Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad

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In Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad, Vincenzo Sanguineti examines the psychological complexities of Homer through the Iliad, reflecting on the Iliads narrative as a vehicle for social and personal grief and healing.

Reviews

Who was Homer What was Homers embodied relationship to his material, to the annihilating wars, to the unappeasable, ungovernable personalities of Achilles and Agamemnon Above all, who are Homers gods Are these divinities better today when expressed as archetypes If so, then what revolutions do they sponsor or anticipate In Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad, Sanguineti offers compelling psychological insight into Homer as an artist and man, as well as the tragic structures of his epic. With wit and wisdom, Sanguineti provides a revealing study of a past that is historically distant, yet spiritually immanent to Western modernity. This book is essential reading for those wanting to pursue the psychodynamics of cultures and nations. It also re-reads Homer criticism in the cause of a psychologically coherent scholarship. Homer scholars will feast upon it.

-- Susan Rowland, Pacifica Graduate Institute, author of Jungian Literary Criticism: the Essential Guide

A thoroughly engaging therapeutic encounter with Homers imagination. Sanguineti is a masterful analyst, who guides us carefully through Homers relationships with his characters and the epic struggles they encounter, ever mindful of the cultural and political turmoil of Homers time and the dangers of projecting contemporary values and presumptions into his interpretation. The result is a captivating synthesis of Freudian/Jungian ideas with Homeric storytelling that encourages us to re-read Homers epic works anewoften by reading between the lines and by reflecting from time to time on what is not said. Sanguinettis book is a poignant reminder of the timelessness of human experience, not least the tumult and travails of emotions. Despite leading us to the evocative depths of human grief, guilt, sorrow, despair, rage, it is a very enjoyable book!

-- Lucy Huskinson, Bangor University; former editor-in-chief of International Journal of Jungian Studies; and author of Nietzsche and Jung and Architecture and the Mimetic Self

This is an intriguing book. Vincenzo Sanguinetis original interpretation of the Iliad traces the influences of Homers background and zeitgeist together with his longing and grief for a dying civilization. Sanguineti shows that this grief is ultimately transformed in healing and sublimated in immortal poetry.

-- Donatella Marazziti, University of Pisa and Saint Camillus International University of Health and Medical Sciences

Author Bio

Vincenzo Sanguineti is practicing psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College.