"This book provides an authoritative vivisection of the goals, behavior, and strategies of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and sheds light on the chuavinism behind the myths of martyrdom. Byford's claims and conclusions are well supported by strong evidence, most of which comes from Church sources and Velimirović's own works. No serious student of Serbia should miss this impressive book." - Politics and Religion on Denial and Repression of Antisemitism

The Economist Book of the Week on 29th May 2010 was A Tale of Two Villages by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. "A dramatic, thought-provoking and sometimes savagely funny account of one of the toughest problems in Europe: the ingrained poverty of the Romanian countryside."

CEU Press launched Masterpieces of History - The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe, 1989, the sixth book in the Cold War Reader Series, on May 31 at the Open Society Archives. The volume, based on the ground-breaking research and documentation of the National Security Archive in Washington DC, contains crucial historical documents and is absolutely indispensable for understanding the end of the Cold War.

Prague Tales leads top ten of CEU Press sales after 2000. 2. Memoir of Hungary, 3. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, 4. A Cardboard Castle, 5. Jewish Budapest, 6. A Biographical Dictionary, 7. Stalin – an Unknown Portrait , 8. Uprising in East Germany, 9. A Life under Russian Serfdom, 10. Russian Foreign Policy in Transition




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Friendship and Love, Ethics and Politics

Studies in Mediaeval and Early Modern History

The Natalie Zemon Davis Annual Lecture Series, vol. 3.

Eva Österberg, Lund University, Sweden

Today, friendship, love and sexuality are mostly viewed as private, personal and informal relations. In the mediaeval and early modern period, just like in ancient times, this was different. The classical philosophy of friendship (Aristotle) included both friendship and love in the concept of philia. It was also linked to an argument about the virtues needed to become an excellent member of the city state. Thus, close relations were not only thought to be a matter of pleasant gatherings in privacy, but just as much a matter of ethics and politics.

What, then, happened to the classical ideas of close relations when they were transmitted to philosophers, clerical and monastic thinkers, state officials or other people in the medieval and early modern period? To what extent did friendship transcend the distinctions between private and public that then existed? How were close relations shaped in practice? Did dialogues with close friends help to contribute to the process of subject-formation in the Renaissance and Enlightenment? To what degree did institutions of power or individual thinkers find it necessary to caution against friendship or love and sexuality?

These are some of the questions raised in the book, on the basis of different European sources. The discussions touch upon changes in the distinctions between private and public, in subject-formation and legal practices, as well as the varying cultural, existential and ethical importance of close relations in history.

Each year one scholar of world fame is invited to present lectures in the framework of the Natalie Zemon Davis Annual Lecture Series at the Central European University, Budapest. This is the third volume in the series of published lectures.

 

Contents

Preface; Chapter 1. Friendship, Love, and Sexuality in Premodern Times. Themes and problems; Chapter 2. Challenging the Private–Public Dichotomy. Friendship in mediaeval and early modern society; Chapter 3. Me and My Friends. Individuality, friendship, and autobiography from Augustine to Rousseau; Chapter 4. Sexuality, Love, and Gender. The politics of heteronormativity in Reformation Sweden; Chapter 5. Close Relationships—then and now; Index

2010
236 pages
130x200 mm (5.1" x 7.9")
ISSN 1996-1197 (The Natalie Zemon Davis Annual Lecture Series)
ISBN 978-963-9776-60-9 paperback $22.95 / €17.50 / £15.99

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