around which he created stories. Soon, however, man learned to imitate the animals that attacked him, and he became a hunter. This transformation was, Calasso posits, a key moment, the first step in man's ascension to power. Suddenly, the notion of the hunter became fundamental. It would be developed over thousands of years through the figures that became central to Greek mythology, including the constellations. Among them was Orion, the celestial hunter, and his dog, Sirius. Expertly translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon, The Celestial Hunter traces how man created the myth that would become the cornerstone of Western civilization and elaborated the notion of the divine. As Calasso demonstrates, these ideas have echoed through history, from the Paleolithic to modern times. And they are the product of one thing: the human mind--back cover.