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Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor's first novel, is the story of Hazel Motes who, released from the armed services, returns to the evangelical Deep South. There he begins a private battle against the religiosity of the community and in particular against Asa Hawkes, the 'blind' preacher, and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter. In desperation Hazel founds his own religion, 'The Church without Christ', and this extraordinary narrative moves towards its savage and macabre resolution. 'A literary talent that has about it the uniqueness of greatness.' Sunday Telegraph 'No other major American writer of our century has constructed a fictional world so energetically and forthrightly charged by religious investigation.' The New Yorker 'A genius.' New York Times
When Dylan Fielding, celebrated contemporary visual artist, becomes Br. Thomas Augustine, novice at Our Lady of the Pines monastery, he finds delight not only in the shock his choice causes everyone around him but--to his own surprise--in the rhythms of the life itself. Shortly before he solidifies a lifelong commitment to the community, a traumatic encounter with an abusive priest plunges Thomas Augustine into terror and doubt. Reeling and uncertain, he reaches out to his friend, rival, and former lover, Angele Solomon, with hopes that she can help him to speak the difficult truth. As she attempts to advocate for her friend, Angele must ask how the scars left by their common past-as well as newer harms-can ever be healed or transcended. The wider inquiries demanded next will transfigure how both of them picture a range of human and divine things: time and memory; art and agency; trust and responsibility; and what it might mean to know real freedom.
Over the past decade Dana Gioia has emerged as a compelling advocate of Christianity's continuing importance in contemporary culture. His incisive and arresting essays have examined the spiritual dimensions of art and the decisive role faith has played in the lives of artists. This new volume collects Gioia's essays on Christianity, literature, and the arts. His influential title essay ignited a national conversation about the role of Catholicism in American literature. Other pieces explore the often-harrowing lives of Christian poets and painters as well as contemplate scripture and modern martyrdom.
Nothing in his rural New England upbringing could have prepared Colin Phelps for freshman year at an Ivy League college: the House Master crashes hall parties; public nudity is practically an intramural sport; and French intellectuals spouting arcane theories cast a spell over the undergraduates. Colin plunges into the hookup culture, competing with his brash, rule-breaking roommate. But as he soon discovers, the pursuit of transgression is fraught with unexpected pitfalls, and his suave pose must be stripped away if he is to find genuine freedom.
Poetry. Critical Introduction by Jeremiah Webster. Starting with Eliot's infamous The Waste Land, the collection unfolds with some of Eliot's finest early poems, including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Portrait of a Lady," and "Preludes" before it takes the reader through a little known short story ("Eeldrop and Appleplex"), an homage to the Metric and Poetry of Ezra Pound, the singularly celebrated "Tradition and the Individual Talent," a reappraisal of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and, at last, an essay on Dante. "Jeremiah Webster's brilliant Introduction leaves no doubt about Eliot's relevance for a new generation of readers."—Lee Oser "Dr. Webster's introduction offers compelling reasons for experienced readers to revisit Eliot, and powerful incentives for new readers to explore the landscape of this immeasurably influential artist."—Dr. E. Victor Bobb
In this Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, Wilson has completely revised the poems to attain a more classical perfection. Includes new poems collected as "The Christmas Preface."
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Léon Bloy's Exégèse des lieux communs-first published in 1902-appears here in English for the first time through Wiseblood Books. Among the novels, essays, biographies, and journals composed by Bloy, there is one work whose only appropriate classification was given directly in its title: Exegesis of Commonplaces-a peculiar foray into a genre normally reserved for theologians. And yet, as Albert Béguin notes in his sublime Léon Bloy: A Study in Impatience, Bloy's entire output may be seen as a labor of exegesis: "...it became Bloy's aim to make his mind as transparent as possible to the light of grace and to penetrate further and further into the mysteries hidden beneath the surface of h...
From the author of bestselling Invisible Man—the classic novel of African-American experience—this long-awaited second novel tells an evocative tale of a prodigal of the twentieth century. Brilliantly crafted, moving, and wise, Juneteenth is the work of an American master. "Tell me what happened while there's still time," demands the dying Senator Adam Sunraider to the itinerate preacher whom he calls Daddy Hickman. As a young man, Sunraider was Bliss, an orphan taken in by Hickman and raised to be a preacher like himself. Bliss's history encompasses the joys of young southern boyhood; bucolic days as a filmmaker, lovemaking in a field in the Oklahoma sun. And behind it all lies a mystery: how did this chosen child become the man who would deny everything to achieve his goals? Here is the master of American vernacular at the height of his powers, evoking the rhythms of jazz and gospel and ordinary speech. "An extraordinary book, a work of staggering virtuosity. With its publication, a giant world of literature has just grown twice as tall." —Newsday
" . . . a gripping read that reminds us why the preternatural is a dramatic field for our enjoyment and (dare we say it!) moral growth."-- Eleanor Nicholson, Editor, Ignatius Critical Editions: Dracula When a sixteen-year-old orphan vampire adopted by an order of nuns matures into her immortal, blood-sucking glory, all hell literally breaks loose. Yet with every rapturous taste of blood, Jennifer Carshaw cannot help but long for something even more exquisite: the capacity to experience true love. As she struggles to balance her murderous secret life with homework, cross-country practice, and her first boyfriend, Jennifer delves into the terrifying questions surrounding her inhuman existence,...