U2 and Philosophy

[Varitek]

U2 and PhilosophyU2 and Philosophy is a new book that I stumbled upon when I came up with this article when searching google for "u2 lyrics somethignorother." I can't tell if it's out yet - the release date is Dec 28 yet you can put it in your shopping cart and it's "In Stock." Has anybody read it? Worth it? I'm dubious, because I disagree with what he says in the article about especially Vertigo. But looks like it would have been a blast to take a class with the guy! Now that's my kind of homework: "listen to u2 and then talk about their music!"

 

[JanuaryStar]

Now that's my kind of homework: "listen to u2 and then talk about their music!"

Haven't read the book yet, but, I totally agree with you... Just discuss and give various interpretations to their music

 

[mela]

Table of contents for U2 and philosophy / edited by Mark A. Wrathall

Bibliographic record and links to related information available from the Library of Congress catalog.

Note: Contents data are machine generated based on pre-publication provided by the publisher. Contents may have variations from the printed book or be incomplete or contain other coding.



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Contents

Introduction

Part I:

See the World in Green and Blue: U2 and the Philosophy of Existence

1. We Can Be One: Love and Platonic Transcendence in U2
Marina Berzins McCoy

2. Staring at the Sun: U2 and the Experience of Kierkegaardian Despair
Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark A. Wrathall

3. 'If You Want to Kiss the Sky, Better Learn How to Kneel': Existential Christianity in U2
Mark A. Wrathall

4. Philosophizing Place in The Joshua Tree
Jeff Malpas

5. The Importance of Being Bono: The Philosophy and Politics of Identity in the Lyrics and Personae of U2's Frontman
Kerry Soper

6. "Even Better than the Real Thing": Postmodernity, the Triumph of the Simulacra, and U2
Iain Thomson

Part II :

I Don't Mean to Bug Ya: The Philosophical basis of U2's Ethics and Politics

7. U2 and the Problem of Evil
Trenton Merricks

8. U2, Feminism, and Ethics of Care
Jennifer McClinton-Temple and Abigail Myers

9. Why Listen to U2?
Craig DeLancey

10. "Until the End of the World": U2, Eschatology, and Heidegger's 'Being-toward-death'
V.S. Benfell III

Part III:

Three Chords and the Truth: Meaning, Knowledge, and the Power of Music

11. "As the music played I saw my life Turn Around": U2 and the Philosophical Understanding of Music
Beatrice Han-Pile

12. "To Find A Song That I Can Sing": What Philosophy of Language Can Tell Us About Popular Success
Theodore Gracyk

13. "What You Don't Know, You Can Feel It Somehow": Knowledge, Feeling, and Revelation in U2
Timothy Cleveland

14. The Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry: U2 as Trash
Chris Tollefsen

15. Aristotle, U2, and the Abolition of Man: "A Feeling Is So Much Stronger than a Thought"
David Werther

Author Profiles

Index

 

[biff]

I've had this book of order for almost a year. Every few months I get a message saying that it's once again delayed. Weird.

 

[biff]

I've had this book of order for almost a year. Every few months I get a message saying that it's once again delayed. Weird.

Ha ha ha! One day after posting this, it came in the mail! I've only been waiting since last January. I'll be back in a week or two with a report; I won't have time to look at it before then.

 

[tanner_sis]

I was thinking of checking this out today..I can get it for 40% today..too bad there isnt anymore you can tell me about it

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I'm reading this now and will be writing a review that should come out on the main page here in early January. It seemed hokey at first, but it's actually a much more dense and serious book than I'd first thought.

 

[biff]

If anyone's interested, a review has been posted on @u2. They didn't like it.
I've gotten about half way though it myself, and have put it aside for now because of all the Christmas crap that's going on. So far, it's only OK, but I don't have time for any lengthy remarks right now.

 

[yolland]

Hoo boy, just looking at that table of contents brings back wince-inducing memories of some of the lit-crit excesses of Madonna theory back in the 90s. Much of which was pretty interesting, but there got to be waaaaay too much of it after awhile. I can see where most of these connections sound immediately plausible though--Kierkegaard, Plato...

BonoIsMyMuse, I'll be interested to see your review.

 

[biff]

BonoIsMyMuse, I'll be interested to see your review.

And not mine? Geeze, thanks!

(Just kidding...at least a little bit, LOL)

 

[yolland]

Sorry biff, I didn't notice your remark about coming back with a report the first time through. I would certainly be interested to hear what anyone in here who reads it has to say about it. And maybe particularly how Essay No. 10 manages to connect Heidegger to UTEOTW. Erm, not that I'm likely to work up the ambition to sate my curiosity firsthand though.