From Ritual to Romance and Beyond

Comparative Literature and Comparative Religious Studies. Proceedings of the ICLA Conference at Jacobs University, Bremen, August 6-8, 2008. Edited by Manfred Schmeling und Hans-Joachim Backe.

When Jessie L. Weston's "From Ritual to Romance" was published in 1920, the book paved the way for a joint perspective of comparative literature and comparative religion. Almost a century later, they have become established academic disciplines all around the world - more valued than ever in the quickly changing socio-political climate of the 21st century. Inspired by Weston's central ideas, this book has gathered 25 contributions, seven of which are in French, that combine comparative perspectives on literature and religion. The common aim is to treat both aspects not as disconnected phenomena, but to explore the modes and parameters of their mutual influence. Topics range from the sometimes difficult relations of the arts and contemporary belief systems to culture's cherished religious and mythical heritage, from encounters between different religions and cultures to the religious component in literature's preoccupation with ethics. The result is a collection of essays that reflects the diversity of authors, texts and religions involved. Aus dem Inhalt: Section One: Literature vs./and Religion - J. B. Foster: Islamic 'Jihad' in Tolstoy's "Khadzhi-Murat" - B. Gruber: Literature and Religion: Features of a Systematic Comparison - S. Inaga: Crime, Literature and Religious Mysticism: The Case of the Japanese Translator of Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" - H. G. Kippenberg: From Shiite Rituals to Revolution in Iran 1978/79 - S. Michaud: L'absence ou le silence de Dieu dans la poésie contemporaine: Celan, Bonnefoy, Deguy - Section Two: The Mythical and Religious Heritage of Literature - H.-J. Backe: The Creation of Literary Golems: Art and Artifice - E. F. Coutinho: 'Logos' and 'Mythos' in Guimaraes Rosa's Fiction - B. D'Angelo: Identité nationale en Amérique Latine: entre mythe et tragédie - K. L. Komar: "The Gods Made Us Do It." Women as Sacrifice - H. Bonito Couto Pereira: Mythes et rituels dans la construction d’identités nationales - M. Schmeling: Du rite au model cognitif: le labyrinthe et la disparition du 'grand récit' - M. Schmitz-Emans: Cults of Memory and their Aesthetic Reflection - S. P. Sondrup: Toward a Historiography of Literature Considered as a Gift - Section Three: Intercultural and Interreligious Encounters - S. André: A la recherche d'un Grand Récit contemporain: nature et fonction du syncrétisme religieux dans les romans polynésiens - C. Ho Chung: A Christian Approach to Buddhist Monk Poet Han Yong Un - D. Figueira: Excess Baggage, Conjugal Devotion and the Subaltern Speaks! - K. Maurer: "Bajazet" de Racine. Une tragédie à profil interculturel? - S. Shankman: (m)Other Power: Shin Buddhism, Levinas, "King Lear" - R. Shideler: Gunnar Ekelöf's Byzantium and the Unknown - Section Four: "Faith in Literature" - M. Arouimi: Kafka entre taoïsme et hassidisme - A. Bosse: 'Clash of Civilizations'. Clash of Literatures? - H. Bost: "Und die Moral von der Geschicht." Looking at Literature Beyond Good and Evil - E. Løvlie: Reading Religiously, the Secret 'à venir' in Literature and Religion - K. Millet: The Victim as 'Mishnah' - T. Virk: The Literary and Ethics. 316 Seiten mit 17 Abb., broschiert (Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Vergleichenden Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft; Band 53/Königshausen & Neumann 2011) leichte Lagerspuren/minor shelfwear