Product Description

This book presents a cultural and emotional history of the heart. The book is divided into four parts (like the heart): The Physical Heart; The Religious Heart; The Heart in Art; and The Written Heart. The first part covers, amongst other things, anatomy and the history of ideas about how the heart works; weaknesses of the heart and disease; surgery and transplants; and other animals hearts - the heart as the seat of life. The second has the Bleeding Heart of Christ; pagan sacrifice; saints attributes; the heart in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism - the heart as the seat of the soul. The third looks at votive art, the "heart/fruit thing"; sublimated visual hearts; kitsch; advertising and logos; cartoons - the heart as visual symbol. The fourth looks at expressions of love in literature, from the Greeks musings on Eros and Agape through myths and legends and the invention of courtly romance to the romantic novel; and song lyrics - the heart in writing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #316163 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
Praise for Desiring Cairo: 'The most romantic hymn to the struggle of being independent... wonderfully apt insights... It is the compulsive quality of the writing which gives the book such wide appeal.'The Times 'Strong and confident, exploring without sentiment or insincerity what it means to love somebody.' The Guardian

It is the size of a clenched fist and weighs about 9 ounces. It pumps 2,000 gallons of fluid through 60,000 miles of tubes every day and can exert sufficient pressure to shoot water six feet in the air. We all have one even though most of us will never see one. Catherine of Aragon's was said to be black and hideous, Joan of Arc's refused to burn and legend has it that a cat ate Thomas Hardy's. It's the favourite topic of poets, it's one of the greatest enigmas known to science. By its warming we believe comes the heat of romance, by its cooling the passion of hatred. It is present in everyday language and imagery but few of us could explain precisely how it works. Yet if it stops for more than six minutes, we usually die. Because it is, of course, the human heart and without it we would none of us be here. When Christiaan Barnard referred to 'this little theatre of life' he was paying tribute to far more than a mere organ that he, as surgeon, would seek to transplant from one chest cavity to another. In the same way, this truly captivating account is no medical tome for the cardiologist any more than a spiritual tract for the theologian. Charting its anatomy as perceived historically and in modern times, its relevance to religion, philosophy, the arts and, above all, our enduring preoccupation with that capricious emotion known as love, here is, quite simply, a paean to the heart. And, justifiably bewitched by her subject, Louisa Young confesses in her afterword that she could happily have gone on to write twelve volumes more about it. Clad in beautifully old-fashioned tooled cloth binding, this painstaking and curiously comforting little book has been put together with such dedication that it seems a pity she did not. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Louisa Young first came to prominence as author of A Great Task of Happiness (1995), her prize-winning life of Kathleen Scott, her grandmother, the sculptor and wife of Scott of the Antarctic. She followed that with her Egyptian Trilogy of novels: Baby Love, Desiring Cairo and Tree of Pearls. She writes regularly for the Guardian and Junior, and lives in London with her daughter.

Customer Reviews

A 'story ' of the heart - something for everyone
When I saw this book in my local bookshop, the first thing which struck me was the presentation of it; it really is beautiful. The book is divided into four 'chambers' discussing the heart in regards to the physical heart, the heart in religion, the heart in art and the lover's heart. Each of these has a variety of black and white drawings as well as colour illustrations. There are also many poems included. This really is a treasure chest of information.

I like this book because it does not have to read just in one sitting as other bokks are typically read. Because of the different sections, this is a book you can easily dip into as and when you feel like it.

Although many readers may not find all of the sections equally as interesting, some people may find the section called 'The Anatomist's Heart' quite hard going in places, but try not to let this put you off, there is still lots of interesting bits of information to be ahd from there.
I definitely enjoyed the other three sections (or chambers) of the book. Young discusses ideas such as the heart as a book, the heart as a magic object and the heart as a musical instrument. There is definitely something in here for everyone. If you do enjoy this book, I would also suggest you read "Heart: A Personal Journey through its Myths and Meanings" by Gail Godwin.