A History of the Heart

by Ole Martin Høystad

“My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.” “The heart has reason that reason cannot know.” “The more I get to know President Putin, the more I get to see his heart and soul.” The heart not only drives our physical life, but throughout human history it has also been viewed at the seat of our deepest emotions. It has figured hugely—if metaphorically—in nearly every aspect of human civilization and as the unending subject of literature, music, and art. Yet until now there has not been a study of this paramount icon of love. Ole Høystad ably fills this enormous gap with a fascinating investigation into this locus of grief, joy, and power. Firmly positioning the heart at the metaphorical and literal center of human culture and history, Høystad weaves history, myth, and science together into a compelling narrative. He combs through religions and philosophies from the beginning of civilization to explore such disparate historical points as the Aztec ritual of removing the still-beating heart from a living sacrificial victim and offering it to the gods; homosexuality and the heart in Greek antiquity; European attempts to employ alchemy in service of the mysteries of love; and the connections between the heart and wisdom in Sufism. Høystad charts how the heart has signified our essential desires, whether for love and passion in the medieval excesses of troubadour poetry and chivalric idealism, the body-soul dualism propounded by the Enlightenment, or even the modern notions of individualism expressed in the works of such thinkers as Nietzsche, Foucault, and Joseph Campbell.A provocative examination of the deepest vaults of our souls and the efforts of the many lonely hunters who have tried to unlock its secrets, A History of Heart upends the clichés to reveal a symbol of our fundamental humanity whose beats can be felt in every aspect of our lives.
“A History of the Heart is about far more than the changing representation of the most charismatic organ. The ease with which the central storyline opens into a wide-ranging intellectual history of Western culture is the book's chief delight and major achievement. . . . A beautifully presented volume.”—Times Higher Education Supplement

 

Genres: History

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Hillary]

I can't figure out how I'd like to apply the rating system to this particular book, so I'll just write what I think. As another review I read said, this book deals with far more than the organ and its significance, both literally (physically) and symbolically. It stumbles through philosophical/religious, sexual, and some literary history. That isn't what I'd expected, and I have to admit that I wound up being put-off--what Hoystad might have viewed as a necessary foray into a relevant sub-topic I thought was something an editor should have eliminated. I questioned some of the insight and the integrity in general when I read Hoystad's inappropriate and arbitrarily-placed jabs at Christianity as well as his assertion that homosexuality is not "natural." (Note: the comment didn't appear to be intended as homophobic, but matter-of-fact). Neither seemed remotely necessary to support his thesis at all. Many of the more germane perceptions didn't mean much to me, though--a lot of this has occurred to me and/or I've read elsewhere already, as I've been enamored with the human heart all my life.

[Soroush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I began reading this book a few years ago. However, I just finished it. It took me years to finish it, not because it was hard to read, but because its scope was too wide. I kept losing interest and kept putting it aside. My interests revolve around the physical heart and its philosophical and medical history, not symbols or literature related to the heart. The author of this book, Ole M. Høystad, writes about the place of the heart in the history of ideas. He links the heart to emotions, symbols, literature and much more. Then, he talks about those symbols, emotions, other ideas and theories to a great extent. The problem with his approach is that, few or many books could be written about each one of those ideas, symbols and emotions. When he tries to compress them all and write about them all in one book, then the content becomes quite condensed and dry. Furthermore, if someone is not interested in any of those other issues and ideas, it'd be hard to go through the book, easily.
Another issue that I noticed is that every once in a while he likes to take a stab at religion, mostly Christianity. In my opinion, doing so didn't add anything to the value or thesis of his book. So, I can only assume he does so because of his personal biases. Moreover, in his chapter on Islam, he presents much inaccurate information. I assume this is also due to his biases against religion in general or perhaps his specific lack of knowledge on Islam. After noticing those vivid mistakes and inaccuracies, I was hesitant to accept any other strong claims in any other chapter. This is not a good feeling for the reader.
Now that the negatives are taken care of, I must say a few positive words about this book, too.
Høystad introduces the reader to numerous theories and ideas that are connected to the heart in one way or another. There is not any doubt that the human heart has a long and deep history, and Høystad manages to show this fact in his book. This book is a good primer on the subject of the heart. It can give you a starting point towards any direction that you choose to move to afterwards. Whether you're interested in the literature connected to the symbolic heart, or theories that are heart-centric, or historical medical views on the heart, you'd have a good idea how to proceed forward after you read this book. As I was reading the book, I wrote down many names to look into afterwards. I must add that this book is mostly (but not only) concerned with the history of the heart in the Western civilizations.
Overall, at least at this point, I'm not certain whether I recommend this book or not. I would say this: if you are interested to know, generally, how the human heart is linked to so many ideas, theories, symbols and emotions throughout the human history, then read this book. If your interests are much narrower and you are interested in the human heart only from one or two directions, then this book may not be the one that you want to read.

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. A fantastic insight into the human psyche and how we used to express emotion. Journeying through time, Hoystad explains how religion has shaped Western society and how we now perhaps only show a sliver of that enjoyed by the ancient Greeks