{"product_id":"the-mythology-of-transgression-homosexuality-as-metaphor-9780195101805","title":"The Mythology of Transgression: Homosexuality as Metaphor","description":"\u003cp\u003eJamake Highwater is a master storyteller and one of our most visionary writers  hailed as \"an eloquent bard  whose words are fire and glory\" (Studs Terkel) and \"a writer of exceptional vision and power\" (Anas Nin). Author of more than thirty volumes of nonfiction  fiction  and poetry  Highwater--considered by many to be the intellectual heir of Joseph Campbell--has long been intrigued by how our mythological legacies have served as a foundation of modern civilization. Now  in The Mythology of Transgression  he uses his remarkable narrative powers to offer a personal and extraordinarily far-ranging examination of how people who stand outside of society--by dint of their sexual orientation  physical appearance  ideas  artistic inclinations  or ethnic heritage--often achieve lasting  even profound influence upon the culture at large. Drawing from a stunningly rich variety of sources ranging from the arts and literature to biology  physics  psychology  and anthropology  Highwater looks at his own outsider status--as a gay man  an artist  and an orphaned Native American--in an attempt to explore how mythologies from ancient times to the present have shaped the ways we think about social \"abnormality\" and alienation. Throughout  he points to a paradox at the center of Western values--the competing notions that the outsider is at once sinful and wise  that in everyday life the transgressor is ostracized  while in our most durable folklore and religious legends  heroes must break the rules to achieve greatness. Focusing in particular on homosexuality as a modern metaphor of transgression  Highwater brilliantly mixes personal anecdotes with wide ranging research  leading us on a tour through the history of social conformity and rejection  citing examples that span from Judeo-Christian-Islamic doctrines of good and evil  to the Navajo Nations ambivalence toward the nature of sexuality  to Carson McCullerss treatment of physical deformity in the novella Member of the Wedding  to Descartess theories of dualism. He also pays special attention to the debates currently raging in science regarding the biology of homosexuality and provides an engaging discussion of why we are motivated to seek a genetic basis of sexual orientation in the first place. Jamake Highwater has long been celebrated as a writer uniquely suited to give voice to the social outsider. Often provocative  always fascinating  The Mythology of Transgression is a tour de force of eloquent scholarship  a book that will prompt discussion and debate on the subject for years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648011558965,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195101804","price":33.82,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195101805.jpg?v=1781706266","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-mythology-of-transgression-homosexuality-as-metaphor-9780195101805","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}