Author:James Wood
In a series of long essays, James Wood examines the connection between literature and religious belief, in a startlingly wide group of writers. Wood re-appraises the writing of such figures as Thomas More, Jane Austen, Herman Melville, Anton Chekhov, Thomas Mann, Nikolai Gogol, Gustave Flaubert and Virginia Woolf, vigorously reading them against the grain of received opinion, and illuminatingly relating them to questions of religious and phiosophical belief.
Contemporary writers, such as Martin Amis, Thomas Pynchon and George Steiner, are also discussed, with the boldness and attention to language that have made Wood such an influential and controversial figure. Writing here about his own childhood struggle to believe, Wood says that 'the child of evangelism, if he does not believe, inherits nevertheless a suspicion of indifference'. Wood brings that suspicion to bear on literature itself. The result is a unique book of criticism.
Wood is not just a keen critic, our best, but a superb writer
—— Adam Begley , Financial TimesA close reader of genius... Illuminating and exciting and compelling... one never doubts the soundness of his judgements... There is wonderful writing throughout this collection, by turns luscious and muscular, committed and disdaining, passionate and minutely considered
—— John Banville , Irish TimesHe is one of literature's true lovers, and his deeply felt, contentious essays are thrilling in their reach and moral seriousness
—— Susan SontagMagnificent... Like all good critics, he is a story-teller of the art of reading, recreating the experience on the page for us
—— Evening Standard , Francis SpuffordWe have very few critics who can vie with Jarrell and Toynbee, who can remind us that talking about literature is a part of what literature is about, and talking about it with passion, precision, and out of a rich store of reading is a rare and precious gift: it is good for all of us that James Wood has it and we have James Wood
—— Gabriel Josipovici , Times Literary SupplementHe is a true critic: an urgent, impassioned reader of literature, a tireless interpreter, a live and learned intelligence, good writing company
—— Malcolm Bradbury , New StatesmanA book that makes you feel, having closed it, as if your mind has been oxygenated
—— Natasha Walter , IndependentHe speaks in a manner dedicated to establishing no less than the truth
—— New York TimesAn enormously intellectually challenging book. A fascinating way of approaching the subject
—— Rabbi Julia NeubergerThoroughly engaging and excellently written . . . While [Aslan] might claim to be a mere scholar of the Islamic Reformation, he is also one of its most articulate advocates
—— The OregonianA revelation, an opening up of knowledge too long buried, denied and corrupted by generations of men ... Muslim keepers of the latter will rage against Reza Aslan as his careful scholarship and precise language dismantles their false claims and commands ... Aslan is acutely perceptive
—— The IndependentA rather beautiful account of the birth and evolution of Islam ... Lucid and illuminating ... Fascinating
—— MetroAslan is an engaging writer, his strength lies ... as an observer of contemporary challenges facing Islam ... Sensitive and generous
—— FT MagazineEnthralling. A book of tremendous clarity and generosity of spirit
—— Jim Crace
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