Confronting Evil
Confronting Evil: The Psychology of Secularization in Modern French Literature holds that the concept of evil is central to the psychology of secularism. Drawing on notions of secularization as a phenomenon of ambivalence or dualism in which religion continues to exist alongside secularity in exerti...
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| Natura: | Online |
| Lingua: | inglese |
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Purdue University Press
2024
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| Accesso online: | ONIX_20241108_9781612494524_18 |
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| _version_ | 1869514827987156992 |
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| author | Powers, Scott M. |
| author_browse | Powers, Scott M. |
| author_facet | Powers, Scott M. |
| author_sort | Powers, Scott M. |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Confronting Evil: The Psychology of Secularization in Modern French Literature holds that the concept of evil is central to the psychology of secularism. Drawing on notions of secularization as a phenomenon of ambivalence or dualism in which religion continues to exist alongside secularity in exerting influence on modern French thought, author Scott M. Powers enlists psychoanalytic theory on mourning and sublimation, the philosophical concept of the sublime, Charles Taylor's theory of religious and secular "cross-pressures," and William James's psychology of conversion to account for the survival of religious themes in Baudelaire, Zola, Huysmans, and Céline. For Powers, Baudelaire's prose poems, Zola's experimental novels, and Huysmans's and Céline's early narratives attempt to account for evil by redefining the traditionally religious concept along secular lines. However, when unmitigated by the mechanisms of irony and sublimation, secular confrontation with the dark and seemingly absurd dimension of man leads modern writers such as Huysmans and Céline, paradoxically, to embrace a religious or quasi-religious understanding of good and evil. In the end, Powers finds that how authors cope with the reality of suffering and human wickedness has a direct bearing on the ability to sustain a secular vision. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-147727 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Purdue University Press |
| publisherStr | Purdue University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1477272024-11-09T04:12:14Z Confronting Evil Powers, Scott M. Literature: history and criticism Literary theory thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory Confronting Evil: The Psychology of Secularization in Modern French Literature holds that the concept of evil is central to the psychology of secularism. Drawing on notions of secularization as a phenomenon of ambivalence or dualism in which religion continues to exist alongside secularity in exerting influence on modern French thought, author Scott M. Powers enlists psychoanalytic theory on mourning and sublimation, the philosophical concept of the sublime, Charles Taylor's theory of religious and secular "cross-pressures," and William James's psychology of conversion to account for the survival of religious themes in Baudelaire, Zola, Huysmans, and Céline. For Powers, Baudelaire's prose poems, Zola's experimental novels, and Huysmans's and Céline's early narratives attempt to account for evil by redefining the traditionally religious concept along secular lines. However, when unmitigated by the mechanisms of irony and sublimation, secular confrontation with the dark and seemingly absurd dimension of man leads modern writers such as Huysmans and Céline, paradoxically, to embrace a religious or quasi-religious understanding of good and evil. In the end, Powers finds that how authors cope with the reality of suffering and human wickedness has a direct bearing on the ability to sustain a secular vision. 2024-11-09T04:12:13Z 2024-11-09T04:12:13Z 2024-11-08T13:23:16Z 2016 book ONIX_20241108_9781612494524_18 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94452 9781612494524 9781557537416 9781612494531 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/147727 eng Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/94452/1/9781612494524.pdf Purdue University Press Purdue University Press ab0dc43b-863c-4471-84ed-f90e748ed075 9781612494524 9781557537416 9781612494531 Purdue University Press 274 West Lafayette open access |
| spellingShingle | Literature: history and criticism Literary theory thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory Powers, Scott M. Confronting Evil |
| title | Confronting Evil |
| title_full | Confronting Evil |
| title_fullStr | Confronting Evil |
| title_full_unstemmed | Confronting Evil |
| title_short | Confronting Evil |
| title_sort | confronting evil |
| topic | Literature: history and criticism Literary theory thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory |
| topic_facet | Literature: history and criticism Literary theory thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory |
| url | ONIX_20241108_9781612494524_18 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT powersscottm confrontingevil |