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The birth of the Apollonian eye and Dionysian sparagmos.

The creation of beauty in Egypt and the unending war of Sky and Earth cult.

Livestream moved to Saturday May 11th at 7PM EST - Hope you can make it!

Files

Camille Paglia - SEXUAL PERSONAE Chap 2 & 3: The Birth of the Western Eye / Apollo and Dionysus

BUY BOOK HERE TO SUPPORT THE SHOW (Paid Links): Physical: https://amzn.to/3TXp2SF Audio: https://amzn.to/3TZBAZR NITSCH BOOK (Paid Link): https://amzn.to/3UQgIVr Video 2 out of 12 in the SEXUAL PERSONAE SERIES NINA POWER INTERVIEW: https://youtu.be/xsY2xR_H9yU?si=Nw3P-Zg000PwJIMA VIDEO ON THE GREAT MOTHER by ERIC NEUMANN: https://youtu.be/3btO9RbecHI?si=vMDJuRGhqN1SDQrB PAGLIA INTERVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBVVNCt5hW8&t=1873s BUY BOOKS FROM HERE TO SUPPORT THE SHOW! (Paid Links) https://amzn.to/3NWvPsx BTF WISHLIST (If you send me a book from this list I'll Thank You by name when I review it!): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/SLCQ3T2OIQ99?ref_=wl_share INSTAGRAM: @booksarebetterthanfood https://www.instagram.com/booksarebetterthanfood MUG: https://www.zazzle.com/better_than_food_coffee_mug-168249045611119837 ----------------------- PATREON INFO: For $5+ per video Patrons you'll get : Entry in the Book & Coffee Jar Patron-Only Reviews All Reviews Ad-Free Discord Channel Access Better Than Friday Newsletter (5 things I'm interested in sent to you every Friday) ------------------------------- PATRON ONLY REVIEWS: Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby - Geoffrey Wolff https://www.patreon.com/posts/black-sun-brief-98677685 TBR 2024 https://www.patreon.com/posts/tbr-2024-patron-96728816 Death in Venice - Thomas Mann https://www.patreon.com/posts/death-in-venice-88575877 The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus https://www.patreon.com/posts/myth-of-sisyphus-80534135 H.P. Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu (Halloween Special) https://www.patreon.com/posts/call-of-cthulhu-74055549 Hamlet: Poem Unlimited by Harold Bloom https://www.patreon.com/posts/66203438 10 Books to Be Read 2022: https://www.patreon.com/posts/63010254 Train Dreams by Denis Johnson https://www.patreon.com/posts/60574022 The Necrophiliac by Gabrielle Wittkop - Halloween 2021 https://www.patreon.com/posts/58073911 Death in Midsummer by Yukio Mishima https://www.patreon.com/posts/55759685 Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard https://www.patreon.com/posts/53139833 The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki https://www.patreon.com/posts/51134117 Platforms by Nina Power https://www.patreon.com/posts/48914140 Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk https://www.patreon.com/posts/45465524 Bookshelf Tour 2020: Part 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41287302 Part 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42817306 Part 3: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43783138 The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat https://www.patreon.com/posts/38823138 Margery Kempe by Robert Glück https://www.patreon.com/posts/38645694 Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov https://www.patreon.com/posts/37527267 The Lover by Marguerite Duras https://www.patreon.com/posts/35574016 11 Books to be read in 2020: https://www.patreon.com/posts/33921584 Atomic Habits by James Clear https://www.patreon.com/posts/32697977 Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal https://www.patreon.com/posts/30969884 The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene https://www.patreon.com/posts/29515320 Reading is Expensive (A Rant) https://www.patreon.com/posts/29065141 White by Bret Easton Ellis https://www.patreon.com/posts/26771749 A Room on the Garden Side by Ernest Hemingway https://www.patreon.com/posts/21573550 The Return by Roberto Bolaño https://www.patreon.com/posts/21019229 Darkness Visible by William Styron https://www.patreon.com/posts/20276630 "Blindness", an essay by Jorge Luis Borges https://www.patreon.com/posts/19529985 The Alligators by John Updike https://www.patreon.com/posts/18428537 The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain https://www.patreon.com/posts/17281418 Animal Crackers in My Soup by Charles Bukowski https://www.patreon.com/posts/16924023 A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez https://www.patreon.com/posts/16133547

Comments

Craig

Hi Cliff, Loved your video on Chapters 2 and 3. A great summary of all the main themes, and everything sounded 100% solid to me. I don't have any quibbles with anything you said. Thanks for the shout-out concerning Neumann! A couple points: --I've heard his name pronounced Noy-man. That's probably because Neumann was born and lived in Germany for the first half of his life (prior to his emigration to Tel Aviv to escape the Nazis), and Noy-man would be the German pronunciation of that name. --Just checked my old copy of Peterson's "Maps of Meaning," and the index in the back of the book cites two references to Neumann; both are quotes from Neumann's "The Great Mother." --FWIW, Jordan Peterson also mentions both Paglia and Neumann in the quick 5-minute video I've linked below; Peterson sums up the gist of "The Origins and History of Consciousness" and says that it can serve as an intro to studying Jung. Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiNQu0foqx0 Title of the video: "Carl Jung and Erich Neumann: The Successful Development of Consciousness" by Jordan Peterson. Again, loved your video; great summary of the material, very comprehensive and thoughtful! Hoping to check out your livestream on the 11th.

Ad Vat

I loved learning about the caged eye. Freaked me out about the dollar bill like I was 12 again. Thanks Cliff 🙂‍↕️

Jennifer

14:30 made me spit my coffee out. thank you for making my morning.

Jennifer

yes to starting a list!

Craig

Cliff, In this latest video on SP you suggested making a list of Paglia's "sexual personae." I always wanted to do something similar: Map Paglia's "sexual personae" on a spectrum running from Dionysian to Apollonian. So I dropped off an essay in Discord on that subject. It's a long unreadable mess, but if you're curious, give it a read-through. Here's the link in Discord: https://discord.com/channels/659820224513835058/1224201562457510019/1237970666163015700

Doug Cowles

Although there has never been a matriarchal society, I believe there have been societies where the matrilinial line was considered more important. I have no examples off the top of my head but I have heard this.

Stephen McClurg

I had the same experience with the 1933 King Kong at around the same age (pre-kindergarten). We had a wild UHF station that played genre films all weekend. I still love Kong and I always cried at the end. Harryhausen was heavily featured on the channel and Clash of the Titans was a recent release. During lockdown, his centenary was celebrated through a gorgeous set of exhibits made available online through the National Galleries of Scotland. I was invited to talk about it and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad by a local radio show. I'm currently writing reviews on a series of short stop-motion films featured at an experimental and art film festival. Still can't get away from the medium, I guess. I think you'd enjoy some of the Quay Brothers, Jan Svankmajer, and Jiri Barta if you haven't checked them out already. All great filmmakers and fabulous artists as well.

Rebecca Hamilton

Hey Clifford - I’ve been out of the country so I’ve missed all of the SP segments. This one was outstanding. A thought I’ve had as I listen to SP has come back to me again and again. In William Ian Smith’s “The Anatomy of Disgust” he observes (and I am grossly characterizing and possibly mischaracterizing is the idea (maybe fact) there is only one “thing” that is universally “disgusting”: squirming masses of life forms. This sensation (supposedly) transcends Western culture and is felt by all peoples. Without getting into the nitty gritty of whether Smith said this, the idea comes back to me while listening to the audiobook. Perhaps this idea informs both the structure and art of the Dionysian: that we are trying to conquer our repulsion at being one of the infinite many while also celebrating it. This is all very wanky but there you have it: I am a contemplative wanker. Thank you for all your hard work.