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Given its affinity with questions of identity, autobiography offers a way into the interior space between author and reader, especially when writers define themselves in terms of religion. In his exploration of this "textual intimacy," Wesley Kort begins with a theorization of what it means to say who one is and how one's self-account as a religious person stands in relation to other forms of self-identification. He then provides a critical analysis of autobiographical texts by nine contemporary American writers--including Maya Angelou, Philip Roth, and Anne Lamott--who give religion a positive place in their accounts of who they are. Finally, in disclosing his own religious identity, Kort concludes with a meditation on several meanings of the word assumption.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Acknowledgments(p. ix)
• Introduction(p. 1)
• Part I Theoretical
• 1 Telling You Who I Am(p. 11)
• 2 Narrative and Self-Accounts(p. 37)
• 3 Disclosing a Religious Identity(p. 58)
• Part II Critical
• 4 Religious Debtors(p. 87)
• 5 Religious Dwellers(p. 119)
• 6 Religious Diviners(p. 147)
• Part III Personal
• 7 Moving Out: Grounding a Religious Identity(p. 177)
• 8 On My Own: Taking on a Religious Identity(p. 197)
• 9 Looking Ahead: Religious Identity as Being Received(p. 219)
• Notes(p. 237)
• Index(p. 249)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This innovative work of religion and literature by Kort (Duke Univ.) provides a careful analysis of different types of American religious identities that emerge from autobiographical narratives. Impressively, this ambitious thesis builds coherently out of three very different parts of the text, each of which offers insightful distinctions that expand the scope of the book beyond its stated range without overwhelming it. The first part reveals Kort's experience with narrative theory and philosophy of identity, offering a theoretical basis for why reading and writing are essential parts of human life. Part 2 applies Kort's analysis in a study of nine authors, deepening and concretizing his initial thoughts. Part 3 grants insight into the field of religion and literature and its importance, as Kort outlines his own life. Accessible, innovative, and challenging, the book should engage upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and individuals interested in narrative theory, religion and culture, and/or autobiography. Kort's book is less theoretical because more diverse, more applied, and more focused than Paul Ricoeur's Oneself as Another (1992). This is a valuable book for advanced undergraduate or graduate classes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. D. R. Boscaljon independent scholar

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Wesley A. Kort, Professor of Religion at Duke University, is the author most recently of Place and Space in Modern Fiction.