{"product_id":"the-sin-of-knowledge-theodore-ziolkowski-9780691050652","title":"The Sin of Knowledge: Ancient Themes and Modern Variations","description":"\u003cp\u003eAdam, Prometheus, and Faust--their stories were central to the formation of Western consciousness and continue to be timely cautionary tales in an age driven by information and technology. Here Theodore Ziolkowski explores how each myth represents a response on the part of ancient Hebrew, ancient Greek, and sixteenth-century Christian culture to the problem of knowledge, particularly humankind's powerful, perennial, and sometimes unethical desire for it. This book exposes for the first time the similarities underlying these myths as well as their origins in earlier trickster legends, and considers when and why they emerged in their respective societies. It then examines the variations through which the themes have been adapted by modern writers to express their own awareness of the sin of knowledge. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Each myth is shown to capture the anxiety of a society when faced with new knowledge that challenges traditional values. Ziolkowski's examples of recent appropriations of the myths are especially provocative. From Voltaire to the present, the Fall of Adam has provided an image for the emergence from childhood innocence into the consciousness of maturity. Prometheus, as the challenger of authority and the initiator of technological evil, yielded an ambivalent model for the socialist imagination of the German Democratic Republic. And finally, an America unsettled by its responsibility for the atomic bomb, and worrying that in its postwar prosperity it had betrayed its values, recognized in Faust the disturbing image of its soul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Theodore Ziolkowski\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691050651\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691050652\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/12\/2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 210\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.12lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2001 pg. 1953","brand":"Theodore Ziolkowski","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43925603746047,"sku":"9780691050652","price":81.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_08f8868e-bcf3-44a5-b0dc-09c16b4e5753.jpg?v=1681078254","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-sin-of-knowledge-theodore-ziolkowski-9780691050652","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}