Background
Skulsky, Harold Lawrence was born on April 12, 1935 in Brooklyn. Son of Samuel and Ida (Greenberg) Skulsky.
(Some of Shakespeare's plays give us the impression of wis...)
Some of Shakespeare's plays give us the impression of wisdom or universal insight because they insistently remind us of anxieties rooted in philosophical doubt. Armed with a fresh analysis of Shakespeare's inherited resources for articulating such anxieties, Skulsky shows that in four plays - Hamlet, Measure for Measure, King Lear and Othello - the drama of doubt in search of an exit gives its own kind of urgency to the more familiar Shakespearean drama of action and motive. The result is a book that challenges a good measure of 20th century Shakespearean scholarship. The four plays emerge from this study as insidiously telling exercises in the undermining of our working faith in the rationality of moral choice and the possibility of knowing other minds. The author points out that Shakespeare takes calculated risks with our personal interest in his heroes by assigning to them not only contemptible actions but disturbing convictions. In some of the plays, such convictions end by looking just as plausible as they do at the outset. In others, Shakespeare seems to attempt a special kind of tragic affirmation and compassion - an affirmation that is designed to encompass unrelieved pessimism, and a compassion that finds a place even for the worst of the damned.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AVQYBC/?tag=2022091-20
(The idea behind Justice in the Dock is to illustrate that...)
The idea behind Justice in the Dock is to illustrate that the currently dominant (moral) readings of Samson Agonistes reduce it to the pious antiquarian charade it energetically refuses to be.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874135559/?tag=2022091-20
( Armed with a fresh analysis of Shakespeare’s inherited ...)
Armed with a fresh analysis of Shakespeare’s inherited resources for articulating anxieties rooted in philosophical doubt, Skulsky shows that in four plays—Hamlet, Measure for Measure, King Lear, and Othello—the drama of doubt in search of an exit gives its own kind of urgency to the more familiar Shakespearean drama of action and motive. From Skulsky’s study, the four plays emerge as insidiously telling exercises in challenging our working faith in the objectivity of moral choice and the possibility of knowing other minds. In particular, Skulsky notes that Shakespeare takes calculated risks with our personal interest in his heroes by assigning them disturbing convictions as well as contemptible actions. In one of the plays, such convictions end by looking just as threatening as they do at the outset. In the others, Shakespeare offers a special kind of affirmation and compassion—an affirmation designed to stand against the worst of pessimism, and a compassion that makes room for the worst of the damned.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0820338591/?tag=2022091-20
(Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza’s philo...)
Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza’s philosophical writing, Staring into the Void devotes twelve chapters to showing in detail how the architecture of reality as Spinoza saw it rises in stages from a theory of being (the existence of only One Real Thing) to prophetically modern theories of the physical world (actual or possible), of causal law, of perceptual and intuitive knowledge, of determinism (and the kind of freedom that is compatible with determinism), of the roots of human motivation, and of the kinds of civil society that human nature is capable of sustaining. Professor Skulsky tries to disarm the justifiably skeptical reader by showing why Spinoza’s thesis about the One Real Thing is as arguable as it is outrageous. The Spinoza of this intellectual portrait is a bleaker and more subversive figure than the hero of Enlightenment humanism now in general circulation.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1611491274/?tag=2022091-20
(Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza's philo...)
Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza's philosophical writing, "Staring into the Void" devotes twelve chapters to showing in detail how the architecture of reality as Spinoza saw it rises in stages from a theory of being (the existence of only One Real Thing) to prophetically modern theories of the physical world (actual or possible), of causal law, of perceptual and intuitive knowledge, of determinism (and the kind of freedom that is compatible with determinism), of the roots of human motivation, and of the kinds of civil society that human nature is capable of sustaining. Professor Skulsky tries to disarm the justifiably skeptical reader by showing why Spinoza's thesis about the 'One Real Thing' is as arguable as it is outrageous. The Spinoza of this intellectual portrait is a bleaker and more subversive figure than the hero of Enlightenment humanism now in general circulation. Harold Skulsky is the Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English Language and Literature Emeritus at Smith College and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Hofstra University.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874130719/?tag=2022091-20
( A searching contribution to the study of what figurativ...)
A searching contribution to the study of what figurative language is and and how it works, this book is a guide to the sophisticated and powerful artistry of the seventeenth-century English poets who have come to be known by the misleading name of "Metaphysicals." Harold Skulsky argues that "Metaphorists" is the more apt label. After exploring the dramatic and transactional theory of figurative language that these poets owe to the traditions they share, Skuylsky gives close and carefully argued readings of their major poems. We watch metaphor being enacted rather made in a high-stakes game of cue and response between writer and reader, a game sustained by a network of mutual understandings. In effect, Skulsky provides a reader-friendly manual of the skills we need to be players.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0820338583/?tag=2022091-20
(The core of Milton and the Death of Man is a detailed stu...)
The core of Milton and the Death of Man is a detailed study of the implicit courtroom narrative (in defense of God) at the heart of Paradise Lost. Separate sections are devoted to the legal and religious background of the notion of a narrative defense of God, the history of the free will concept underlying the defense, the way theories of the origin of the universe bear on the defense, and the question of justice and mercy as they affect both Tempters and Temptees. The study is designed to bring out conceptual issues central to the poem and to the intellectual life of the Renaissance as well as our own culture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874137195/?tag=2022091-20
Skulsky, Harold Lawrence was born on April 12, 1935 in Brooklyn. Son of Samuel and Ida (Greenberg) Skulsky.
Bachelor, Columbia University, 1956. Master of Arts, Harvard University, 1957. Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1961.
Assistant professor Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1961-1963, University Wisconsin, Madison, 1963-1965. Professor Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, since 1965. Adjunct professor Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, since 2005.
(Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza's philo...)
(Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza’s philo...)
( Armed with a fresh analysis of Shakespeare’s inherited ...)
( A searching contribution to the study of what figurativ...)
(The idea behind Justice in the Dock is to illustrate that...)
(Some of Shakespeare's plays give us the impression of wis...)
(The core of Milton and the Death of Man is a detailed stu...)
(University of Georgia Press, 1976.)
Son of Samuel and Ida (Greenberg) S.;m. Betty Nitzberg; children: Sabina, Livia, Eva, Eli, Mira.