The Incarnation of Language: Joyce, Proust and a Philosophy of the Flesh

Description

The Incarnation of Language investigates how the notion of incarnation has been employed in phenomenology and how this has influenced literary criticism. It then examines the interest that Joyce and Proust share in the concept of incarnation. By examining the themes of synthesis and embodiment that incarnation connotes for these writers, it offers a new reading of their work departing from critical readings that have privileged notions of radical alterity and difference.

Michael O'Sullivan is Associate Professor in English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is author of Michel Henry: Incarnation, Barbarism and Belief (2006).

'Showing how literary theory and criticism needs to be reconnected to its theological analogues, O'Sullivan's original and well-argued book should be essential reading for anyone concerned with embodiment, reading and desire in modern culture.' Roy Sellars, University of Southern Denmark "The books, articles and essays of Joyce and Proust continue to hold a special interest for new generations of students of literature, philosophy, and theology. The Incarnation of Language: Joyce, Proust and a Philosophy of the Flesh by Michael O'Sullivan (Assistant Professor in English at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Japan) is an elegant and scholarly study of the concept of incarnation as these towering figures of western literature employed it within their writings. Considering how notions of the phenomena of incarnation are found embedded in their themes provides modern readers with fresh, fascinating, and informative insights into nuances of these two men's works hitherto overlooked. A work of meticulous and seminal scholarship of the highest order, The Incarnation of Language must be considered as a critically essential contribution for academic library reference collections and an important addition to the supplemental reading lists for students of the works of both Joyce and Proust." - Midwest Book Review, November 2008 "...stimulating reading for those with an interest in phenomenological-theological approaches to literature. Proustians and Joyceans looking for alternative approaches to their corpus will also find substantial food for thought." - French Studies, January 2009 "The implications of the ideas propounded in this book will no doubt trigger further investigations, but in themselves they provide a very welcome philosophical reading of Proust, Joyce, and Modernism." Modern Language Review, 104.4, 2009 Briefly reviewed in the Year's work in English Studies journal, vol 89, No. 1 'His argument is novel and engaged with both the Joycean and the Proustian corpus' O'Sullivan in effect combines two valuable studies... [his] book is a powerful, finely nuanced statement asserting the ultimately sacramental character of both writers' artistic projects. -- Comparative Literature Studies Volume 48, Number 1