Circuitous Journeys

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.

Author: David J. Leigh
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: 01/01/1999
Pages: 259
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780823219940

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2000 pg. 348

About the Author

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