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The Atoms of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules of Grammer
by Mark C. BakerWhether all human languages are fundamentally the same or different has been a subject of debate for ages. This problem has deep philosophical implications: If languages are all the same, it implies a fundamental commonality--and thus mutual intelligibility--of human thought. We are now on the verge of solving this problem. Using a twenty-year-old theory proposed by the world's greatest living linguist, Noam Chomsky, researchers have found that the similarities among languages are more profound than the differences. Languages whose grammars seem completely incompatible may in fact be structurally almost identical, except for a difference in one simple rule. The discovery of these rules and how they may vary promises to yield a linguistic equivalent of the Periodic Table of the Elements: a single framework by which we can understand the fundamental structure of all human language. This is a landmark breakthrough both within linguistics, which will herewith finally become a full-fledged science, and in our understanding of the human mind.
Atonement and Self-Sacrifice in Nineteenth-Century Narrative
by Jan-Melissa SchrammJan-Melissa Schramm explores the conflicted attitude of the Victorian novel to sacrifice, and the act of substitution on which it depends. The Christian idea of redemption celebrated the suffering of the innocent: to embrace a life of metaphorical self-sacrifice was to follow in the footsteps of Christ's literal Passion. Moreover, the ethical agenda of fiction relied on the expansion of sympathy which imaginative substitution was seen to encourage. But Victorian criminal law sought to calibrate punishment and culpability as it repudiated archaic models of sacrifice that scapegoated the innocent. The tension between these models is registered creatively in the fiction of novelists such as Dickens, Gaskell and Eliot, at a time when acts of Chartist protest, national sacrifices made during the Crimean War, and the extension of the franchise combined to call into question what it means for one man to 'stand for', and perhaps even 'die for', another.
Atormentados
by Barbara JacobsEsta obra nos confronta con mujeres y hombres que no aceptan la imposición de un modo de vida. El genio está a su lado en forma de literatura, danza, música, pintura o filosofía, y todo lector encontrará que comparten algo con él: la conciencia de que existir bajo los términos de los otros no siempre es una opción. Con ensayos breves y contundentes, Bárbara Jacobs nos muestra los lazos entre las acciones de estos artistas, su obra y nuestra psique; nos adentra en un tema tan fundamental como apasionante: la condición humana con todas sus impurezas, sus giros imprevistos y, siempre acechando, la locura. Ambrose Bierce; Horacio Quiroga; Van Gogh; Wiliam Faulkner; Charles Baudelaire; Cesare Pavese...
Atravesados: Essays on Queer Latinx Young Adult Literature (Children's Literature Association Series)
by Trevor Boffone and Cristina HerreraContributions by Frederick Luis Aldama, Trevor Boffone, T. Jackie Cuevas, Cristina Herrera, Alexander Lalama, Angel Daniel Matos, Regina Marie Mills, Joseph Isaac Miranda, Jesus Montaño, Domino Renee Pérez, Regan Postma-Montaño, Cristina Rhodes, and Sonia Alejandra RodríguezAtravesados: Essays on Queer Latinx Young Adult Literature shows how Latinx queer YA writers discard the “same old story,” and offer critical representations of queerness that broaden YA writing and insist on the presence of queer teens of color. Atravesados draws on foundational Chicana queer theorist Gloria Anzaldúa’s notion of “atravesados” to speak to the spectrum of queer youth Latinidades as they materialize in YA literature. Los atravesados, according to Anzaldúa, are “the squint-eyed, the perverse, the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel, the mulato, the half-breed, the half dead; in short, those who cross over, pass over, or through the confines of the ‘normal.’” Los atravesados reside in the borderlands space of ni de aquí ni de allá, neither here nor there, present yet liminal, their queerness the very source of both frustration and empowerment, a paradox of joy and tragedy. Although written in 1987, Anzaldúa’s theory speaks to the realities of queer Latinx teens that fill the pages of YA literature well into the twenty-first century. Characters such as Juliet from Gabby Rivera’s Juliet Takes a Breath, Aaron from Adam Silvera’s More Happy Than Not, or the titular Chulito from Charles Rice-Gonzales’s novel encompass the highs, lows, and everything in-betweenness of queer Latinx teen lived experiences. This collection tells their stories.Contributors speak to the spectrum of queer youth Latinidades as they materialize in YA literature, paying close attention to representation and the ways youth are portrayed—whether accurate or stereotypical. Close attention is paid to books that succeed in broadening the field of YA, highlighting authors that draw from their own lived experiences and situate strong, fully developed characters. Taken together, these essays move beyond the page, explaining to readers why representation and authenticity matter in YA literature, as well as the far-reaching effects they can have for real world queer Latinx teens.
Atravesando Fronteras
by Jorge RamosRelato autobiográfico. Revela toda clase de detalles sobre la vida del famoso periodista Jorge Ramos. Por primera vez, este prestigiado presentador de noticias en Español comparte anécdotas conocidas y ocultas de su existencia con los lectores, televidentes y radioescuchas que han seguido atentos su despuntante carrera profesional. Descubrimos aquí al hombre cuya atracción por las emociones fuertes lo ha puesto reiteradamente en peligro, y cuyo sentido del humor lo ha salvado de las situaciones más incómodas. Padre, reportero, esposo e hijo; todas sus facetas se describen aquí, sin escatimar recursos. El sentido aventurero y práctico del protagonista nos brindará con la lectura, además, una excelente lección de vida. Los pasajes intensamente contados en el libro nos permitirán viajar de la mano de una persona que se confiesa itinerante; ofreciendo, por lo tanto, un amplio archivo emocional de vivencias recogidas de múltiples lugares y encuentros con los más variados y controversiales personajes del planeta.
Atrocity: A Literary History
by Bruce RobbinsExploring literary representations of mass violence, Bruce Robbins traces the emergence of a cosmopolitan recognition of atrocity. Mass violence did not always have a name. Like conquest, what we think of now as atrocities have not always invited indignation or been seen to violate moral norms. Venturing from the Bible to Zadie Smith, Robbins explores the literature of suffering, to show how, over time, abhorrence of mass violence takes shape. With it comes the emergence of a necessary element of cosmopolitanism: the ability to look at one's own nation with the critical eyes of a stranger. Drawing on a vast written archive and with penetrating insight, Robbins takes up such literary representations of violence as Bartolomé de las Casas's account of his fellow Spaniards' atrocities, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Grimmelshausen's 1668 novel Simplicissimus, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Homero Aridjis's short novel Smyrna in Flames, and Tolstoy's Hadji Murat. These essential texts do more than simply testify to atrocious acts. In their literariness, they take the risk of contextualizing and relativizing, thereby extending beyond the legal paradigm of accusation. They recognize atrocity as a moral scandal about which something should be done and can be done, while they also place that scandal within a larger and more uncertain history.
Attachment, Place, and Otherness in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: New Materialist Representations (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)
by Jillmarie MurphyThis interdisciplinary study examines the role interpersonal and place attachment bonds play in crafting a national identity in American literature. Although there have been numerous ecocritical studies of and psychoanalytic approaches to American literature, this study seeks to integrate the language of empirical science and the physical realities of place, while also investigating non-human agency and that which exists beyond the material realm. Murphy considers how writers in the early American Republic constructed modernity by restructuring representations of interpersonal and place attachments, which are subsequently reimagined, reconfigured, and sometimes even rejected by writers in the long nineteenth century. Within each narrative American perceptions of otherness are pathologized as a result of insecure human-to-human and human-to-place attachments, resulting in a restructuring of antiquated notions of difference. Throughout, Murphy argues that in order to understand fully the contextually varied framework of human bonding, it is important to emphasize America’s "attachment" to various constructions of otherness. Historically, people of color, women, ethnic groups, and lower class citizens have been relegated—socially, politically, and culturally—to a place of subordination. Refugees escaping the French and Haitian Revolutions to American cities encouraged writers to transform social, cultural, and political attachments in ways that the American Revolution did not. The United States has always been part of an extended global network that provides fertile ground from which to imagine a future American identity; this book thus gestures toward future readers, educators, and scholars who seek to explore new fields and new approaches to understand the underlying human motivations that continually inspire the American imagination.
Attack of the Copula Spiders
by Douglas GloverA GLOBE & MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR 2012 "Glover is a master of narrative structure."-Wall Street Journal" In the tradition of E.M. Forster, John Gardner, and James Wood, Douglas Glover has produced a book on writing at once erudite, anecdotal, instructive, and amusing. Attack of the Copula Spiders represents the accumulated wisdom of a remarkable literary career: novelist, short story writer, essayist, teacher and mentor, Glover has for decades been asking the vital questions. How does the way we read influence the way we write? What do craft books fail to teach aspiring writers about theme, about plot and subplot, about constructing point of view? How can we maintain drama on the level of the sentence-and explain drama in the sentences of others? What is the relationship of form and art? How do you make words live?Whether his subject is Alice Munro, Cervantes, or the creative writing classroom, Glover's take is frank and fresh, demonstrating again and again that graceful writers must first be strong readers. This collection is a call-to-arms for all lovers of English, and Attack of the Copula Spiders our best defense against the assaults of a post-literate age.Douglas Glover is the award-winning author of five story collections, four novels, and two works of non-fiction. He is currently on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing program.Praise for Douglas Glover"So sharp, so evocative, that the reader sees well beyond the tissue of words into ... the author's poetic grace." - The New Yorker"Glover invents his own assembly of critical approaches and theories that is eclectic, personal, scholarly, and smart ... a direction for future literary criticism to take." - The Denver Quarterly"A ribald, raunchy wit with a talent for searing self-investigation." - The Globe and Mail"Knotty, intelligent, often raucously funny." - Maclean's"Passionately intricate." - The Chicago Tribune"Darkly humorous, simultaneously restless and relentless." - Kirkus Reviews
The Attack on Literature and Other Essays
by Rene WellekWith the erudition that has distinguished his lifelong study of literary criticism, Wellek considers the trends, theories, and quarrels of recent years. He continues to insist that criticism--whether written by structuralists, phenomenologists, Marxists, or the New Critics--makes judgments and also takes into account "a common humanity that makes all art accessible to us." He also considers the relationship between literature and linguistics and the difficulty of constructing evolutionary models for literary history.Originally published in 1982.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
Attending to the Literary: The Distinctiveness of Literature
by Alan SingerAttending to the Literary: The Distinctiveness of Literature is a foray into current debates about the nature of the literary. What is literary? Is literarity a thing? Are there still aesthetic standards of taste? Is the category of literary aesthetics an obstacle to understanding the uses of literature? What does it mean to count the reading of literature as an experience in its own right? What would be the deficits to human experience without literature? Attending to the Literary addresses all of these questions with a view to challenging the notion of literarity as merely representative of experience. On the contrary, Alan Singer shows how literarity is an enacting of experience. Through close readings of an eclectic repertoire of literary sentences – culled from the genres of fiction, poetry, and drama – Singer demonstrates how syntax stages human capacities for attending ever more consequentially to the world of practical experience. These stagings of forms of attention involve readers in the drama of reason-giving and expand the possibilities of rational imagination. Attending to the Literary speaks to a broad audience of readers for whom the question "Does literature matter?" remains an urgent intellectual challenge.
Attention and Vision in Language Processing
by Ramesh Kumar Mishra Narayanan Srinivasan Falk HuettigThis volume provides a comprehensive overview of the nature of attentional and visual processes involved in language comprehension. Key concerns include how linguistic and non-linguistic processes jointly determine language comprehension and production and how the linguistic system interfaces with perceptual systems and attention. Language scientists have traditionally considered language in isolation from other cognitive and perceptual systems such as attention, vision and memory. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly clear that language comprehension must be studied within interaction contexts. The study of multimodal interactions and attentional processes during language processing has thus become an important theoretical focus that guides many research programs in psycholinguistics and related fields.
Attic Oratory and Performance (Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies)
by Andreas SerafimIn a society where public speech was integral to the decision-making process, and where all affairs pertaining to the community were the subject of democratic debate, the communication between the speaker and his audience in the public forum, whether the law-court or the Assembly, cannot be separated from the notion of performance. Attic Oratory and Performance seeks to make modern Performance Studies productive for, and so make a significant contribution to, the understanding of Greek oratory. Although quite a lot of ink has been spilt over the performance dimension of oratory, the focus of nearly all of the scholarship in this area has been relatively narrow, understanding performance as only encompassing 'delivery' – the use of gestures and vocal ploys – and the convergences and divergences between oratory and theatre. Serafim seeks to move beyond this relatively narrow focus to offer a holistic perspective on performance and oratory. Using examples from selected forensic speeches, in particular four interconnected speeches by Aeschines (2, 3) and Demosthenes (18, 19), he argues that oratorical performance encompassed subtle communication between the speaker and the audience beyond mere delivery, and that the surviving texts offer numerous glimpses of the performative dimension of these speeches, and their links to contemporary theatre.
Atticus Finch: The Biography
by Joseph CrespinoWho was the real Atticus Finch? A prize-winning historian reveals the man behind the legend The publication of Go Set a Watchman in 2015 forever changed how we think about Atticus Finch. Once seen as a paragon of decency, he was reduced to a small-town racist. How are we to understand this transformation? In Atticus Finch, historian Joseph Crespino draws on exclusive sources to reveal how Harper Lee's father provided the central inspiration for each of her books. A lawyer and newspaperman, A. C. Lee was a principled opponent of mob rule, yet he was also a racial paternalist. Harper Lee created the Atticus of Watchman out of the ambivalence she felt toward white southerners like him. But when a militant segregationist movement arose that mocked his values, she revised the character in To Kill a Mockingbird to defend her father and to remind the South of its best traditions. A story of family and literature amid the upheavals of the twentieth century, Atticus Finch is essential to understanding Harper Lee, her novels, and her times.
Attitude Reports (Key Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics)
by Thomas GranoPropositional attitude reports are sentences built around clause-embedding psychological verbs, like Kim believes that it's raining or Kim wants it to rain. These interact in many intricate ways with a wide variety of semantically relevant grammatical phenomena, and represent one of the most important topics at the interface of linguistics and philosophy, as their study provides insight into foundational questions about meaning. This book provides a bird's-eye overview of the grammar of propositional attitude reports, synthesizing the key facts, theories, and open problems in their analysis. Couched in the theoretical framework of generative grammar and compositional truth-conditional semantics, it places emphasis on points of intersection between propositional attitude reports and other important topics in semantic and syntactic theory. With discussion points, suggestions for further reading and a useful guide to symbols and conventions, it will be welcomed by students and researchers wishing to explore this fertile area of study.
Attitudes to Endangered Languages
by Julia SallabankLanguage attitudes and ideologies are of key importance in assessing the chances of success of revitalisation efforts for endangered languages. However, few book-length studies relate attitudes to language policies, or address the changing attitudes of non-speakers and the motivations of members of language movements. Through a combination of ethnographic research and quantitative surveys, this book presents an in-depth study of revitalisation efforts for indigenous languages in three small islands round the British Isles. The author identifies and confronts key issues commonly faced by practitioners and researchers working in small language communities with little institutional support. This book explores the complex relationship of ideologies, identity and language-related beliefs and practices, and examines the implications of these factors for language revitalisation measures. Essential reading for researchers interested in language endangerment and revitalisation, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and language policy and planning, as well as language planners and campaigners.
Attitudes to English Study among Japanese, Chinese and Korean Women: Motivations, Expectations and Identity (Routledge Research in Language Education)
by Yoko KobayashiThis edited book comprises chapters integrated around a central theme on college-educated Japanese, Korean, and Chinese women’s orientation to English study. The collection is composed of two parts: (1) East Asian women’s motivation to study in the West and (2) East Asian women’s dream to use English as a career. The first part discusses their international migration as facilitated by factors characteristic of East Asian nations (e.g. middle-class women’s access to advanced education and yet unequal access to professional career) and other factors inherent in each nation (e.g. different social evaluations of women equipped with competitive overseas degrees and English proficiency). The second part sheds light on the dreams and realities of East Asian female adults who, having been avid English learners, aim for "dream jobs" (e.g. interpreters) or have few other career choices but to be re-trained as English specialists or even as Japanese language teachers working abroad. This collection is suitable for any scholar interested in the lives and voices of young educated women who strive to empower themselves with language skills in the seemingly promising neoliberal world that is, however, riddled with ideological contradictions.
Attitudes to Language
by Peter GarrettJust about everyone seems to have views about language. Language attitudes and language ideologies permeate our daily lives. Our competence, intelligence, friendliness, trustworthiness, social status, group memberships, and so on, are often judged from the way we communicate. Even the speed at which we speak can evoke reactions. And we often try to anticipate such judgements as we communicate. In this lively introduction, Peter Garrett draws upon research carried out over recent decades in order to discuss such attitudes and the implications they have for our use of language, for social advantage or discrimination, and for social identity. Using a range of examples that includes punctuation, words, grammar, pronunciation, accents, dialects and languages, this book explores the intricate and fascinating ways in which language influences our everyday thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
Attitudes to World Englishes: Implications for teaching English in South Korea (Routledge Studies in World Englishes)
by Hyejeong AhnThis book critically examines South Korean English teachers’ awareness of and attitude towards eight varieties of English and how they respond to the proposal of a World Englishes approach in their teaching practice. It showcases the deeply rooted favouritism towards American English and illustrates how relevant challenges arising from this attitude can be addressed to meet the changing needs of future participants in international contexts. This book argues that disclosing and questioning the hidden discursive practices embedded in the English education policy in South Korea may be the first step in raising awareness of and in changing negative attitudes towards embracing diversified Englishes. The findings are systemically discussed in relation to the implications that researching awareness and attitude has for pedagogical considerations and for teacher training. This book aims to contribute to the field of WE, where studies relating to the South Korean context are largely limited.
Attitudinal Evaluation in Chinese University Students’ English Writing: A Contrastive Perspective (Corpora and Intercultural Studies #4)
by Anne Mccabe Xinghua LiuThis book offers up-to-date insights into the long-standing controversy of whether or not Chinese learners of English adequately express their attitudes in written English. It compares four writing datasets from three groups of student writers (e. g. , English-speaking students' English texts, Chinese-speaking students' Chinese texts, and both English and Chinese texts produced by the same group of Chinese-speaking students majoring in English), and applies the appraisal framework, an analytical tool developed in the field of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The book provides a nuanced view of the deployment of attitudinal patterns and the linguistic resources used for attitudinal evaluation in Chinese students' English writing. Accordingly, it offers a valuable resource for all those interested in second language writing, contrastive rhetoric, second language acquisition and systemic functional linguistics.
Attorney by Day, Novelist by Night: Bring Your Book to Light While Still Practicing Law
by Kim BenjaminAn inspiring guide for lawyers—or any busy professionals—who want to pursue their literary dreams. Are you an attorney working hard, sixty-plus-hour weeks to right the wrongdoings of the world? Are you enjoying a successful legal career, but still not wholly satisfied? Have you dreamed of exploring your creative side and following in the footsteps of John Grisham, Scott Turow, Marcia Clark, Robert Dugoni, and the countless other lawyers who have channeled their talent and unique experience into literary success? It&’s no surprise that many in the legal profession feel the desire to write, as they deal every day with the subtleties of language in their work—and encounter plenty of conflict and drama to provide creative inspiration. This helpful, supportive guide shows how they can indulge their dreams, pursue their passion, and find greater fulfillment—without abandoning their career.
Attraction of Knowledge Celebrities: How They Motivate Users to Pay for Knowledge (China Perspectives)
by Xiaoyu ChenThis book examines the phenomenon of knowledge celebrities, an emerging group of social media influencers who produce and sell knowledge products online. Its primary goal is to investigate the reasons and strategies behind their ability to attract users and persuade them to purchase knowledge products on digital platforms. With the increasing demand for high-quality content from online users, various platforms have emerged as pay-for-knowledge platforms, allowing knowledge celebrities to monetize their expertise. This book draws on theoretical frameworks from information science, communication and management to provide insights into this phenomenon and to examine the practices and individuals involved. Building on existing scholarship and analyzing case studies in China, this book presents the background, basic concepts and understanding of knowledge celebrities. It then explores the three key factors that contribute to the attractiveness of knowledge celebrities, as well as the motivations and mechanisms behind pay-for-knowledge practices. Finally, the book offers a glimpse into the future landscape of knowledge celebrities and pay-for-knowledge platforms. The book will be valuable to scholars, students, and practitioners in information, communication and media studies. In particular, it will appeal to those interested in topics such as knowledge celebrities, the creator economy and knowledge management.
Atypical Interaction: The Impact of Communicative Impairments within Everyday Talk
by Ray Wilkinson John P. Rae Gitte RasmussenAtypical Interaction presents a state-of-the-art overview of research which uses conversation analysis to explore how communicative impairments impact on conversation and other forms of talk and social interaction. Although the majority of people use spoken language unproblematically in social interaction, many individuals have an atypical capacity for communication. The first collection of its kind, this book examines a wide range of conditions where the communication of children or adults is atypical, including autism spectrum disorder, dementia, stammering, hearing impairment, schizophrenia, dysarthria and aphasia. By analyzing recordings of real-life interactions, the collection highlights not only the communication difficulties and challenges faced by atypical communicators and their interlocutors in everyday life, but also the competences and often novel forms of communication displayed. With fourteen empirical chapters from leading scholars in the field and an introductory chapter which provides a background to conversation analysis and its application to the study of atypical interactions, the collection will be an invaluable resource for students, practitioners such as speech and language therapists, and researchers with an interest in human communication, communication diversity and disorder.
Au Revoir, Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness from French Literature
by Viv Groskop“Groskop skillfully juggles memoir, biography, philosophy, and literary criticism to create a delightful tour through some of French literature’s greats.” —Madeline Miller, New York Times–bestselling authorLike many people the world over, Viv Groskop wishes she was a little more French. A writer, comedian, and journalist, Groskop studied the language obsessively starting at age 11, and spent every vacation in France, desperate to escape her Englishness and to have some French chic rub off on her. In Au Revoir, Tristesse, Groskop mixes literary history and memoir to explore how the classics of French literature can infuse our lives with joie de vivre and teach us how to say goodbye to sadness. From the frothy hedonism of Colette and the wit of Cyrano de Bergerac to the intoxicating universe of Marguerite Duras and the heady passions of Les Liaisons dangereuses, this is a love letter to great French writers. With chapters on Marcel Proust, Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert, Stendhal, Honoré de Balzac, Albert Camus, and of course Françoise Sagan, this is a delectable read for book lovers everywhere.“Ms. Groskop is a skilled raconteuse who brings people—and the page—to life. She writes with a self-deprecating appreciation of the Frenchman or -woman manqué(e) that lurks in us all. You don’t have to be a savant to enjoy this book . . . Au Revoir, Tristesse will make a witty, seductive companion.” —The Wall Street Journal“Groskop’s combination of her own memories, what the novels meant to her at different stages in her life, her description of the authors, along with her description of the novels, will have readers eagerly turning the book’s pages.” —Forbes
Audacious Kids: The Classic American Children's Story
by Jerry GriswoldThe definitive book-length study of the great classics of American children’s literature, now updated for a new century.Outstanding Book of the Year Award, Children’s Literature AssociationOften called the Golden Age of Children’s Books, the years stretching from the Civil War to World War I were a remarkable epoch in juvenile literature, an era when the best authors on both sides of the Atlantic wrote some of their finest work primarily for children. In Audacious Kids, Jerry Griswold provides a groundbreaking and lucid study of twelve of these classic American children’s tales, including such time-honored stories as Little Women, Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden, and The Wizard of Oz. Griswold’s most remarkable insight is that, fundamentally, these twelve books all tell essentially the same story: a child is orphaned, makes a journey, is adopted and harassed by adults, and eventually triumphs over them and comes into his or her own. Griswold, a leading figure in the study of children’s literature, also reveals that these tales emphasize motifs that are distinctly American, such as positive thinking, concern with health, and the concealment of sex and violence, and he shows how these secular parables replaced religion with psychology and preached gospels of emotional self-control and optimism. In this revised edition, which is aimed at students, scholars, and general readers, Griswold has updated the text throughout and added a new preface, introduction, and select bibliography.
Auden and Christianity
by Arthur KirschOne of the twentieth century's most important poets, W. H. Auden stands as an eloquent example of an individual within whom thought and faith not only coexist but indeed nourish each other. This book is the first to explore in detail how Auden's religious faith helped him to come to terms with himself as an artist and as a man, despite his early disinterest in religion and his homosexuality. Auden and Christianity shows also how Auden's Anglican faith informs, and is often the explicit subject of, his poetry and prose. Arthur Kirsch, a leading Auden scholar, discusses the poet's boyhood religious experience and the works he wrote before emigrating to the United States as well as his formal return to the Anglican Communion at the beginning of World War II. Kirsch then focuses on Auden's criticism and on neglected and underestimated works of the poet's later years. Through insightful readings of Auden's writings and biography, Kirsch documents that Auden's faith and his religious doubt were the matrix of his work and life.