The Ernest Becker Reader Summary and Reviews

The Ernest Becker Reader
by Daniel Liechty

The Ernest Becker Reader
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Book Summary Information

Author: Daniel Liechty
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-01-01
ISBN: 0295984708
Number of pages: 248
Publisher: University of Washington Press

Book Reviews of The Ernest Becker Reader

Book Review: A Scholar's Retrospective
Summary: 5 Stars

In The Ernest Becker Reader, the modern dean of Becker scholars--Daniel Liechty--has assembled a wide variety of Becker's writings for those interested in his interdisciplinary approach to the humanities.

The reader contains writings ranging from Becker's psychosocial interpretations of mental health, his ideas about alienation, his `mature' writings about death denial as an interpretative organizing principle, and finally some of his intriguing short essays such as "Toward the Merger of Animal and Human Studies" and "The Spectrum of Loneliness." The last, in particular, is worth careful study. From this essay, we read: "...I think this level of awareness [Becker's idea of loneliness] might have something in it of a destiny for man, that at his highest point of personal liberation from the constraints of others and of culture, he comes face to face with the problem of the meaning of all of life. And, having come to this, that he can find no secure answer or hope, but only a yearning that has in it elements of both love and despair. Perhaps it is only at this point that one can speak of an authentic religious consciousness for our time..."

There are so many titillating ideas in all of Becker's work but his latter works, in particular, suggest the man may have come up with some revolutionary approaches to unifying the humanities had he lived just a few years past his death at age 49. Regarding his early passing, this volume contains Sam Keen's thoughtful interview with Becker just before the man's death. Here we have a frank discussion of his life's work in review and what it means in the face of his own imminent death (from cancer).

As always, Liechty has shown special care and consideration in selecting and editing Becker's works. Anyone interested in The Denial of Death, The Birth and Death of Meaning, or Escape from Evil will be happy to go deeper into Becker's thought processes and interpretive technique. There are many outstanding pointers left throughout this work begging for the attention of the next generation of scholars.

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