Helena’s Witness
Scholars have criticized Evelyn Waugh’s novel Helena as flawed and uneven—an unfortunate subjection of his artistic gifts to the perceived demands of his faith. It is often read as a fictional work of apologetics, straightforwardly defending the empirical truth of Christianity. In fact, however, Wau...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
[2017]
|
In: |
Christianity & literature
Year: 2017, Volume: 66, Issue: 2, Pages: 263-273 |
RelBib Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KCD Hagiography; saints TK Recent history |
Further subjects: | B
Theology
B FAITH (Christianity) B Religious Thought B relic B Helen of Troy B Evelyn Waugh B Faith B Skepticism B WAUGH, Evelyn, 1903-1966 B Apologetics B Doubt B Saint |
Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Scholars have criticized Evelyn Waugh’s novel Helena as flawed and uneven—an unfortunate subjection of his artistic gifts to the perceived demands of his faith. It is often read as a fictional work of apologetics, straightforwardly defending the empirical truth of Christianity. In fact, however, Waugh deliberately allows questions to arise regarding his key claims, and especially his heroine’s “invention” of the True Cross. Though the novel does contain apologetic elements, it is really a story about faith, about bearing witness: a saint’s story. And the faith it depicts not only allows for but actively embraces both skepticism and doubt. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 2056-5666 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0148333117692811 |