Haunted by Christ: Modern Writers and the Struggle for Faith

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W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, William Golding, Elizabeth Jennings, C. S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Stevie Smith . . . These are some of the great poets and novelists whose struggles with faith find expression in their works, and who demonstrate the fascinatingly different forms that faith can take in different times and places. Richard Harries considers the work of twenty of these writers, painting vivid pictures of their lives and times. He also provides numerous critically sympathetic insights into the spiritual dimension of their writings. The result is a book for readers of all religious persuasions, especially those who are fascinated by the ways in which faith is refracted through the lens of great poetry and fiction. Also by Richard Harries: The Beauty and the Horror (SPCK, 2016) 'A major new defence of Christianity that does not flinch from asking difficult questions about the kind of God who could have created our world.' The Bookseller 'A heartening book, confronting the hardest questions with wide knowledge and deep wisdom.' John Carey, Chief Literary Reviewer, Sunday Times 'An eloquent, honest and engaging case for Christian faith.' The Tablet 'A deeply interesting book.' Mary Warnock 1 Fyodor Dostoevsky: Through a furnace of doubt 2 Emily Dickinson: A smouldering volcano 3 Gerard Manley Hopkins: ‘Away grief’s gasping’ 4 Edward Thomas: The elusive call 5 T. S. Eliot: Out of hell 6 Stevie Smith: A jaunty desperation 7 Samuel Beckett: Secular mystic 8 W. H. Auden: ‘Bless what there is for being’ 9 William Golding: Universal pessimist, cosmic optimist 10 R. S. Thomas: Presence in absence 11 Edwin Muir and George Mackay Brown: Light from the Orkneys 12 Elizabeth Jennings: Poet of pain and praise 13 Grace in failure: Four Catholic novelists – Graham Greene, Flannery O’Connor, Shusaku Endo and Evelyn Waugh 14 C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman: Competing myths 15 Marilynne Robinson: Christian contrarian Notes Acknowledgements Search terms