{"product_id":"secularization-without-end-9780268038991","title":"Secularization without End","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eVincent P. Pecora discovers an alternative history of the twentieth-century Western novel that explains the resurgence of Christian theological ideas in the supposedly secularized genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eSecularization without End\u003c\/i\u003e is a well-argued and provocative exploration of the modern novel grounded in a compelling set of theological reflections. Vincent P. Pecora discusses primarily Samuel Beckett's trilogy (1950), Thomas Mann's \u003ci\u003eDr. Faustus \u003c\/i\u003e(1947), and various novels by J. M. Coetzee from the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. This is not just a set of three individual-author essays; it is about an alternative history of the novel that challenges the paradigms that have prevailed from Watt to Moretti.\" —Russell Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A must read. After Vincent P. Pecora’s \u003ci\u003eSecularization without End\u003c\/i\u003e, modernism won’t be the same. On the back of his innovative understanding of secularization as interminable, Pecora shows that his authors—Beckett, Mann, and Coetzee—are saturated in a bleak Christianity that they can’t overcome. I can think of few recent books of literary criticism from which I have learnt more.\" —Simon During, University of Queensland\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Vincent P. Pecora's new study offers a most welcome corrective to the still widely accepted notion that the European novel had 'come to supplant the history of religion as the basis of our moral sensibility.' Compact, accessible, and full of engaging and trenchant commentary, \u003ci\u003eSecularization without End\u003c\/i\u003e provides a valuable resource not just for specialists but for undergraduates studying the modern novel and trying to develop a nuanced and capacious understanding of the complex relationship between literature and religion.\" —Thomas Pfau, author of \u003ci\u003eMinding the Modern: Human Agency, Intellectual Traditions, and Responsible Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eSecularization without End,\u003c\/i\u003e Pecora continues the provocative exploration of the secularization phenomenon that he began in \u003ci\u003eSecularization and Cultural Criticism\u003c\/i\u003e (2006). His subject is modernism’s tendency to replace religious categories of thought and experience with those of a secular philosophical ethics and epistemology.” —\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is one of the finest exercises in literature and theology that I have encountered for a long time. Its challenge to the reader lies in its profound grasp of theology and its philosophical implications, while at the same time pursuing complex literary discussions of the nature of writing and narrative after Roland Barthes' \u003ci\u003eWriting Degree Zero\u003c\/i\u003e.\" —\u003ci\u003eLiterature and Theology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Pecora is at his best when revising the big picture and moving through a complex philosophical and literary-critical heritage. . . . \u003ci\u003eSecularization without End\u003c\/i\u003e is a book that is designed to alter paradigms, and whether or not Pecora’s readers come away convinced of all of his claims, he has written an important and even necessary study that should continue to alter the way we read modern fiction for years to come.\" —\u003ci\u003eModern Language Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Among the most provocative of the questions Pecora explores is this: In what ways has secularization promoted a return to supposedly discarded theologies? While Pecora is interested in the broader and more commonly studied issue of the demise of the secularization thesis, he moves beyond explanations of how religious (primarily Christian) commitments persist in supposedly secular societies to the question of how secularization might have actually served as a causal factor in the renewal of religious thoughts and sentiment.” —\u003ci\u003eFides et Historia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Notre Dame Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400742674775,"sku":"9780268038991","price":21.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780268038991.jpg?v=1730471445","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/secularization-without-end-9780268038991","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}