The Lover's Companion: Art and Poetry of Desire - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810934914 ISBN 13: 9780810934917

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 2002

Synopsis

Pairing romantic poetry with fine art, this colorful anthology explores the various ways in which art and verse can be used to enhance passion, in an anthology that includes literary and visual works by Ginsberg, Hockney, Donne, Lichtenstein, Sappho, O'Keeffe, and others. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Charles Sullivan, Ph.D., a social psychologist, is an author, an educator, and currently serves as president of the American Foundation for the Arts. Sullivan has edited 10 anthologies of literature, all published by Abrams, which have been cited for excellence by the New York Public Library, the American Library Association, and others. He lives in San Francisco. Dr. Ruth Westheimer is America's preeminent psychosexual therapist, with a career spanning print, radio, television, and video. She lives in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

Two experts in the fields of psychology, art and sex have teamed up to put together this layered, pleasantly gossipy book. Sullivan, a social psychologist who has edited 10 literature and art anthologies, redacts the writings of the famed Dr. Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist. Dividing the book into chapters like "Awareness," "Our Bodies," One-Night Stands" and "Enduring Love," Sullivan pairs a chosen poem with a work of art (mostly paintings of female nudes) and a musing by Dr. Ruth (in a no-nonsense, sans-serif font). A Pierre Bonnard painting called The Toilette and an Alan Dienstag poem called "Sylvia" are used to illustrate the condition of retarded ejaculation. Opposite a Balthus painting of an adolescent girl, Westheimer describes how her height in childhood gave her angst about never marrying. The full-color art encompasses the photography of Man Ray and Cindy Sherman, the paintings of Braque, Dal¡ and Degas, and even an occasional piece of sculpture. Baudelaire's "Giantess" mirrors Gottfried Helnwein's Lulu, a giantess in garters-other juxtapositions are more of an artistic stretch. As a stimulus to sexual reflection, this book works both subtly and directly; in the "Nobody's Perfect" chapter, Dr. Ruth suggests a visit to an art museum for people too ashamed of their bodies to bare them to their mates. While this is a practical book, some potential buyers may balk at the unlikely menage ... trois of high art, verse and sex advice.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0810934914
• ISBN 13: 9780810934917
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Charles Sullivan