The Art of Seduction

The Art of Seduction Review

Seduction is not an intentional process. As a matter of fact, intent is opposed to seduction by default. The conscious mind is seduction's worst enemy. I am surprised that Greene cites Baudrillard on seduction, when Jean Baudrillard deplores the fact that the natural play of seduction is now almost gone from our lives, being increasingly replaced by simulation, which is precisely the work of the mind.

Aside from grossly mistaking the nature of seduction, Greene's book is brilliant. It delineates with great accuracy the process of simulation, although the author thinks he is describing seduction.

Nothing that is truly yours can be conquered. Anything that can indeed be conquered is not yours and will not stay with you even as you get it and own it. There are things that simply cannot be "had" because it is in their nature to escape our grasp. The firmer the grip, the greater the dissatisfaction. It is the "revenge of the object," as Baudrillard would say. The struggle to obtain something gives victory a sour taste, which comes from the realization that it has not come to you naturally, but was lured towards a "you" that does not really exist, hence the touch of loneliness all the way to the end.

You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Except for seduction, of course, which is our natural ability to fall for what is always, already our own. But if one doesn't want to fall that deep into the darkness and is afraid to be with himself, he's welcome to read Greene's book and will probably find it a technique well worth falling for. However, at some point, the tables will be turned...

The Art of Seduction Overview

Robert Greene's previous bestseller, The 48 Laws of Power, distilled 3,000 years of scheming into a guide People praised as "beguiling... literate... fascinating" and Kirkus denounced as "an anti-Book of Virtues."

In Art of Seduction, Greene returns with a new instruction book on the most subtle, elusive, and effective form of power—because seduction isn't really about sex. It's about manipulating other people's greatest weakness: their desire for pleasure.

Synthesizing the work of thinkers including Freud, Diderot, Nietzsche, and Einstein, reporting the enticing strategies of characters throughout history, The Art of Seduction is a comprehensive guide to getting what we want—any way we can.

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