Product Description

To read literature is to read the way literature reads. Ren Girards immense body of work supports this thesis bountifully. Whether engaging the European novel, ancient Greek tragedy, Shakespeares plays, or Jewish and Christian scripture, Girard teaches us to read prophetically, not by offering a method he has developed, but by presenting the methodologies they have developed, the interpretative readings already available within (and constitutive of) such bodies of classical writing. In , literary scholar, theorist, and critic Sandor Goodhart divides his essays on Ren Girard since 1983 into four groupings. In three, he addresses Girardian concerns with Biblical scripture (Genesis and Exodus), literature (the European novel and Shakespeare), and philosophy and religious studies issues (especially ethical and Jewish subject matters). In a fourth section, he reproduces some of the polemical exchanges in which he has participated with othersincluding Ren Girard himselfas part of what could justly be deemed Jewish-Christian dialogue. The twelve texts that make up the heart of this captivating volume constitute the bulk of the authors writings to date on Girard outside of his three previous books on Girardian topics. Taken together, they offer a comprehensive engagement with Girards sharpest and most original literary, anthropological, and scriptural insights.