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/lit/ - Literature

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2447374 No.2447374 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/ I'm looking for books of what I can only describe as Biblical fiction. Stuff like Paradise Lost and The Divine Comedy, where it explores Judeo-Christian theology with corresponding themes and stuff. Sorry about the vagueness.

>> No.2447378

I am monitoring this thread.

>> No.2447381

His Dark Materials. Or East of Eden. Or The Chronicles of Narnia.

>> No.2447383

Oh and inb4 Bible

>> No.2447382

Charles Williams (the one associated with the Inklings)

>> No.2447390

Caim and The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago

>> No.2447399

Ever read up on demonology?
Personally i fin it fascinating.

>> No.2447401

blood meridian

kidding, but i think you'd dig mccarthy if you're into the bible. he's on dat polysyndetonic time.

>> No.2447409

I really liked:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Jesus

>> No.2447418

>>2447401
I'm some kind of agnostic but I really like Biblical themes, allegories, that sort of stuff. All these suggestions are fantastic.

>> No.2447421

RA Lafferty

RA Lafferty forever

>> No.2447429

>>2447418
Borges, man.

>> No.2447438

might as well read dante's aswell.

>> No.2447461

GK Chesterton, maybe?

If you're also interested in writers who make use of biblical motifs in other contexts, look into Radclyffe Hall and Jeanette Winterson (esp. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit).

>> No.2447479

>>2447461

The Man Who Was Thursday perhaps fulfills OPs qualifications, but most of Chesterton's fiction wasn't exploring Christian theology, but Chestertonian-Christian theology. Of course if you just want theology Chesterton is your man for that too.

>> No.2447484

The Brothers Karamazov would partially fit to your description.

>> No.2447489

>>2447479
Well, shit like The Ball And The Cross is pretty explicitly religious, not allegorical as such but certainly religious

but this is beside the point; you should read Chesterton because he's fucking Chesterton

>> No.2447501

>>2447489

Well agreed, but even The Ball and the Cross is a weird type of religiousness, focused more on the battle between spirituality and Atheism than it is on any mythology or tenant of Christianity.

Bottom line: READ CHESTERTON, but don't expect it to be Biblical Fiction.

>> No.2447502

faulkner. mccarthy. melville. king james.

>> No.2447505

>>2447501
Duly noted!

>> No.2447506

>>2447479

That's why I was tentative: OP's "explores Judeo-Christian theology with corresponding themes and stuff" could include works that make use of the Bible or theological influences without necessarily being explicitly *about* those. Some would argue theological themes are important even in less obvious GKC contexts like the Fr Brown stories.

Anyhow, I thought it better to speak up than deprive OP of something that might be interesting.

>> No.2447507

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West has a bunch of biblical allusions (Book of Exodus and Book of Revelation) and is just a very good, under-appreciated book in general.

>> No.2447513

And not a single Screwtape Letters was recommended that day. It's pretty much exactly what OP is looking for.

>> No.2447519

>>2447513
yeah but it's by CS Lewis and fuck that guy

>> No.2447521

>>2447513

To be fair a work by C. S. Lewis was one of the first to be recommended, but you're right, the Screwtape Letters fits the bill damn well.

>> No.2447524

Philip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010) might meet OP's criteria. Here's a review by the Archbishop of Canterbury: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/03/good-jesus-christ-philip-pullman

>> No.2447528

The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

>> No.2447875

http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Bible/

>> No.2447920

The Vision of Piers Plowman

>> No.2447971

Check out some Bunyan, if you're into classics. The Holy War etc.

>> No.2447975

The Master and Margerita. Masterpiece.

>> No.2448023
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2448023

The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft.
No, really. It's the Christ myth meets Cthulhu meets early 20th century Ghostbusters.

>> No.2448029

no love for greece? I am dissapoint.
try Nikos kazantzakis, it's the shit

>> No.2448270

The Name of the Rose for sure. I'm surprised Eco doesn't get mentioned more often here.

>> No.2448273

Odd, but I had not realized how much of this style of work I have read until I cruised through this article.

Being brought up as a highly curious youth and an insatiable reader in a backwards Christian community will lead you to seek all manner of "blasphemous" literature.

Seriously, at one time I was punished when a friend of my parents found copies of King Jesus and The Man Who Was Thursday amongst my things.

All that aside, I'm trying to drum up a couple of suggestions OP. I may have better luck once I'm at home. Until then, it must suffice to bump.

>> No.2448276

3rding Screwtape Letters.

>> No.2448291

Milton by William Blake.

>> No.2448395

Never Metioned on /lit/. Probably too High-Brow

Op Check out some of the works by Reynolds Price

The guy was a professor of English at Duke for 40+ years whose focus was primarily on Milton and other biblical works. His essays encompass a broad spectrum; translations of the New and Old Testaments, interpretations of various Gospels, and dissertations on Christian literature.

Check his poetry

>> No.2448949

Not sure if this meets OP's criteria, but the late ancient Greek poet Nonnos of Panoplis, best known (if at all) for his Dionysiaka, the single longest surviving ancient poem, also produced a poetic paraphrase of the Gospel of St John. There are two English translations, to my knowledge:

Lee Francis Sherry, The hexameter "Paraphrase of St. John" attributed to Nonnus of Panopolis: prolegomenon and translation (PhD Diss., Columbia University 1991)

Mark Anthony Prost, Nonnos of Panopolis: The Paraphrase of the Gospel of John (Ventura : The Writing Shop Press 2003) - available at http://www.textexcavation.com/documents/nonnosgosjn.pdf

Review of Prost at http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2006/2006-12-32.html

>> No.2448960

>>2448949

BTW, if anyone is interested in the Dionysiaca, the standard if not only complete English version is the three-volume Loeb, which is available from the Internet Archive:

http://www.archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft
http://www.archive.org/details/dionysiaca02nonnuoft
http://www.archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft