Entangled voices : genre and the religious construction of the self / Frederick J. Ruf.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruf, Frederick J., 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Donne, John, 1572-1631. Holy sonnets.

Donne, John.

Wilson, Robert, 1941-1925. Einstein on the beach.

Wilson, Robert.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834. Biographia literaria.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.

Levi, Primo. Sistema periodico.

Levi, Primo.

Religious literature, English--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Religious literature, English.

Self in literature.

Literary form.

Physical Description:

x, 125 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Summary:

In this book, Ruf tries to understand how the concepts of "voice" and "genre" function in texts, especially religious texts. To this end, he joins literary theorists in the discussion about "narrative." Ruf rejects the idea of genre as a fixed historical form that serves as a template for readers and writers; instead, he suggests that we imagine different genres, whether narrative, lyric, or dramatic, as the expression of different voices. Each voice, he asserts, possesses different key qualities: embodiment, sociality, contextuality, and opacity in the dramatic voice; intimacy, limitation, urgency in lyric; and a "magisterial" quality of comprehensiveness and cohesiveness in narrative. These voices are models for our selves, composing an unruly and unstable multiplicity of selves. Ruf applies his theory of "voice" and "genre" to five texts: Dineson's Out of Africa, Donne's Holy Sonnets, Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, and Coleridge's Biographia Literaria. Through these literary works, he discerns the detailed ways in which a text constructs a voice and, in the process, a self. More importantly, Ruf demonstrates that this process is a religious one, fulfilling the function that religions traditionally assume: that of defining the self and its world.

Contents:

Introduction: hearing voices

ch. 1. The voices of narrative, lyric, and drama: The three characteristics of narrative

Lyric

Drama

ch. 2. "Jogona's great treasure": narrative, lyric, and dramatic intelligibility: Intelligibility: Comprehensiveness and cohesion

Conclusions

ch. 3. "Intoxicated with intimacy": the lyric voice in John Donne's Holy sonnets: Unruly autobiography

Donne's Holy sonnets

Donne's lyric self

The lyric voice

ch. 4. "The circle of chalk": narrative voice in Primo Levi's The periodic table: The periodic table

The aspiration to narrative

Narrative instability

"The rich and messy domain"

ch. 5. "Survival and distance": the dramatic voice in Robert Wilson's Einstein on the beach: Einstein on the beach

Dramatic voice in Einstein

The dramatic voice and religion

The dramatic self

ch.. 6. "Harmonized chaos": the mixed voice of Coleridge's Biographia literaria: The biographia literaria

The form of the Biographia

Dissociation, fragmentation, and incoherence

Harmony and unity

Ramifications: the "mixed" self

ch. 7. Conclusion: genre and instability.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-120) and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780195356199

0195356195

0-19-985345-2

1-4294-1560-6

1-280-52859-1

0-19-535619-5

OCLC:

935260039