Muriel Spark, Existentialism and the Art of Death - by Cairns Craig (Hardcover)
Similar Products
Products of same category from the store
All
Product info
<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br><p>This book proposes that Christian existentialism and, in particular, the work of Søren Kierkegaard, helped shape Spark's religious commitments and her artistic innovations. </p><p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p><strong>Contextualises Muriel Spark's writings in the tradition of Christian existentialism and its insistence on 'being towards death'</strong></p> <p>This book proposes that Christian existentialism and, in particular, the work of Søren Kierkegaard, helped shape Spark's religious commitments and her artistic innovations. Because of the prominence, after the Second World War, of the atheistic existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, it is often forgotten that existentialism was originally a Christian philosophy, shaped by followers of Kierkegaard such as Karl Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel. </p> <p>Craig traces in Spark's writings both the influence of Kierkegaard and of Spark's resistance to Sartre's co-option of existentialism to an atheistic agenda. Kierkegaard's analysis of the nature of the 'aesthetic' as a false mode of existence that has to be transcended by the ethical and then by the religious provides a fundamental structure for Spark's satirical analyses of the failings of the modern world.</p> <p><strong>Key Features</strong></p> <ul> <li>Provides detailed analyses of a substantial proportion of Spark's novels</li> <li>Explains the philosophies of Kierkegaard and Sartre designed for readers without specialist philosophical knowledge</li> <li>Re-reads major Spark works, such as <i>The Ballad of Peckham Rye</i>, <i>The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie</i>, <i>Hothouse by the East River</i>, <i>Symposium</i>, <i>The Only Problem</i></li> <li>Analyses the ways in which Spark situates her plots within the major historical conflicts and social transformations of the twentieth century</li></ul><p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br>Contextualises Muriel Spark's writings in the tradition of Christian existentialism and its insistence on 'being towards death' Muriel Spark, Existentialism and The Art of Death proposes that Christian existentialism and, in particular, the work of Søren Kierkegaard, helped shape Spark's religious commitments and her artistic innovations. Because of the prominence, after the Second World War, of the atheistic existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, it is often forgotten that existentialism was originally a Christian philosophy, shaped by followers of Kierkegaard such as Karl Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel. Craig traces in Spark's writings both the influence of Kierkegaard and of Spark's resistance to Sartre's co-option of existentialism to an atheistic agenda. Kierkegaard's analysis of the nature of the 'aesthetic' as a false mode of existence that has to be transcended by the ethical and then by the religious provides a fundamental structure for Spark's satirical analyses of the failings of the modern world. Cairns Craig is Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen.<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><p>Cairns Craig is Director of the AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. His books include <i>Yeats, Eliot, Pound and the Politics of Poetry</i> (1982), <i>Out of History</i> (1996), <i>The Modern Scottish Novel</i> (1999), <i>Associationism and the Literary Imagination</i> (2007). He was general editor of the four-volume <i>History of Scottish Literature</i> (1987-9) and has been on the editorial boards of <i>Cencrastus</i>, <i>Radical Scotland</i>, <i>Edinburgh Review</i> and the <i>Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies</i>.<p>
Price History
Price Archive shows prices from various stores, lets you see history and find the cheapest. There is no actual sale on the website. For all support, inquiry and suggestion messagescommunication@pricearchive.us