Literature and the Gods

By Roberto Calasso

Brilliant, inspired, and gloriously erudite, Literature and the Gods is the culmination of Roberto Calasso’s lifelong study of the gods in the human imagination. By uncovering the divine whisper that lies behind the best poetry and prose from across the centuries, Calasso gives us a renewed sense of the mystery and enchantment of great literature.

From the banishment of the classical divinities during the Age of Reason to their emancipation by the Romantics and their place in the literature of our own time, the history of the gods can also be read as a ciphered and splendid history of literary inspiration. Rewriting that story, Calasso carves out a sacred space for literature where the presence of the gods is discernible. His inquiry into the nature of “absolute literature” transports us to the realms of Dionysus and Orpheus, Baudelaire and Mallarmé, and prompts a lucid and impassioned defense of poetic form, even when apparently severed from any social function. Lyrical and assured, Literature and the Gods is an intensely engaging work of literary affirmation that deserves to be read alongside the masterpieces it celebrates.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307537737

Roberto Calasso

Roberto Calasso (1941–2021) was born in Florence and lived in Milan. Begun in 1983 with The Ruin of Kasch, his landmark series now comprises The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Ka, K., Tiepolo Pink, La Folie Baudelaire, Ardor, The Celestial Hunter, The Unnamable Present, The Book of All Books, and The Tablet of Destinies. Calasso also wrote the novel The Impure Fool and eight books of essays, the first three of which have been published in English: The Art of the Publisher, The Forty-Nine Steps, Literature and the Gods, The Madness That Comes from the Nymphs, One Hundred Letters to an Unknown Reader, The Hieroglyphs of Sir Thomas Browne, The Rule of the Good Neighbor; or, How to Find an Order for Your Books, and American Allucinations. He was the publisher of Adelphi Edizioni.

Reviews for Literature and the Gods

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a knitted and knotted exegesis on the role and symbolism of the divine in the literary arts, largely poetry in the 19th century. Like the rest of Calasso, that thesis is but a point of departure to a sinuous journey which broaches a kaleidoscope of concepts and figures.

Whether the pretexts spoke of race or class, the one sufficient reason for killing your enemies was always the same: these people were harmful to society. Society becomes the subject above all subjects.

There is much to marvel: the notes on Mallarme and Nietzsche. The sections glossing over links with the Vedas lost me.