Search results for ""author marilynne robinson""

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEROne of our greatest novelists and thinkers presents a radiant, thrilling interpretation of the book of Genesis.For generations, the book of Genesis has been treated by scholars as a collection of documents by various hands, expressing different factional interests, with borrowings from other ancient literatures that mark the text as derivative. In other words, academic interpretation of Genesis has centered on the question of its basic coherency, just as fundamentalist interpretation has centered on the question of the appropriateness of reading it as literally true.Both of these approaches preclude an appreciation of its greatness as literature, its rich articulation and exploration of themes that resonate through the whole of Scripture. Marilynne Robinson's Reading Genesis, which includes the full text of the King James Version of the book, is a powerful consideration of the profound meanin

Read more less

One of our best contemporary writers explores the tension between science and religion and reveals how our concept of mind determines how we understand and value human nature and human civilization In this ambitious book, acclaimed writer Marilynne Robinson applies her astute intellect to some of the most vexing topics in the history of human thought—science, religion, and consciousness. Crafted with the same care and insight as her award-winning novels, Absence of Mind challenges postmodern atheists who crusade against religion under the banner of science. In Robinson’s view, scientific reasoning does not denote a sense of logical infallibility, as thinkers like Richard Dawkins might suggest. Instead, in its purest form, science represents a search for answers. It engages the problem of knowledge, an aspect of the mystery of consciousness, rather than providing a simple and final model of reality.By defending the importance of individual reflection, Robinson celebrates the power and variety of human consciousness in the tradition of William James. She explores the nature of subjectivity and considers the culture in which Sigmund Freud was situated and its influence on his model of self and civilization. Through keen interpretations of language, emotion, science, and poetry, Absence of Mind restores human consciousness to its central place in the religion-science debate.

Read more less

From the author of the magnificent, award-winning novels GILEAD, HOME and LILA comes this wonderful, heart-warming collection of essays about reading.'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' Barack ObamaMarilynne Robinson is not only a writer of sharp, subtly moving fiction, but also a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. In this luminous collection she returns to the themes which have preoccupied her bestselling novels: the place literature has in life, the role of faith in modern living, the contradictions inherent in human nature. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our best-loved writers.

Read more less

New essays by the Women's Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gilead, Home and Lila. In this collection, Marilynne Robinson impels us to action and offers us hope.'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' BARACK OBAMAMarilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Home, winner of the Orange Prize; and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America like Emerson and Tocqueville inform our political consciousness or discussing the way that beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.

Read more less

A brilliant and dramatic close reading of the first book of the Bible focussing on the complex relationship with humankind''A work of exceptional wisdom and imagination'' DR ROWAN WILLIAMS, DAILY TELEGRAPH''Rich and provoking... Robinson has masterfully traced a sense of wonder back to its ancient, remarkable source'' JULIAN COMAN, OBSERVER''Reading Genesis is alive with questions of kindness, community and how to express what we so often struggle to put into words'' NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINEFor generations, the Book of Genesis, included in its entirety here, has been treated by scholars as a collection of documents by various hands, expressing different factional interests, with borrowings from other ancient literatures that mark the text as derivative. In other words, academic interpretation of Genesis has centered on the question of its basic coherence, just as fundamentalist interpreta

Read more less

From one of the English language's great writers. Revisiting her beloved characters, Jack joins Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer; Home, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction and Lila, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. This is the compassionate and heart-breaking story of the wayward son, Jack Boughton.

Read more less

'A classic.' Guardian'A masterpiece.' The New Yorker'I just adore this book and have probably reread it a hundred times.' Michelle Zauner From the Orange Prize winning author of Home and Gilead.Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and Lucille, orphans growing up in the small desolate town of Fingerbone in the vast northwest of America.Abandoned by a succession of relatives, the sisters find themselves in the care of Sylvie, the remote and enigmatic sister of their dead mother. Steeped in imagery of the bleak wintry landscape around them, the sisters' struggle towards adulthood is powerfully portrayed in a novel about loss, loneliness and transience.

Read more less

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDAN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICKLila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church - theonly available shelter from the rain - and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life.'One of the greatest living novelists' BRYAN APPLEYARD, SUNDAY TIMES'Robinson is frequently named as one of America's most significant writers . . . Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world' SARAH CHURCHWELL, GUARDIAN'The work of an exceptional novelist' ROWAN WILLIAMS, NEW STATESMAN'A sumptuous, graceful and ultimately life-affirming novel' JAMES KIDD, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'Great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation' NEEL MUKHERJEE, INDEPENDENT

Read more less

A profound essay collection from the beloved author of Gilead, Houskeeping and Lila, including Marilynne Robinson's conversation with President Barack Obama. 'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' BARACK OBAMARobinson has plumbed the depths of the human spirit in her trilogy of novels - Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead, Orange-Prize winning Home and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Lila - and in her moving essay collection When I Was a Child I Read Books. Now, in The Givenness of Things, she brings a profound sense of awe and an incisive mind to the essential questions of contemporary life and faith. Through fourteen essays of remarkable depth and insight, Robinson explores the dilemmas of our modern predicament. How has our so-called Christian nation strayed from so many of the teachings of Christ? How could the great minds of the past, like Calvin, Locke and Shakespeare, guide our lives? And what might the world look like if we could see the sacredness in each other? Exquisite and bold, these essays are a necessary call for us to find wisdom and guidance in our cultural treasures, to seek humanity and compassion in each other. The Givenness of Things is a reminder of what a marvel our existence is in its grandeur - and its humility.

Read more less

Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction

Read more less

'[Her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' Barack Obama'Marilynne Robinson is one of the greatest writers of our time' Sunday Times 'Jack is the fourth in Robinson's luminous, profound Gilead series and perhaps the best yet' Observer Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the American National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the final in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction.Jack tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the loved and grieved-over prodigal son of a Presbyterian minister in Gilead, Iowa, a drunkard and a ne'er-do-well. In segregated St. Louis sometime after World War II, Jack falls in love with Della Miles, an African-American high school teacher, also a preacher's child, with a discriminating mind, a generous spirit and an independent will. Their fraught, beautiful story is one of Robinson's greatest achievements.

Read more less

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION and THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDAN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICKIn 1956, towards the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son: 'I told you last night that I might be gone sometime... You reached up and put your fingers on my lips and gave me that look I never in my life saw on any other face besides your mother's. It's a kind of furious pride, very passionate and stern. I'm always a little surprised to find my eyebrows unsinged after I've suffered one of those looks. I will miss them.''A visionary work of dazzling originality' ROBERT MCCRUM, OBSERVER'Writing of this quality, with an authority as unforced as the perfect pitch in music, is rare and carries with it a sense almost of danger' JANE SHILLING, DAILY TELEGRAPH'A beautiful novel: wise, tender and perfectly measured' SARAH WATERS'A masterpiece' SUNDAY TIMES

Read more less