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Finding the Meaning of Life's Stages Through Books
Random House Publishing Group
February 2011
On Sale: February 15, 2011
464 pages
ISBN: 1400065860
EAN: 9781400065868
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
From Homer and Shakespeare to Toni Morrison and Jonathan
Safran Foer, major works of literature have a great deal to
teach us about two of life’s most significant stages—growing
up and growing old. Distinguised scholar Arnold Weinstein’s
provocative and engaging new book, Morning, Noon, and Night,
explores classic writing’s insights into coming-of-age and
surrendering to time, and considers the impact of these
revelations upon our lives. With wisdom, humor, and moving personal observations,
Weinstein leads us to look deep inside ourselves and these
great books, to see how we can use art as both mirror and
guide. He offers incisive readings of seminal novels about
childhood—Huck Finn’s empathy for the runaway slave Jim
illuminates a child’s moral education; Catherine and
Heathcliff’s struggle with obsessive passion in Wuthering
Heights is hauntingly familiar to many young lovers;
Dickens’s Pip, in Great Expectations, must grapple with a
world that wishes him harm; and in Marjane Satrapi’s
autobiographical Persepolis, little Marjane faces a
different kind of struggle—growing into adolescence as her
country moves through the pain of the Iranian Revolution. In turn, great writers also ponder the lessons learned in
life’s twilight years: both King Lear and Willy Loman suffer
as their patriarchal authority collapses and death creeps
up; Brecht’s Mother Courage displays the inspiring
indomitability of an aging woman who has “borne every
possible blow. . . but is still standing, still moving.” And
older love can sometimes be funny (Rip Van Winkle
conveniently sleeps right through his marriage) and
sometimes tragic (as J. M. Coetzee’s David Lurie learns the
hard way, in Disgrace). Tapping into the hearts and minds of memorable characters,
from Sophocles’ Oedipus to Artie in Art Spiegelman’s Maus,
Morning, Noon, and Night makes an eloquent and powerful case
for the role of great literature as a knowing window into
our lives and times. Its intelligence, passion, and genuine
appreciation for the written word remind us just how crucial
books are to the business of being human.
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