What does it feel like to experience the sacred today? Examining in detail many of this century's most significant writers, including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Elizabeth Strout, Marilynne Robinson, Mohsin Hamid, Michael Chabon, Howard Jacobson and Don DeLillo, Divinity, Hospitality and the Posthuman in 21st-Century Literature: The Material Sacred argues that contemporary social and cultural forms, most especially those of 21st century literature, are marked by what Emily McAvan calls a material sacred.
Placing Christian, Jewish and Muslim writers in conversation with the new materialisms, this book shows how secular and sacred mix unpredictably in contemporary writing. In this important contribution to the understanding of religion, materialism and literature, McAvan maps new territory, arguing that the material sacred shows us that the human and non-human, the divine and the profane, have been interwoven from the start.
The first comprehensive look at the religious significance of this century’s contemporary English literature, this book examines in detail important writers such as Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie from across the English-speaking world.Arvustused
McAvens stunning readings of the material sacred within contemporary novels reveals 21st-century-fictions preoccupation with a world imbued with divine resonance. Postsecular Fiction importantly expands our understanding of vital issues such as forgiveness, disbelief, hospitality, and trauma as it unearths these novelists explorations of humanitys vital relationship with the world. * Jo Carruthers, Lancaster University, UK *
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The first comprehensive look at the religious significance of this centurys contemporary English literature, this book examines in detail important writers such as Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie from across the English-speaking world.
Introduction
Chapter
1. Introduction to 21st Century Postsecular Fiction
Section One God and the Postsecular
Chapter
2. Strout and the Idea of God
Chapter
3. Robinson and Immanent Faith
Chapter
4. Chabon and the Messianic after the Death of God
Section Two Hospitality and the Postsecular
Chapter
4. Rushdie and Religious Terror
Chapter
5. Hamid and Interreligious Hospitality
Chapter
6. Jacobson and Antisemitism in the Multicultural State
Section Three The Postsecular and the Non-Human
Chapter
7. DeLillos Posthuman Faith
Chapter
8. Atwoods Ecotheology
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Emily McAvan is a Teaching Associate, Monash University, Australia, and a specialist in the study of religion and literature. Her most recent work Jeanette Winterson and Religion (Bloomsbury, 2020) is the first study of the sacred and profane in Wintersons work. Her articles on religion and literature have been published by Literature and Theology, among many others.
