Modernism, Nominalism, and the Hidden God in Samuel Beckett, Wallace Stevens, and David Jones
The idea that human language is an inherently inadequate instrument for grasping reality is widespread in modernist literature. While the ‘radical nominalism’ of this position has been recognised, this article argues that a genealogical understanding of its theological roots in medieval nominalism c...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2023
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| In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2023, Volume: 37, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-24 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CD Christianity and Culture KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history NBC Doctrine of God |
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| Summary: | The idea that human language is an inherently inadequate instrument for grasping reality is widespread in modernist literature. While the ‘radical nominalism’ of this position has been recognised, this article argues that a genealogical understanding of its theological roots in medieval nominalism can highlight how modernist writers like Samuel Beckett and Wallace Stevens still wrestle with a voluntarist God of absolute and arbitrary power. By contrast, for a writer like David Jones, the historical choice of nominalism amounts to a theological mistake, and the modern artist needs to rediscover a God who consecrates and redeems the human capacity for sign-making. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frac034 |