Publication date:
01 May 2012Publisher
Anthem PressDimensions:
229x153mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780857284433
‘Touching God: Hopkins and Love’ is the first book devoted to love in the writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, illuminating our understanding of him as a romantic poet. Discussions of desire in Hopkins’ poetry have focused on his unrequited attraction to men. In contrast, Duc Dau turns to Luce Irigaray and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theories of mutual touch to uncover the desire Hopkins cultivated and celebrated: his love for Christ. ‘Touching God’ demonstrates how descriptions of touching played a vital role in the poet’s vision of spiritual eroticism. Forging a new way of reading desire and the body in Hopkins’ writings, the work offers fresh interpretations of his poetry.
‘This study will contribute to a new understanding not only for readers of Hopkins but also for those concerned with the subject of Christianity and sexuality. Highly readable, personal yet objective, Dau draws on fresh scholarship of the Victorian background, a wide range of Hopkins studies, and present-day theories. “Touching God” is a first-rate contribution to the whole subject of the theology of the body.’ —James Finn Cotter, author of ‘Inscape: The Christology and Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins’