Circuitous Journeys: Modern Spiritual Autobiography (Studies in Religion and Literature, 2)

Circuitous Journeys: Modern Spiritual Autobiography provides a close reading and analysis of ten major life stories by twentieth-century leaders and thinkers from a variety of religious and cultural traditions: Mohandas Gandhi, Black Elk, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, C. S. Lewis, Malcolm X, Paul Cowan, Rigoberta Menchu, Dan Wakefield, and Nelson Mandela. The book uses approaches from literary criticism, developmental psychology (influenced by Erik Erikson, James Fowler, and Carol Gilligan), and spirituality (influenced by John S. Donne, Emile Griffin, Walter Conn, and Bernard Lonergan). Each text is read in the light of the autobiographical tradition begun by St. Augustine's Confessions, but with a focus on distinctively modern and post-modern transformations of the self-writing genre. The twentieth-century context of religious alienation, social autonomy, identity crises and politics, and the search for social justice is examined in each text. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Preface 10 Introduction 18 1. Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain 49 2. Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness 74 3. The Psychology of Conversion in G. K. Chesteron and C. S. Lewis 98 4. The Dual Plot of Gandhi’s An Autobiography 119 5. Malcolm X and the Black Muslim Search for the Ultimate 154 6. Black Elk Speaks: A Century Later 179 7. The Remaking of an American Jew: Paul Cowan’s An Orphan in History 195 8. I, Rigoberta Menchú : The Plotting of Liberation 214 9. Dan Wakefield’s Returning 232 10. Retraveling the Century: Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom 247 Conclusion 270 Index 274 A 274 B 274 C 274 D 274 E 275 F 275 G 275 H 275 I 275 J 275 K 275 L 275 M 275 N 275 O 275 P 276 R 276 S 276 V 276 W 276 "Circuitous Journeys: Modern Spiritual Autobiography provides a close reading and analysis of ten major life stories by twentieth-century leaders, thinkers, and activists from a variety of religious and cultural traditions." "Each text is read in the light of the autobiographical tradition begun by St. Augustine's Confessions, but with an emphasis on distinctively modern and post modern transformations of the self-writing genre."--BOOK JACKET. Close reading and analysis of ten major life stories, from Mohandas Gandhi and Black Elk to Dorothy Day, Malcolm X, and Rigoberta Menchu.