Rhetorics of Religion in American Fiction

Faith, Fundamentalism, and Fanaticism in the Age of Terror

Liliana M. Naydan

Rhetorics of Religion in American Fiction considers the way in which contemporary
American authors address the subject of belief in the post-9/11 Age of Terror. Naydan
suggests that after 9/11, fiction by Mohsin Hamid, Laila Halaby, Philip Roth, Don
DeLillo, John Updike, and Barbara Kingsolver dramatizes and works to resolve impasses
that exist between believers of different kinds at the extremes. These impasses emerge
out of the religious paradox that shapes America as simultaneously theocratic and
secular, and they exist, for instance, between liberals and fundamentalists, between
liberals and certain evangelicals, between fundamentalists and artists, and between
fundamentalists of different varieties. Ultimately, Naydan argues that these authors
function as literary theologians of sorts and forge a relevant space beyond or between
extremes. They fashion faith or lack thereof as hybridized and hence as a negotiation
among secularism, atheism, faith, fundamentalism, and fanaticism. In so doing, they
invite their readers into contemplations of religious difference and new ways of
memorializing 9/11.

University Press Copublishing Division / Bucknell University Press

Pages: 268 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-61148-743-5 • Hardback • May 2016 • $109.00 • (£84.00)

978-1-61148-745-9 • Paperback • October 2017 • $52.99 • (£41.00)

978-1-61148-744-2 • eBook • May 2016 • $47.50 • (£37.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / American / General, Literary Criticism / Comparative Literature, Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Religion

Rhetorics of Religion in American Fiction

Faith, Fundamentalism, and Fanaticism in the Age of Terror

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Rhetorics of Religion in American Fiction considers the way in which contemporary
American authors address the subject of belief in the post-9/11 Age of Terror. Naydan
suggests that after 9/11, fiction by Mohsin Hamid, Laila Halaby, Philip Roth, Don
DeLillo, John Updike, and Barbara Kingsolver dramatizes and works to resolve impasses
that exist between believers of different kinds at the extremes. These impasses emerge
out of the religious paradox that shapes America as simultaneously theocratic and
secular, and they exist, for instance, between liberals and fundamentalists, between
liberals and certain evangelicals, between fundamentalists and artists, and between
fundamentalists of different varieties. Ultimately, Naydan argues that these authors
function as literary theologians of sorts and forge a relevant space beyond or between
extremes. They fashion faith or lack thereof as hybridized and hence as a negotiation
among secularism, atheism, faith, fundamentalism, and fanaticism. In so doing, they
invite their readers into contemplations of religious difference and new ways of
memorializing 9/11.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Bucknell University Press

Pages: 268 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-61148-743-5 • Hardback • May 2016 • $109.00 • (£84.00)

978-1-61148-745-9 • Paperback • October 2017 • $52.99 • (£41.00)

978-1-61148-744-2 • eBook • May 2016 • $47.50 • (£37.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / American / General, Literary Criticism / Comparative Literature, Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Religion

Author

Liliana M. Naydan is assistant professor of English at Penn State Abington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Paradox of Religion in America and American Literature
Chapter 1:Uncertain Faith for Islamic Others after 9/11: Capitalist and Religious Fundamentalisms in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land
Chapter 2:Beyond Religious, Atheistic, and Capitalist Fundamentalisms for Post-9/11 Jewish Others: The Rhetoric of Art in Philip Roth’s Everyman and Exit Ghost
Chapter 3:Toward a Post-9/11 Rhetoric of Catholic Mystery: Terror and Fundamentalism in Don DeLillo’s “Baader-Meinhof” and Point Omega
Chapter 4:Emergent Varieties of Religious Experience from a Protestant Perspective: Fundamentalist, Fanatical, and Hybrid Faith in John Updike’s “Varieties of Religious Experience” andTerrorist
Chapter 5:Between Protestantism and Pantheism: Post-9/11 Rhetorics of Nature, Science, and Religion in Barbara Kingsolver’s Small Wonder and Flight Behavior
Conclusion: Memorializing 9/11 through Interfaith Dialogue with and about American Fiction about Religion
Bibliography
Index
About the Author