Liminal Readings: Forms of Otherness in Melville, Joyce and Murdoch

by David S. Arnold

The overall focus of Liminal Readings is the reader's share in the narrative events of religion and literature. David Scott Arnold draws upon significant texts by Melville, Joyce and Murdoch to explore the modern reader's participation in matters of meaning that lead to pragmatic possibilities of ethical response. These fictions enlist our imaginative participation powerfully, and by exploring the forms of otherness they represent, Arnold illuminates unique ways of understanding the significance of narrative for studies in literature and religion. Through attentive, fascinating readings of Moby Dick, Ulysses and A Severed Head, Arnold addresses the religious dimension of the reader's participation in the imaginative experience of literature. Liminal Readings furthers our understanding of how such modern fictions function religiously, particularly when such fictions are felt to return us to the imaginative sense of the density of our lives.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993