“realms of candour and rapture”: DIVINITY, IDENTITY and personal salvation in Graham Swift’s WATERLAND Cover Image

“realms of candour and rapture”: DIVINITY, IDENTITY and personal salvation in Graham Swift’s WATERLAND
“realms of candour and rapture”: DIVINITY, IDENTITY and personal salvation in Graham Swift’s WATERLAND

Author(s): Lucia Opreanu
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Ovidius University Press
Keywords: communion; delusion; hubris; identity; Madonna; salvation.

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to trace the various references to the Christian faith and other forms ofspirituality in Graham Swift’s Waterland in an attempt to highlight the extent to which his narrative exposesthe failure of conventional religion to provide viable solutions to the kinds of crises contemporaryindividuals face. The analysis will mainly focus on the evolution of a number of protagonists and theircoping mechanisms in the face of grief, loss, and guilt, as well as on the significance and consequences ofvarious forms of transgression, the lure and dangers of religious fanaticism, and above all the causes andoutcomes of various (con)fusions between personal and Biblical history, with a special emphasis onterrestrial embodiments of the Madonna and the Saviour and their respective lives and martyrdoms. Animportant component of this approach will entail a discussion of the various alternatives to ecclesiasticalinstitutions, traditional worship and salvation by faith featured in Swift’s novel, ranging from the potentialspiritual charge of mundane locations to the redeeming powers of authentic intimacy and communion andthe curative function of narration.

  • Issue Year: XXV/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 49-58
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: English