A Literary Shema: Annie Dillard’s Judeo-Christian Vision and Voice
Ebook
Overview
For the duration of her writing career, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard has unflinchingly asked and kept on asking enormous and difficult questions: What is the relation of Creator to creation? Why is there evil and unjust suffering? How do we make meaning of our experiences? Who is responsible for redeeming the world’s brokenness? Moreover, she has done so in every genre within the impressive range of her canon: her poetry, literary nonfiction, novels, autobiography, literary criticism, and memoirs. Two enduring influences have shaped Dillard’s cosmos-spanning questions and their metanarratives--Christianity and Jewish mysticism, particularly Hasidism and Isaac Luria’s Kabbalism. Though much scholarly attention has been paid to the influence of Christian mysticism in Dillard’s work, none has yet explored the role of her lifelong interest in Jewish mystical traditions. This book seeks to fill that scholarly gap and demonstrate how Dillard’s theological vision and voice both reflect and enact central features of Hasidic and Kabbalistic thought, resulting in what could be called Dillard’s literary shema.
“Lori Kanitz has written a deeply learned and sensitive account
of Dillard’s immersion in Hasidic and Kabbalistic mysticism which
brings theology, both mystical and sacramental, into the very heart
of her texts. The themes of creation, evil, and redemption are
explored through Dillard’s Judeo-Christian sensitivities and reveal
her profound and humane scholarship within both the Jewish and
Christian traditions. Kanitz’s book itself is theologically and
ethically challenging, a beautifully written essay on a major
writer.”
—David Jasper, FRSA, FRSE, University of Glasgow and Renmin
University of China
“Some of Annie Dillard’s best-known works have challenged
conventional accounts of the divine’s relation to the world by
setting vivid descriptions of its horrors alongside lyrical
descriptions of its beauty. Inevitably, readers are puzzled at how
this might fit with Dillard’s acknowledged sympathy for religious
belief. In this brilliant, insightful study Lori Kanitz identifies
the mystical Judaism of Kabbalah and Hasidism as the deepest
influence on her. The result is not only a penetrating analysis of
where Dillard stands (her shema or credo) but also a
profound exploration of how encounters with negations of the good
might best be understood.”
—David Brown, FBA, FRSE, University of St Andrews
“In this outstanding book Dr. Kanitz negotiates her way via
‘mystical’ Judaism into ‘the abyss of life’s mysteries’
interrogated by Annie Dillard’s unsparing and unsentimental
intelligence. Moreover, she shows us Annie Dillard as theologian of
divine ‘sacramental’ presence, in a creation of a ‘holy insecurity’
piercing God’s own being.”
—Ann Loades, CBE, University of Durham
Product Details
- Title : A Literary Shema: Annie Dillard’s Judeo-Christian Vision and Voice
- Author: Kanitz, Lori A.
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Publication Date: 2020
- ISBN: 9781532642050
Lori A. Kanitz is the Assistant Director of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University where she also teaches in the Honors College.