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Literature and Learning in Marilynne Robinson's Novel Gilead

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Literature and Learning in Marilynne Robinson's Novel Gilead Prague Journal of English Studies ARNAB CHATTERJEE Volume 6, No. 1, 2017 ISSN: 1804-8722 (print) '2, ISSN: 2336-2685 (online) https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/handle/11222.digilib/116033. 10.1515/pjes-2017-0004 Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2001. Print. Singh, Mrigendra Narayan. “Golding’s Pincher Martin.” International Journal Literature and Learning in Marilynne on Studies in English Language and Literature. 4.11 (2016): 22-26. 2016. Web. Robinson’s Novel Gilead 15 Mar 2017. https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijsell/v4-i11/6.pdf Mária Hricková Spitz, David. “Power and Authority: An Interpretation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.” e Antioch Review. 30.1 (1970): 21-33. n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2017. http://images.schoolinsites.com/SiSFiles/Schools/ Literature and learning play an important role in Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Surette, Leon. “A Matter of Belief: Pincher Martin’s A erlife.” Twentieth Century Prize-winning novel Gilead (2004). By focusing on the author’s many references to Literature. 40.2 (1995): 1-25. n.d. Web. 20 Jan 2017. books, literature and learning, the present paper attempts to study their individual https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269937726_DOI: 10.2307/ contextual occurrences and explores how they saturate the discursive substratum of 441803. the novel’s major themes. e paper claims that a special role attributed to books and e Book of Eli. Dir. e Hughes Bros. Perf. Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, learning, and particularly to the Greek New Testament, e Trail of the Lonesome Mila Kunis, et al. Alcon Entertainment-Silver Pictures, 2010. Film. Pine and e Essence of Christianity, sheds signifi cant light on the philosophical Woodward, Kathleen. “On Aggression: William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.” and spiritual aspects of the meaning of life, one of the novel’s central concerns. Eds. Eric S. Rabkin, Martin Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University P, 1983. 199-224. Print. Keywords Literature; learning; narrative; meaning of life; wisdom ARNAB CHATTERJEE is presently Senior Research Fellow, University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi in the Department of English & “How many a man has dated a new era in his life Culture Studies, the University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India. He has just from the reading of a book.” submitted his doctoral thesis on the analysis of a racially-oriented dystopian Henry David oreau, Walden discourse in select works of the acclaimed African-American writer Imamu Amiri Baraka. He is the honorary assistant editor of the English quarterly Poetry Today and the assistant secretary of Poets Foundation, Kolkata, 1. Introduction recognized by FOIPA, UNESCO. His name has been included in the Who’s Who of Indian Writers Writing in English, a national register compiled by the Marilynne Robinson’s trilogy Gilead (2004), Home (2008) and Lila (2014) Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, the national academy of letters and literature. has become, without doubt, one of the most popular and infl uential works His research interests include, inter alia., utopian and dystopian narratives, published in the United States in the new millennium. e fi rst volume won translation, creative writing, ELT and Second Language Acquisition. His book the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Language Across the Curriculum: A Source Book for Student-Teachers brought out Home received the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction and became a fi nalist for by Ruma Publications, Kolkata, has been appreciated by the academia in the the 2008 National Book Award in Fiction, while Lila, the third instalment, B.Ed course in India, particularly in the state of West Bengal. He has also won the National Book Critics Circle Award. e list of awards evidences presented numerous research papers at national seminars and conferences. the far-reaching and culturally signifi cant appeal of Robinson’s trilogy which [email protected] can be rightly considered as one of the key works of contemporary American 56 57 MÁRIA HRICKOVÁ LITERATURE AND LEARNING IN ROBINSON’S GILEAD literature, the focus of which is on the themes of faith and spirituality. Gilead his story is characterized by stark honesty. D. W. Schmidt thinks that, “[i]n has been praised by professional critics and literary scholars (see Anderson the context of American literary history, Ames’s expression of his father-love 2005; Domestico 2014; Evans 2014)1 and lay readers, including a former may be the most eloquent and sincere statement we have from an American American President, Barack Obama (see Kakutani 2009).2 According to fi ctional father” (123). Ames’s philosophy of life lacks the hopelessness one Amy Hungerford, “What Robinson’s novels imagine […] is both discourse might expect of a man who is facing death. Ames loves God, loves the world, and practice: thematically and narratively, they give us the mental discourse his family and friends, all beautiful workings of the universe and for him of religious persons while also spinning stories that situate those persons existence is the miracle, it “is the essential thing and the holy thing” (Robinson within religious life” (114). Anthony Domestico also puts an emphasis on the 189). According to Laura E. Tanner, “[a] stunning meditation on the power religious appeal of the text: “Gilead makes a fundamentally good man seem and limits of consciousness in the face of mortality, Gilead explores the lived interesting, and part of what makes Ames so interesting is his willingness to experience of history, religious faith, and human connection through the talk intelligently about matters of faith – in particular, his willingness to talk perspective of a singular character inhabiting the tenuous boundary between about the sacraments” (15). life and death” (805). e Reverend John Ames in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead is an elderly While Gilead addresses many philosophical questions worthy of detailed Congregational pastor who lives in a small town, Gilead, Iowa. Ames’s life scrutiny, the present paper focuses on Robinson’s use of literature and learning, has not been easy. A er he unexpectedly lost his wife Louisa and a new-born which, I argue, sheds signifi cant light on the philosophical and spiritual daughter, Ames spent long years in solitude, fi nding solace in God, carrying aspects of the meaning of life, one of the novel’s central concerns. By studying out his pastoral duties in Gilead’s small community, and learning. He is well the author’s many references to books, literature and learning, the paper shows into his sixties when he meets Lila, the love of his life, his wife and mother how these saturate the discursive substratum of the novel’s themes and help to his only son. to solve the existential riddle of the essence of the life worth living. At the beginning of the novel we learn that Ames has been diagnosed e paper is divided into two main parts. e fi rst one discusses the values with angina pectoris and knows that he is dying. He, therefore, decides to of literature and learning and proves their fundamental signifi cance in the write a letter to his seven-year-old child, the text which “becomes a prayer of novel. e second part studies three books mentioned in Gilead and their self-scrutiny, a time capsule of fatherly wisdom, a plainspoken treatise on the functions in the narrative. ese are the Greek Testament, e Trail of the diffi culty of virtue within the most sincere moral consciousness” (Painter 325). Lonesome Pine and e Essence of Christianity. e central argument of the paper It is interesting to observe how Ames’s narrative subtly changes and develops. is that these books serve as essential clues in the quest for the meaning of life e fi rst pages refl ect his past more than his present, then he gradually intuits as suggested by Ames’s spiritual outlook on human existence. that what he really needs to pass down is his authentic picture, with weaknesses, shortcomings and failures. It is diffi cult to estimate at which point his “begats” (Robinson 9) turn into a “diary” (Robinson 185). Ames’s deliberate ambition 2. Books and Learning in Gilead to write down everything he considers important changes in a subtle and very important way. He begins with a strong entry-point, focusing on the critical According to Matthew Reisz, “[b]ooks have o en cut through religious retrospect of the past, yet, as the story progresses, Ames shi s much of his dogmas, sexual attitudes or received political wisdom and enabled people attention to the present. I believe that this shi , however, does not prove to remake their lives by embracing other behaviours and beliefs. ere are Ames to be selective and evasive as he slowly moves away from his original cases of a single book curing depression, inspiring a lifetime’s work – or even intention. On the contrary, his detailed record of the present is the evidence causing reader to fall in love with writer” (129). A detailed look at literature of his sincerity and humility. and learning in Gilead proves Reisz’s view. Ames’s voice is convincing and humble, it is “a defense of subjectivity” Ames’s love of books and learning permeates the novel. ere are (Evans 143). He is a pious and disciplined person of immense integrity and miscellaneous works such as a health care book owned by his mother, “large 58 59 MÁRIA HRICKOVÁ LITERATURE AND LEARNING IN ROBINSON’S GILEAD literature, the focus of which is on the themes of faith and spirituality. Gilead his story is characterized by stark honesty. D. W. Schmidt thinks that, “[i]n has been praised by professional critics and literary scholars (see Anderson the context of American literary history, Ames’s expression of his father-love 2005; Domestico 2014; Evans 2014)1 and lay readers, including a former may be the most eloquent and sincere statement we have from an American American President, Barack Obama (see Kakutani 2009).2 According to fi ctional father” (123).
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