Victorian Religious Discourse: New Directions in Criticism [Hardcover]

This collection of essays attempts to address the disparate historical and critical ways religion informs the literature and culture of nineteenth century England, showing how a representative group of major Victorians negotiated its impact. The collection attempts to present Victorian religious discourse not as monologic but as dialogic, if not protean. It seeks to make available new understandings of nineteenth-century British literature as well as to elucidate the extent to which religious discourse is vested in Victorian cultural thoughts and practice.Contributors Acknowledgments Framing Victorian Religious Discourse: An Introduction; J.V.Nixon PART 1: THE HIGHER-CRITICAL DEBATE The Victorian Radicals: Time and Multivalence in Hopkins, Pusey, and M?ller; J.Bump Kill[ing] Our Souls with Literalism : Reading Essays and Reviews; J.V.Nixon Skeptical Women V. Honest Men V. Good Old Boys: Gender Conflict in the High Victorian Religion Wars; J.L.Larson Decomposing Texts : Browning's Poetics and Higher Critical Parody; S.Bailey Our King Back, Oh, upon English Souls : Swinburne, Hopkins, and the Politics of Religion; R.V.Overholser PART 2: RELIGION AND THE AESTHETIC IMAGINATION Hearing Adventure: Giuseppe Caponsacchi, Browning's Hollow Rock ; J.A.Dupras Faith, Romance and Imagination: Newman the Storyteller; B.Waterman Ward A thousand solaces for the Modern Spirit: Walter Pater's Religious Discourse; L.Higgins Amen in a wrong place : Charles Dickens Imagines the Victorian Church; N.Bell Cole Poetry is where God is : The Importance of Christian Faith and Theology in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Life and Work; A.M.B.W?rn References Index

Jude V. Nixon's collection of essays, Victorian Religious Discourse, is an up-to-date survey of scholarly work on Christian faith and doubt in nineteenth-century England. These essays demonstrate the centrality of Protestant faith and practice to English nationhood and personal identity. Combining studies of prose, poetry,lC¯