"Why did you do all this for me?" Wilbur asked. "I don't deserve
it. I've never done anything for you."
You have been my friend, replied Charlotte. That in itself is a
tremendous thing.
from Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
Friendship encompasses a wide range of social bonds, from
playground companionship and wartime camaraderie to modern
marriages and Facebook links. For many, friendship is more
meaningful than familial ties. And yet it is our least codified
relationship, with no legal standing or bureaucratic definition. In
A Tremendous Thing, Gregory Jusdanis explores the complex,
sometimes contradictory nature of friendship, reclaiming its
importance in both society and the humanities today. Ranging widely
in his discussion, he looks at the art of friendship and friendship
in art, finding a compelling link between our need for friends and
our engagement with fiction. Both, he contends, necessitate the
possibility of entering invented worlds, of reading the minds of
others, and of learning to live with people.
Investigating the ethics, aesthetics, and politics of
friendship, Jusdanis draws from the earliest writings to the
present, from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Iliad to Charlotte's
Web and Brokeback Mountain, as well as from philosophy, sociology,
evolutionary biology, psychology, and political theory. He asks:
What makes friends stay together? Why do we associate friendship
with mourning? Does friendship contribute to the formation of
political communities? Can friends desire each other? The history
of friendship demonstrates that human beings are a mutually
supportive species with an innate aptitude to envision and create
ties with others. At a time when we are confronted by war, economic
inequality, and climate change, Jusdanis suggests that we reclaim
friendship to harness our capacity for cooperation and
empathy."
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