Plotting with Eros : Essays on the Poetics of Love and the Erotics of Reading

The intricate relationship between the erotic and the literary is a recurring theme in Western literature, with a starting-point in Plato''s dialogues. Our need to talk, write, and read about love has resulted in a rich tradition, ranging from theoretical and philosophical discussions of Eros to love romance and poetry, clearly marked by the classical-heritage but continuously unfolding and rewriting itself. This present volume aims at providing both students and scholars with a series of discussions of this long tradition of reading and writing the erotic, seen from a number of different perspectives. A certain emphasis is placed on Classical Philology, but other contributors represent Byzantine studies, Iranian languages, History of ideas, and Comparative literature. Across this range of writers and disciplines, this collection of essays offers stimulating and original perspectives on how Eros has been appropriated in a variety of ways for purposes of producing narratives of love.