Overview
Argues for the relevance of the soul, even as it becomes more removed from its origin in ancient or Christian theology
Draws on diverse textual and artistic representations of the soul, analyzing the links between text and image
Explores the soul in philosophy, religion and psychology, and in relation to literature, art, history and politics
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Writing the Soul
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Front Matter
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The Aesthetics of the Soul
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Front Matter
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The Ethics and Politics of the Soul
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book analyses the evolution of literary and artistic representations of the soul, exploring its development through different time periods. The volume combines literary, aesthetic, ethical, and political considerations of the soul in texts and works of art from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, spanning cultures and schools of thought. Drawing on philosophical, religious and psychological theories of the soul, it emphasizes the far-reaching and enduring epistemological function of the concept in literature, art and politics. The authors argue that the concept of the soul has shaped the understanding of human life and persistently irrigated cultural productions. They show how the concept of soul was explored and redefined by writers and artists, remaining relevant even as it became removed from its ancient or Christian origins.
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Estelle Murail is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Culture at the Catholic University of Paris and Associate Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Paris, France. She has published several articles on the flâneur and cities, and co-edited Dickens and the Virtual City (Palgrave, 2017). Her current research focuses on urban spaces, the environment, crossings and networks, and the notion of persistence.
Delphine Louis-Dimitrov is a Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Catholic University of Paris, France. Her research mostly focuses on the interplay of individuality with history and politics in fiction and autobiographical writings. Spirituality is central to her reflection on literary representations of individual and collective identities.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Persistence of the Soul in Literature, Art and Politics
Editors: Delphine Louis-Dimitrov, Estelle Murail
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40934-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-40933-2Published: 29 December 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-40936-3Due: 12 January 2025
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-40934-9Published: 28 December 2023
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 281
Topics: Fiction, Poetry and Poetics, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Twentieth-Century Literature, Literature, general, Arts