Western Modernist Literature and the Bible

Author: Sun Caixia
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The Bible is a fundamental text in Western literature and continues to exert influence in modernist literature. However, Christianity in the 20th century has shifted from a religious orientation to a cultural one, moving from mere faith to guiding people to focus on the essence of life. As a result, the influence of the Bible in Western modernist literature has become more subtle and implicit compared to earlier literature. Many modernist writers reflect, in a roundabout way, the fear of existence and self-doubt of modern people by borrowing biblical archetypes and reconstructing Christian doctrines. The root cause of such experiences is the marginalization of religious spirit in the modern world. It can be said that the borrowing of the Bible in modernist literature has moved beyond simple retellings of biblical stories and illustrative of Christian doctrines, reaching a deeper level with more modern and cultural significance. This book selects 21 works by 7 writers such as Kafka, Eliot, and Yeats, which have a genuine spiritual connection to the Bible, for theological interpretation. It analyzes the biblical cosmology, humanism, eschatology, and other theological ideas contained within, as well as Christian doctrines like original sin, salvation, the search for the father, and resurrection, and biblical archetypes such as the Antichrist, the prophet, and Moses. This allows for an exploration of the spiritual essence of modernist literature. This book is a monograph on this topic in China and has original significance in many aspects.