Denis Donoghue is Henry James Professor of English and American Letters and University Professor at New York University. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Words Alone: The Poet T. S. Eliot (2000), The Practice of Reading (1998), and Walter Pater: Lover of Strange Souls (1995).
“Donoghue delivered these eight pieces as lectures in March and
April 2000 and doesn’t claim they are comprehensive or ‘even
consecutive’ on their subject. Instead of a systematic
philosophical treatise, they are a series loosely woven around a
title borrowed from Yeats and directed by a ‘governing prejudice’
attributed to Coleridge—that ‘a fall of some sort or other ... is
the fundamental postulate of the moral history of man.’ Donoghue
sees himself going against the grain, reflecting on those two
vagabonds, religion and literature, in the none-too-easy works of
Emmanuel Levinas, Wallace Stevens, Robert Bellah, Alasdair
McIntyre, Czeslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, and Charles Baudelaire.
His is an appropriate stance for a critic, though in the end its
tone is as defensive as it is critical. He richly explores an
impressive range of writings as he defends the transcendence of
analogy as opposed to the immanence of metaphor. Agreeing with him
isn’t necessary to benefit from traveling with him through the
literary landscape he surveys.” —Booklist, March 2001
"...this book by such a learned author who ranges magisterially
over the whole panorama of Western philosophy, theology and
literature, will provide ample food for thought. This... is no
small achievement." —Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und
Amerikanistik
“Topics include the poet John Crowe Ransom’s God of Thunder, a
critique of Western churches for abandoning the God of the Old
Testament in favor of Jesus.” —The Chronicle of Higher
Education
“[C]hapters are provocative, citing a wide range of ethicists,
poets, novelists, critics....” —Choice
“Adam’s Curse is Donoghue’s defence of an institutional theistic
imagination in an age of callow unbelief. . . . Eliot is the
devilish God that contemporary poets find the hardest to forgive.
Donoghue has written the apologia he needs. He deserves our
gratitude for it.” —London Review of Books
“Adam’s Curse: Reflections on Religion and Literature by Denis
Donoghue is as eloquent and learned as anyone would expect who has
ever heard Professor Donoghue lecture. If you read each sentence in
this dense but sparkling book attentively, you will be charmed and
stimulated....” —Times Literary Supplement
“This book will challenge the most sophisticated reader...but the
rewards are likely to be many. Denis Donoghue’s learning is broad
and deep, and walking this journey in his company can only enrich
us.” —Christianity and Literature
“With a contemporary Catholic sensibility, Prof. Donoghue reflects
on writers who confront religion and who to different degrees
resist their secular Zeitgeist. [H]is criticisms are important and
fair.” —Virginia Quarterly Review
“[S]cholars will appreciate the strenuous lucidity of Donoghue’s
mind and prose and the power of the poetry he cites and studies.”
—Religious Studies Review
“From its homeland in literature, this is a work of considerable
theological insight and importance, carrying discussions forward
where the professionals are frequently too myopic and wrapped up in
their own debates to be able to disentangle the wood from the
trees. This is a deeply religious book and one which theologians
will find hard going and perhaps even frustrating. This is all the
more reason why they should read it, and drink again from the well
springs of the imagination from whence their task emerges.
Donoghue’s work is a sturdy and intelligent reminder that we must
remain open to varieties of discourse if we are to remain serious
participants in the most profound questions which underlie our
culture and condition.” —Modern Theology
“The book generously stimulates debate. Lucid prose, restrained
animus, and well-tempered argumentation support its insightful
analysis. Even critics of its conclusions will agree that Adam’s
Curse is a blessing.” —Theological Studies
“Those familiar with the vast corpus of literature cited will find
the book a marvelous treat, a veritable symphony of argument.”
—Magill’s Literary Annual
“...as authentic a work of religion and literature as the field can
offer.” —The Journal of Religion
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