Primordial Sacrifice, Typology and the Theological Vocation of Literature: Extending Gian Balsamo's Interpretation of Joyce and Christian Epic
Extending the new contribution to the Joyce scholarship offered by Gian Balsamo, this essay develops a typological perspective upon literature as a ritualistic repetition of primordial sacrifice. It traces this function of literature from Dante through the Christian epic to Joyce. Poetry, viewed in...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
Published: |
2006
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In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2006, Volume: 20, Issue: 3, Pages: 251-268 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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Summary: | Extending the new contribution to the Joyce scholarship offered by Gian Balsamo, this essay develops a typological perspective upon literature as a ritualistic repetition of primordial sacrifice. It traces this function of literature from Dante through the Christian epic to Joyce. Poetry, viewed in this perspective, envisions and expresses what makes a culture possible as a whole and from its deepest roots. Such theologically laden types as sacrifice and eucharistic celebration reveal western culture in its development from both Greek and Hebrew antiquity to its ultramodern apotheosis in Joyce as one ongoing negotiation with itself. Culture is a continual reworking and revisioning of traditionary types that run from the beginning to the end of the history—and back again—becoming the overarching metaphors that connect everything in the universe of human experience together. |
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ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frl029 |