Boekbesprekingen

Boekbespreking. De 'rue d'amour' op haar kop gezet

Auteurs

  • Wouters,Cas

Trefwoorden:

Human body, Physical characteristics, Females, Sociobiology, Evolutionary theories, Duerr, Hans Peter

Samenvatting

The 'rue d'Amour' Turned Upside Down. A review essay on a book by Hans Peter Duerr, De erotische Leib ([Erotic Love] Frankfurt, Federal Republic of Germany: Suhrkamp, 1997), the fourth part in the series, Der Mythos vom Zivilisationsprozess (The Myths of Civilization Process). Focused on ideas and feelings with regard to women's breasts through the ages, the book is found shallow and somewhat sensationalist. Duerr's sociobiological argument that, somewhere in evolution, the front side of the body replaced the behind as the main "rue d'amour" (road of love) toward seduction of males is found to lack force of explanation, and his disregard for cultural aspects is considered a serious failure. Included with the review is a reply to earlier comments by Duerr and by Dutch critic Cyrille Offermans (1997) regarding Wouters's (eg, 1994 [see abstract 9507762]) presumably negative attitude toward Duerr's work and his positive interpretation of Norbert Elias's civilization theory. S. Paul

Biografie auteur

Wouters,Cas

Gepubliceerd

1997-12-01

Nummer

Sectie

Boekbesprekingen