Author: Holly Hillgardner File Type: pdf Mirabai, a sixteenth-century Indian princess, wrote passionate love songs to Lord Krishna. Hadewijch, a thirteenth-century European Beguine, wrote of her yearning to become Love itself, to be God with God. Each woman practiced a full-bodied, sensuously-imaged longing for love at the same time, each also practiced certain ascetic disciplines. Spanning centuries, continents, and religious traditions, this book juxtaposes Hadewijchs and Mirabais inextricable energies of longing and letting go as resources for a comparative theology of passionate non-attachment. Within both Hinduism and Christianity, desire and renunciation are often presented as opposites yet, both Mirabai and Hadewijch, in their own distinct ways, illuminate the integral, tensile relationship between these concepts. Rather than choosing one or the other, each womans dual practices of longing and letting go not only take her on an inward spiritual journey but also deeply involve her in the beauty and suffering of the wider world. Drawing out crucial differences and intriguing resonances between these two women of faith, Hillgardner develops a Hindu-Christian comparative theology that argues for an interreligious ethic of passionate non-attachment, one capacious and brave enough to hold together our own longings with the desires of others in an interconnected, fragile world.

Author: Stefan Horlacher File Type: pdf Taboo and Transgression in British Literature from the Renaissance to the Present develops an innovative overview of the interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to the topic that have emerged in recent years. Alongside exemplary model analyses of key periods and representative primary texts, this exciting new anthology of critical essays has been specifically designed to fill a major gap in the field of literary and cultural studies. This book traces the complex dynamic and ongoing negotiation of notions of transgression and taboo as an essential, though often neglected, facet to understanding the development, production, and conception of literature from the early modern Elizabethan period through postmodern debates. The combination of a broad theoretical and historical framework covering almost fifty representative authors and uvres makes this essential reading for students and specialists alike in the fields of literary studies and cultural studies.ReviewHorlacher and his collaborators have re-opened the door on taboo. The collection is ground-breaking in its expansion of traditional definitions and its broad historical sweep. An introductory historical and theoretical section is followed by literary analyses displaying a rich variety of approaches to the disruptive powers of literary texts from early modern to contemporary. Taboo and Transgression is a timely provocation displaying a consistently high quality of critical theory and practice.Ronald Corthell, Professor and Chair, Department of English, Kent State UniversityWith its chapters ranging from Renaissance literature to Postmodernism, Taboo and Transgression offers an unprecedented introduction to the topic. A fair balance of theoretical challenge and historical depth, as well as the representativeness of the literary exampleswith a focus on highly canonized textswill make the volume an ideal companion for English courses at university. This conceptually well-wrought, well-structured, and highly coherent volume will appeal to university teachers as well as (advanced) students of English literature and will provide a valuable fundament for further research on tabootransgression in other media and in less-canonized texts.Astrid Erll, Professor, University of WuppertalAbout the AuthorStefan Horlacher is Professor of English Literature and Chair of the English Department at Dresden University of Technology. His Conceptions of Masculinity in the Works of Thomas Hardy and D.H. Lawrence (2006, in German), won the Postdoctoral Award of the German Association of Professors of English. Stefan Glomb is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Mannheim University. He is the author of Memory and Identity in Contemporary British Drama and the co-editor (with Stefan Horlacher) of Beyond Extremes The Representation of and Reflexion on Processes of Modernization in the Contemporary British Novel.Lars Heiler is Senior Lecturer in English and American Literatures at the University of Kassel. He is the author of Regression and Cultural Critique in the Contemporary British Novel (2004, in German) and the forthcoming Literature and Therapy Precarious Negotiations.