Overview

Having set aside age-old ways of mourning, how do people in the modern world cope with tragic loss? Using traditional mourning rituals as an instructive touchstone, the author explores the ways sorrow is managed in our own times and how mourning can be manipulated for social and political ends. Since ancient times political and religious authorities have been alert to the dangerously powerful effects of communal expressions of grief - while valuing mourning rites as a controlled outlet for emotion. But today grief is often seen as a psychological problem: the bereaved are encouraged to seek counselling or take antidepressants. At the same time, we have witnessed some striking examples of manipulation of shared grief for political effect. Once instance is the unprecedented concentration on recovery of the remains of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. In Buenos Aires the mothers of the disappeared forged the passion of their grief in to political weapon. Similarly the gay community in the United Sates, transformed by grief and rage, not only lobbied effectively for AIDS victims but channelled their emotions into fresh artistic expression. It might be argued that, in contrast to earlier cultures, modern society has largely abdicated its role in managing sorrow. But in this book we see that some communities, moved by the intensity of their grief, have utilised it to gain ground for their own agendas.

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9780674002241

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Reviews

The meaning of grief, its public expression and the ways in which it has been manipulated for political effect, is the subject of this intriguing book. The strength of The Cue for Passion lies in the range of texts Gail Holst-Warhaft examines and the number of contexts she explores in order to consider the place of grief in Western society. -- Joy Damousi Melbourne Age (11/27/2000)

The meaning of grief, its public expression and the ways in which it has been manipulated for political effect, is the subject of this intriguing book. The strength of The Cue for Passion lies in the range of texts Gail Holst-Warhaft examines and the number of contexts she explores in order to consider the place of grief in Western society. -- Joy Damousi Melbourne Age 20001127

Author Information

Gail Holst-Warhaft is Adjunct Associate Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Cornell University.

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