Eros the Bittersweet

Named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time by the Modern Library

Anne Carson's remarkable first book about the paradoxical nature of romantic love

Since it was first published, Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson's lyrical meditation on love in ancient Greek literature and philosophy, has established itself as a favourite among an unusually broad audience, including classicists, essayists, poets, and general readers. Beginning with the poet Sappho's invention of the word 'bittersweet' to describe Eros, Carson's original and beautifully written book is a wide-ranging reflection on the conflicted nature of romantic love, which is both 'miserable' and 'one of the greatest pleasures we have.'

The insights presented in the volume are many and wide-ranging, recognisably in tune with the subtlest modern discussions of desire (such as triangulation, or loving what others love), yet offering new solutions to old problems, like the proper interpretation of Plato's Phaedrus. On the frequently discussed effect of literacy on Greek civilisation, the book offers a fresh view: it was no accident that the poets who invented Eros were also the first readers and writers of the Western literate tradition. Originally published in 1986, The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

'It is a remarkable piece of writing: a wittily epigrammatic analysis of the role of Eros in Greek culture. Carson marshals examples from Sappho, Plato, and lesser-known Greek poets, deftly explicating their vision of erotic love as temporary, contingent, and characterised by a thrilling sensation of lack... Well-received among classicists, Eros quickly percolated into the living rooms of literary essayists - perhaps in part because it offers a plausible and pleasingly intellectual framework for a post-marriage society. Carson was singled out as a bracingly original writer by figures like Harold Bloom, Susan Sontag, and Annie Dillard.' - Meghan O'Rourke, Slate

'In 1986, when Eros the Bittersweet was published, it first stunned the classics community as a work of Greek scholarship; then it stunned the nonfiction community as an inspired return to the lyrically based essays once produced by Seneca, Montaigne, and Emerson; and then, and only then, deep into the 1990s, reissued as 'literature' and redesigned for an entirely new audience, it finally stunned the poets.' - John D'Agata, Boston Review

'Anne Carson is a rare talent, brilliant and full of wit, passionate and also deeply moving.' - Michael Ondaatje

'[Carson] is one of the few writers writing in English that I would read anything that she wrote. If there's a magazine that has something of hers in it, I buy it automatically. So she's in a less-than-fingers-on-one-hand group of writers for me.' - Susan Sontag

'What we learn from Eros the Bittersweet while being spun alive by its brilliance is that its author is a philosopher of much cunning and an agile reader, a scholar with a mind as fresh as a spring meadow, no dust anywhere on her.' - Guy Davenport

'Highly recommended.' - Choice

'There is a fine beauty to the work, and it deserves reading.' - Library Journal