The new believers : religion and the contemporary novel / Jack Dudley, Mount St Mary's University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dudley, Jack (Professor of English), Author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in twenty-first-century literature and culture.

Cambridge studies in twenty-first-century literature and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Atwood, Margaret, 1939---Criticism and interpretation.

Atwood, Margaret.

Coetzee, J. M., 1940---Criticism and interpretation.

Coetzee, J. M.

Díaz, Junot, 1968---Criticism and interpretation.

Díaz, Junot.

Saunders, George, 1958---Criticism and interpretation.

Saunders, George.

Fiction--Religious aspects.

Fiction.

Religion in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 230 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

The New Believers identifies a group of today's most important novelists, Margaret Atwood, J. M. Coetzee, Junot Díaz, and George Saunders, who have challenged the trend of depressing and defeatist novelistic endings by turning to spiritual beliefs, powers, and presences. Through spiritual belief, these writers use the novel to imagine more hopeful and caring ways of being in the world, ones that can challenge Christian Nationalism and neoliberal capitalism and empower leftist and liberal causes, such as women's rights, migrant rights, animal rights, and care for the environment. Through a survey of the current state of novel studies, close readings of key works by each writer, and new archival research on Margaret Atwood and J. M. Coetzee, The New Believers shows how these writers transform novelistic realism through spiritual realism and reshape the current debate about religion, secularization, and literature.

Contents:

aIntroduction. The new believers

Margaret Atwood and the better story

J. M. Coetzee, curious belief, and the life of contemplation

Junot Díaz, cosmic vision, and radical hope

George Saunders and the Buddhist order of compassion

The spiritual life of the novel: ontology, subjectivity, collectivity, teleology.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Jul 2026).

ISBN:

1-009-77256-2

9781009772532

OCLC:

1609715425