Literature and the Renewal of the Public Sphere

257 Pages·2000·2.168 MB·English

by  Susan VanZanten Gallagher, M. D. Walhout (eds.)

Literature and the Renewal of the Public Sphere
Cross-Currents in Religion and Culture
General Editors:
Elisabeth Jay, Senior Research Fellow, Westminster College, Oxford
David Jasper, Professor in Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow
The study of theology and religion nowadays calls upon a wide range of inter-
disciplinary skills and cultural perspectives to illuminate the concerns at the
heart of religious faith. Books in this new series will variously explore the con-
tributions made by literature, philosophy and science in forming our historical
and contemporary understanding of religious issues and theological perspec-
tives.
Titles include:
Harold Fisch
NEW STORIES FOR OLD
Biblical Patterns in the Novel
Susan VanZanten Gallagher and M. D. Walhout (editors)
LITERATURE AND THE RENEWAL OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE
Philip Leonard (editor)
TRAJECTORIES OF MYSTICISM IN THEORY AND LITERATURE
Lambert Zuidervaart and Henry Luttikhuizen (editors)
THE ARTS, COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL DEMOCRACY
Carolyn Jones
THE FICTION AND CRITICISM OF TONI MORRISON
Making Myths
Elizabeth Clarke
REWRITING THE BRIDE
Authorship, Gender and ‘The Song of Songs’ in the Seventeenth Century
Stephen Happel
GOD’S JOURNEYS IN TIME
Co-operation between the Divine and Creation
Cross-Currents in Religion and Culture
Series Standing Order ISBN 0–333–79469–9
(outside North America only)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order.
Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with
your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above.
Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Literature and the Renewal
of the Public Sphere
Edited by
Susan VanZanten Gallagher
and
M. D. Walhout
In memory of Lionel Basney, 1946–1999
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke. Hampshire RG2l 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-41093-4 ISBN 978-0-230-59551-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230595514
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division.
175 Fifth Avenue. New York. N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-22672-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Literature and the renewal of the public sphere I edited by Susan
VanZanten Gallagher and M.D. Walhout.
p. em. - (Cross-currents in religion and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-22672-1
l. Literature and society. 2. Literature-History and criticism
-Theory. etc. 3. Authors-Political and social views. 4. Public
interest. I. Gallagher. Susan Y. ll. Walhout. M. D .. 1959-
lll. Series.
PN98.S6L585 1999
809-dc2l 99-33527
CIP
Selection and editorial matter r£) Susan VanZanten Gallagher and M. D. Walhout 2000
Text © Macmillan Press Ltd 2000
All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmitted save with written
permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988. or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency. 90 Totten ham Court Road. London W l P OLP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained
forest sources.
lO 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Transferred to Digital Printing 2012.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface viii
Notes on the Contributors ix
1 Introduction: The Public Muse 1
M. D. Walhout
2 Enacting the Bonds of Love in King Lear 14
Lionel Basney
3 Dostoevsky and the Prisoner 32
Paul J. Contino
4 Unmasking the Idol of the Market in ‘Bartleby’ 53
Clarence Walhout
5 Constructing Female Public Identity: Gaskell on Brontë 68
Pamela Corpron Parker
6 Auden and the Dream of Public Poetry 83
Alan Jacobs
7 Narrative Labour in Raymond Carver 105
Michael Vander Weele
8 Sherman Alexie: Walking with Skeletons 122
Janet Blumberg
9 Denis Johnson’s Strange Light 139
James Champion
10 The Fate of French Poetry 152
Glenn W. Fetzer
11 Woza South Africa! A Postcolonial Public Sphere 170
Susan VanZanten Gallagher
12 Rushdie, Said and the Global Public Sphere 191
M. D. Walhout
v
vi Contents
13 Creative Border Crossing in New Public Culture 206
Lambert Zuidervaart
14 Storytelling, Suffering and the Public Sphere 225
Colin Jager
Index 242
Acknowledgements
Over the past ten years a diverse assortment of scholars has gathered
together each summer to read and talk about the relationship between
the study of literature and Christianity. This informal band eventually
received funding from the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship in
order to put together this book. Many people have contributed to the
congenial discussions and animated debates that inform the essays
included here. Those of us who have written and edited these essays
express our gratitude to other participants in this long conversation,
including Nancy Arnesen, Matthew Beaverson, Stephanie Paulsell,
Lawrence Cunningham, Nick Wolterstorff, Ron Dooley, Wendy Ver
Hage Falb, Gail Kienitz, Don Marshall and James Olthuis. We also
express our appreciation to Ron Wells and Donna Romanowski, from
the Calvin Center, who provided gracious hospitality, along with logis-
tical and financial support. Finally, a special thank-you goes to Teri
Hull Owens, without whom this manuscript might never have seen the
light of day.
An earlier version of Chapter 3 appeared as ‘Dostoevsky and the Ethical
Relation to the Prisoner’, Renascence, 48.4 (1996) 259–78.
An earlier and shorter version of Chapter 13 appeared in Dutch
translation in Levensecht en bescheiden(Kampen: Kok Agora, 1998).
An earlier version of Chapter 14 appeared as ‘Sacrifice and the Public
Sphere’, Contagion, 5 (1998) 57–73.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission
to reprint previously published material: W. H. Auden: ‘Funeral Blues’.
From W. H. Auden: Collected Poemsby W. H. Auden, edited by Edward
Mendelson. Copyright 1940 and renewed 1968 by W. H. Auden.
Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. ‘Stop All the Clocks’.
From W. H. Auden, ‘Twelve Songs’, Collected Poems, edited by Edward
Mendelson, rev. ed. Copyright 1991. Reprinted by permission of Faber
and Faber.
vii
Preface
This book is the product of the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship
(CCCS), which was established at Calvin College in 1976. The purpose
of the CCCS is to promote creative, articulate and rigorous scholarship
that addresses important theoretical and practical issues. This present
volume is the result of the ideas and work of an interdisciplinary
working group of scholars concerned with the role of religion and liter-
ature in ‘the public sphere’. Under the leadership of Clarence Walhout,
Mark Walhout and Susan VanZanten Gallagher, the group met over
the course of several summers here at Calvin College. The CCCS was
glad to be their host and to provide funding for their work. We on the
CCCS staff called them ‘our Habermas group’.
Their work, and this book produced under the leadership and
editorship of Susan VanZanten Gallagher and Mark Walhout, is
informed by some of the seminal insights of Jürgen Habermas. While
not limited to discussing Habermas, the group of scholars bring the
important implications of Habermas’ thought to bear upon their own
desires to seek the role of religion and literature in a renewed public
life. We believe the book will make a valuable contribution to the
important debate about the nature, and future, of democratic life. The
Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship is honoured to be the sponsor
of this project.
Grand Rapids Ronald A. Wells
Fall, 1998 Director, CCCS
viii
Notes on the Contributors
Lionel Basney teaches in the English Department of Calvin College,
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Janet Blumberg teaches in the English Department of Seattle Pacific
University, Seattle, Washington.
James Champion teaches in the English Department of Seattle Pacific
University, Seattle, Washington.
Paul J. Contino teaches in Christ College, Valparaiso University,
Valparaiso, Indiana.
Glenn W. Fetzer teaches in the French Department of Calvin College,
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Susan VanZanten Gallagher teaches in the English Department of
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington.
Alan Jacobs teaches in the English Department of Wheaton College,
Wheaton, Illinois.
Colin Jager is finishing a PhD in English at the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Pamela Corpron Parker teaches in the English Department of
Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington.
Michael Vander Weele teaches in the English Department of Trinity
Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinois.
Clarence Walhout taught in the English Department of Calvin College,
Grand Rapids, Michigan.
M. D. Walhout teaches in the English Department of Seattle Pacific
University, Seattle, Washington.
Lambert Zuidervaart teaches in the Philosophy Department of Calvin
College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
ix