Breaking the Fall: Religious Readings of Contemporary Fiction (Studies in Literature and Religion) - Hardcover

Detweiler, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333458087 ISBN 13: 9780333458082

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1989

Synopsis

An attempt to extend the notion of reading and the concept of a religiously reading community. Professor Detweiler is convinced of the importance of entertaining the energetic discussions of contemporary literary theory in the present debates in religious studies. This series of volumes attempts to provide an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of literature and religion, concerned with the fundamentally important issues of the imagination, literary perceptions and an understanding of poetics for theology and religious studies and the underlying religious implications in so much literature and literary criticism. Other titles in this series include "The Study of Literature and Religion - An Introduction", "Language and the Worship of the Church" and "Pity and Terror - Christianity and tragedy".

About this title

From the Back Cover

Modern literary criticism has virtually neglected to interpret contemporary narrative fiction, poetry, and drama from a distinctly religious perspective. In this book, Robert Detweiler, the premier exponent of theology-based literary criticism, redresses this lack by presenting a clear and comprehensive study of religious themes in contemporary fiction. He applies the latest critical treatments to the study of religious themes in various works, including works by Margaret Atwood, Jorge Luis Borges, Annie Dillard, Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera, Walker Percy, and John Updike. By doing so, he keenly demonstrates that there are many ways to conduct a religious reading of a text.

About the Author

Robert Detweiler is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature in the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He also served as the Institute's Director for eight years. He has published extensively on the intersection of religion, literature and culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0333458087
• ISBN 13: 9780333458082
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216