An eminent scholar unearths the captivating history of the two-lobed heart symbol from scripture and tapestry to T-shirts and text messages, shedding light on how we have expressed love since antiquity
The symmetrical, exuberant heart is everywhere: it gives shape to candy, pendants, the frothy milk on top of a cappuccino, and much else. How can we explain the ubiquity of what might be the most recognizable symbol in the world?
In The Amorous Heart , Marilyn Yalom tracks the heart metaphor and heart iconography across two thousand years, through Christian theology, pagan love poetry, medieval painting, Shakespearean drama, Enlightenment science, and into the present. She argues that the symbol reveals a tension between love as romantic and sexual on the one hand, and as religious and spiritual on the other. Ultimately, the heart symbol is a guide to the astonishing variety of human affections, from the erotic to the chaste and from the unrequited to the conjugal.
**
Review
For anyone whose heart has ever palpitated in love or devotion, this is a thumping romp through the history of hearts--in love, literature, illuminated manuscripts, and valentine cards.― Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts**
Lovers have histories; so do hearts. Sprouting in vines, burned in fires, frozen in icy jewels--the hearts in Marilyn Yalom's new book seem in sympathy with Yalom herself: they will their secrets--not to just anyone, but to her, such a warm writer, yes, they will confide.― Alexander Nemerov, author of Soulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine**
Another tour de force by one of America's leading cultural historians. Marilyn Yalom's account of the heart's symbolization as the seat of passion takes us from antiquity to the Middle Ages to valentine kitsch of our own age. An exquisite book full of historical surprises and revelations.― Robert Pogue Harrison, author of Juvenescence and The Dominion of the Dead**
About the Author
Marilyn Yalom is a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and the author of A History of the Wife , among other books. She lives in Palo Alto, CA, with her husband, Irvin.
Description:
An eminent scholar unearths the captivating history of the two-lobed heart symbol from scripture and tapestry to T-shirts and text messages, shedding light on how we have expressed love since antiquity
The symmetrical, exuberant heart is everywhere: it gives shape to candy, pendants, the frothy milk on top of a cappuccino, and much else. How can we explain the ubiquity of what might be the most recognizable symbol in the world?
In The Amorous Heart , Marilyn Yalom tracks the heart metaphor and heart iconography across two thousand years, through Christian theology, pagan love poetry, medieval painting, Shakespearean drama, Enlightenment science, and into the present. She argues that the symbol reveals a tension between love as romantic and sexual on the one hand, and as religious and spiritual on the other. Ultimately, the heart symbol is a guide to the astonishing variety of human affections, from the erotic to the chaste and from the unrequited to the conjugal. **
Review
For anyone whose heart has ever palpitated in love or devotion, this is a thumping romp through the history of hearts--in love, literature, illuminated manuscripts, and valentine cards.― Christopher de Hamel, author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts**
Lovers have histories; so do hearts. Sprouting in vines, burned in fires, frozen in icy jewels--the hearts in Marilyn Yalom's new book seem in sympathy with Yalom herself: they will their secrets--not to just anyone, but to her, such a warm writer, yes, they will confide.― Alexander Nemerov, author of Soulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine**
Another tour de force by one of America's leading cultural historians. Marilyn Yalom's account of the heart's symbolization as the seat of passion takes us from antiquity to the Middle Ages to valentine kitsch of our own age. An exquisite book full of historical surprises and revelations.― Robert Pogue Harrison, author of Juvenescence and The Dominion of the Dead**
About the Author
Marilyn Yalom is a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and the author of A History of the Wife , among other books. She lives in Palo Alto, CA, with her husband, Irvin.