Help My Unbelief
James Joyce and Religion
Published on 15. April 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-4411-9474-9 (ISBN)
Description
Leading Joyce scholar, Geert Lernout, argues that Joyce's work can only be fully understood in the context of his unbelief. From the very beginning James Joyce's readers have considered him as a Catholic or an anti-Catholic writer, and in recent years the tendency has been to recuperate him for an alternative and decidedly liberal form of Catholicism. However, a careful study of Joyce's published and unpublished writings reveals that throughout his career as a writer he rejected the church in which he had grown up. As a result, Geert Lernout argues that it is misleading to divorce his work from that particular context, which was so important to his decision to become a writer in the first place. Arguing that Joyce's unbelief is critical for a fuller understanding of his work, Lernout takes his title from "Ulysses", 'I believe, O Lord, help my unbelief. That is, help me to believe or help me to unbelieve?', itself a quote from Mark 9:24. This incisive study will be of interest to all readers of Joyce and to anyone interested in the relationship between religion and literature.
Reviews / Votes
Lernout meticulously pinpoints and researches minor references to religion in Joyce's oeuvre, providing an index of ideas that will undoubtedly be an excellent resource for scholars seeking an explanation for religious allusions which have hitherto been overlooked or unexplained, particularly in Joyce's early work... This is a vast, informative work that will be useful both to new readers and experienced Joyceans alike. -- Routledge ABES Lernout's book is an indispensible starting point for an extended examination of religion in Joyce's works and his always intricate perspectives. -- Journal of Modern Literature Volume 34, No.2 Lernout's vision is sharp and engaging. -- James Joyce Quarterly ... Lernout provides an excellent account of Joyce's work in relation to contemporary free thought and anti-clericalism. -- Forum for Modern Language Studies, Vol 48., No. 1 [E]nlightening, lively, original and exacting. * James Joyce Broadsheet * Geert Lernout's book Help My Unbelief: James Joyce & Religion provides a comprehensive and helpful survey of both the historical context and the religious references in James Joyce's work...An obvious strength of this book resides in Lernout's work with primary and archival material like Joyce's notebooks and his library in Trieste...Geert Lernout's important work provides strong evidence to support his claims about Joyce's troubled relationship with both the Irish Roman Catholic Church and the Christian faith. -- Michael Gillingham, University of Alberta * Irish Studies Review * The evidence he offers from start to finish from Joyce's texts, letters, and the testimony of others is incontrovertible.Three examples...Quod erat demonstrandum! -- Peter A. Bien * Religious Studies Review *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
383 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4411-9474-9 (9781441194749)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2010
1st Edition
Continuum Publishing Corporation
€42.99
Available for download
Person
Geert Lernout is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and Director of the James Joyce Centre. He has published The French Joyce (1990) and Iets Anders: De GoldBerg-Varieties van Bach (2001).
Content
Preface; 1. The Holy Roman Apostolic Church; 2. Heresy, Schisma and Dissent; 3. Joyce's own Crisis of Belief; 4. Loss of Religion in Retrospect: From Epiphanies to Exiles; 5. You behold in me a horrible example of freethought; 6. After Ulysses; Conclusion; Select Bibliography; Index.