Tomko, Michael, 1975-

Beyond the willing suspension of disbelief : poetic faith from Coleridge to Tolkien / Michael Tomko. - 1 online resource. - New directions in religion and literature . - New directions in religion and literature. .

Includes bibliographical references and index.

""Cover""; ""Half Title""; ""Series""; ""Tilte""; ""Copyright""; ""Dedication""; ""Contents""; ""Figures""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Abbreviations""; ""Introduction: Dreams for realities""; ""CHAPTER ONE The willing suspension of disbelief""; ""Into the desert: The critical vantage and the Wizard of Ozymandias""; ""�a��Ironic credulity�a�� and the willing suspension of disbelief""; ""The limits of the willing suspension of disbelief""; ""Beyond not disbelieving""; ""CHAPTER TWO Poetic faith""; ""�a��As a stranger give it welcome�a��: Beyond faith in Shakespeare"" ""Desynonymizing �a��faith�a�� and �a��belief�a��: Life, higher reason, and beholding truth""""�a��There are more things, Horatio�a��: Coleridge�a�™s model of reading""; ""CHAPTER THREE The willing resumption of disbelief""; ""�a��Experimentative faith�a���a�"Danger, doubting, and Bertram""; ""Bad faith and the Dark Knight: Resuming disbelief in Bertram""; ""Rhetoric, power, and poetic faith""; ""Conclusion: Potent art ""; ""WORKS CITED""; ""Index""

"Samuel Taylor Coleridge's conception of "the willing suspension of disbelief" marks a pivotal moment in the history of literary theory. Returning to Coleridge's thought and Shakespeare criticism to reconstruct this idea as a form of "poetic faith", Michael Tomko here lays the foundations of a new theologically oriented mode of literary criticism. Bringing Coleridge into dialogue with thinkers ranging from Augustine to Josef Pieper, contemporary critics such as Stephen Greenblatt and Terry Eagleton as well as writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and Wendell Berry, Beyond the Willing Suspension of Disbelief offers a method of reading for post-secular literary criticism that is not only historically and politically aware but also deeply engaged with aesthetic form."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

9781780938363 1780938365 9781780937304 178093730X 9781474218627 1474218628 9781780935928 1780935927

841949 MIL


Theology in literature--History and criticism.
Aesthetics in literature.
Realism in literature.
LITERARY CRITICISM / European / General
Aesthetics in literature.
Realism in literature.
Theology in literature.


Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Electronic books.

PN1077

809.19382