Breaking the Fall

Modern literary criticism has virtually neglected to interpret contemporary narrative fiction, poetry, and drama from a distinctly religious perspective. In this book, Robert Detweiler, the premier scholar of theology-based literary criticism, redresses this lack by presenting a clear and comprehensive study of religious themes in contemporary fiction. He applies the latest critical treatments to the study of religious themes in various works, including works by Margaret Atwood, Jorge Luis Borges, Annie Dillard, Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera, Walker Percy, and John Updike. In so doing, Detweiler keenly demonstrates that there are many ways to conduct a religious reading of a text.

Robert Detweiler is Professor of Comparative Literature at Emory University.