Norman O. Brown
Norman O. Brown | |
---|---|
Born | 20th-century philosophy | September 25, 1913
Region | Western philosophy |
School | Marxism, psychoanalysis |
Notable ideas | Symbolic consciousness, polymorphous perversity |
Norman Oliver Brown (September 25, 1913 – October 2, 2002) was an American scholar, writer, and social philosopher. Beginning as a
Life
Brown's father was an
In 1938, Brown married Elizabeth Potter.
In 1970, Brown was interviewed by Warren Bennis and Sam Keen for Psychology Today. Bennis asked him whether he lived out the vision of polymorphous perversity in his books. He replied,
I perceive a necessary gap between seeing and being. I would not be able to have said certain things if I had been under the obligation to unify the word and the deed. As it is I can let my words reach out and net impossible things - things that are impossible for me to do. And this is a way of paying the price for saying or seeing things. You will remember that I discovered these things as a late learner. Polymorphous perversity in the literal, physical sense is not the real issue. I don't like the suggestion that polymorphous perversity of the imagination is somehow second-best to literal polymorphous perversity.[12]
Work
Brown's commentary on
Love's Body, published in 1966, examines "the role of erotic love in human history, describing a struggle between eroticism and civilization."[4]
In the late 1960s, following a stay at the
Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis, published in 1991, is an anthology that includes many of Brown's later writings.[15]
In The Challenge of Islam, a collection of lectures given in 1981 and published in 2009, Brown argues that
Influence on Ernest Becker
See also
Books
- 1947. Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
- 1953. Hesiod, Theogony. Translated and with an introduction by Norman O. Brown. Indianapolis : Bobbs-Merrill.
- 1959. Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
- 1966. Love's Body. New York: Random House.
- 1973. Closing Time. New York: Random House.
- 1991. Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- 2009. The Challenge of Islam: The Prophetic Tradition. Ed. by Jerome Neu. Santa Cruz, California: New Pacific Press.
References
- ^ Green, Emily (19 October 2003). "The Poet of Plants". Los Angeles Times.
- ISBN 0-8133-3226-5.
- ^ "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p418: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
- ^ a b c Martin, Douglas (October 4, 2002). "Norman O. Brown Dies; Playful Philosopher Was 89". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Zaretsky, Eli (Mar–Apr 2003). "Norman O. Brown, 1913-2002". Radical Philosophy. 118: 50–52. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ISBN 0-226-66056-7.
- ^ John (Milton) Cage, (Jr.) Biography. BookRags.com. 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- ^ http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/cage-radio.html
- ISBN 978-0-8195-6067-4.
- ^ "John Cage and Norman O. Brown photographs" (PDF). Oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
- ISBN 0-8131-7088-5.
- ISBN 0-06-064260-2.
- ISBN 0-684-85594-1.
- ^ Michael S. Roth, EDUCATION, FREEDOM AND DISTINCTION Remarks at the Phi Beta Kappa Initiation (2008) http://www.wesleyan.edu/president/text/2008_phibetakappa.html
- ISBN 0-520-07298-7.
- ^ "New Light on the Art of Islam | Reviews | Seven Pillars House of Wisdom". Sevenpillarshouse.org. 2010-04-27. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- ISBN 0-684-83240-2.
- ^ "The 1974 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction". The Pulitzer Organization. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
Further reading
- In Memoriam: Norman O. Brown, ed. by Jerome Neu, New Pacific Press, 2007
- David Greenham, The Resurrection of the Body: The Work of Norman O. Brown, Lexington Books, 2006
- Dale Pendell, Walking with Nobby: Conversations with Norman O. Brown, Mercury House, 2008
- John Dizikes and Andrew Orlans, "Remembering Nobby: Reminiscences of John Dizikes and Andrew Orlans", March 2007, transcript published 2012 and included in Regional History Project at Special Collections, McHenry Library, UCSC or available from The Norman O Brown Appreciation Facebook group.