The Karamazov Case: Dostoevsky’s Argument for His Vision (T&T Clark Explorations at the Crossroads of Theology and Aesthetics)

by Terrence W. Tilley

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2023

Overview

This is a new interpretation of Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov that scrutinizes it as a performative event (the “polyphony” of the novel) revealing its religious, philosophical, and social meanings through the interplay of mentalités or worldviews that constitute an aesthetic whole. This way of discerning the novel’s social vision of sobornost' (a unity between harmony and freedom), its vision of hope, and its more subtle sacramental presuppositions, raises Tilley’s interpretation beyond the standard “theology and literature” treatments of the novel and interpretations that treat the novel as providing solutions to philosophical problems.

Tilley develops Bakhtin’s thoughtful analysis of the polyphony of the novel using communication theory and readers/hearer response criticism, and by using Bakhtin’s operatic image of polyphony to show the error of taking “faith vs. reason”, argues that at the end of the novel, the characters learned to carry on, in a quiet shared commitment to memory and hope.

Contents

• Prologue
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Reasoning Faith
• Chapter 2: How to Hear a Polyphonic Novel
• Chapter 3: Six Patterns of Rationality and Irrationality
• Chapter 4: Conversions
• Chapter 5: The Unconverted
• Chapter 6: Returning His Ticket and Refusing Freedom
• Chapter 7: The Social Vision of the Novel: Exegesis
• Chapter 8: Sobornost' in The Brothers Karamazov: Analysis
• Chapter 9: The Karamazov Case: “Hurrah for Karamazov”
• Bibliography
• Index

Product Details

• Title: The Karamazov Case: Dostoevsky's Argument for His Vision
• Author: Terrence W. Tilley
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Literary criticism; Bratʹi͡a Karamazovy (Dostoyevsky, Fyodor); Dostoevskij, Fëdor Michajlovič 1821-1881; Dostoyevsky, Fyodor / 1821-1881 / Bratʹi͡a Karamazovy
• ISBNs: 9780567704375, 9780567704382, 9780567704412, 0567704378, 0567704386, 0567704416
• Resource ID: LLS:KRMZVCSDSTHSVSN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-02-06T22:23:08Z

About Terrence W. Tilley

Terrence W. Tilley is professor and department chair, Department of Theology, Fordham University. Prior to that he was professor and department chair, Department of Religious Studies, University of Dayton, and before that he taught at Florida State University. He is the author of 5 previous books: Story Theology (Liturgical Press, 1985) and the rest published by Orbis Books: The Evils of Theodicies (1991), Postmodern Theologies and the Challenge of Religious Diversity (1995), Inventing the Catholic Tradition (2000), and History, Theology, and Faith: Dissolving the Modern Problematic (2004). Story Theology was named book of the year (1986) by the College Theology Society. Inventing Catholic Tradition took First Place in Theology from the Catholic Press Association. He is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the College Theology Society. His wife, Maureen Tilley, is a patristics scholar who also teaches at Fordham. They have 2 grown daughters.