Circuitous Journeys: Modern Spiritual Autobiography - Hardcover

by David J. Leigh (Author)

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.

Front Jacket

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: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, M. K. Gandhi, Malcolm X. Black Elk, Paul Cowan, Rigoberta Menchu, Dan Wakefield, and Nelson Mandela.

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. The twentieth-century context of religious alienation, social autonomy, identity crises and politics, and the search for social justice is examined in each text. Approaches from literary criticism are used as well as from developmental psychology (Erik Erikson, James Fowler, and Carol Gilligan) and spirituality (John S. Dunne, Emilie Griffin, Walter Conn, and Bernard Lonergan).

Author Biography

David J. Leigh, S.J. is Professor of English at Seattle University.