Beyond the Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Poetic Faith from Coleridge to Tolkien

Description

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's conception of "the willing suspension of disbelief" marks a pivotal moment in the history of literary theory. Returning to Coleridge's thought and Shakespeare criticism to reconstruct this idea as a form of "poetic faith", Michael Tomko here lays the foundations of a new theologically oriented mode of literary criticism. Bringing Coleridge into dialogue with thinkers ranging from Augustine to Josef Pieper, contemporary critics such as Stephen Greenblatt and Terry Eagleton as well as writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and Wendell Berry, Beyond the Willing Suspension of Disbelief offers a method of reading for post-secular literary criticism that is not only historically and politically aware but also deeply engaged with aesthetic form.

Michael Tomko is Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities at Villanova University, USA and book review editor for Religion & Literature. He is the author of British Romanticism and the Catholic Question: Religion, History and National Identity, 1778-1829 (2011) and co-editor of Firmly I Believe and Truly: The Spiritual Tradition of Catholic England, 1483-1999 (2011).

Tomko ... has chosen a very strong topic: the tension between aesthetic cum ethical appeal and ideological imperiousness. His tendency to use a dialectic of opposing positions, examine the shortcomings of either extreme, and explore intermediate positions makes a good match for Coleridge's own heuristic inclinations. The scope of the book is broad, encompassing numerous theoretical/critical texts (Eagleton, McGann, Tolkien, to name only a few) and primary texts (e.g., Shelley's "Ozymandias," Shakespeare's Hamlet and Tempest, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings). There is no doubting the drive to discover in this author. Given these strengths, the book sets the bar very high on a topic of pressing interest for many readers. * The Coleridge Bulletin * Elegantly written, theologically informed, this is top-level critical theory. * Catholic Herald * Michael Tomko's focussed, lucid, and eloquent study reconsiders Coleridge's seminal formulation in Biographia Literaria: "that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith." ... Tomko makes an excellent case for the centrality of religious faith to Coleridge's thinking and writing. * European Romantic Review * Tomko offers us an extended meditation on Coleridge's idea of 'the willing suspension of disbelief' in its subsequent use, abuse and history as a critical term ... He writes with great insight ... [A] slim, stimulating and erudite book. * Theology *