Humiliation: And Other Essays on Honor, Social Discomfort, and Violence by William Ian Miller

From the Publisher

'In an illuminating and darkly intelligent study, William Miller...has revealed...humiliation as the closet dominatrix she is, an emotion whose power to discipline us makes the world go round...Miller makes his pages blaze and roar...by throwing another handful of hollow complacencies upon the fire....The five essays making up this book...are about the persistence of the norm of reciprocity in our daily lives, about the ways in which shame and envy and especially humiliation sustain 'cultures of honor' to this day.'-Speculum

Booknews

Miller, educated as a literary critic and philologist, is a historian of medieval Iceland who is employed as a law professor. He writes about emotions across time and culture, drawing on his own experience, the Iceland of the sagas, the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and other literary works. His theme is the way in which ancient codes of honor still function in contemporary life. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents