Hemingway and Agamben: Finding Religion without God

Marcos Antonio Norris' book explores Hemingway's fiction through the philosophical lens of Giorgio Agamben, resolving the debate over his religious orientation and offering an interdisciplinary study of political theology, existentialism, posthumanism, and modernist literature. Norris argues that Hemingway is a secularised theist who practices his religion through sovereign decision-making, including the act of killing. This book challenges traditional interpretations and reveals the Roman Catholic foundations of secular existentialism.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 31 October 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Interprets Hemingway's fiction through the philosophical lens of Giorgio Agamben
Resolves debate over Hemingway's religious orientation
Brings Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Giorgio Agamben into close conversation for an interdisciplinary study of political theology, existentialism, posthumanism, and modernist literature
Leverages Giorgio Agamben's analysis of secularization for an unprecedented reading of Hemingway's fiction
Reveals the Roman Catholic foundations of secular existentialism, as well as the existential underbelly of literary modernism
Presents the ritualistic killing of animals by human beings as the latter's semi-conscious attempt to reclaim the imago Dei
Builds upon the preceding points to level a posthumanist critique of moral absolutism
Marcos Antonio Norris implements Giorgio Agamben's notion of "secularized theism" to resolve a critical disagreement among Hemingway scholars who have portrayed the writer as either a Roman Catholic or a secular existentialist. He argues that Hemingway is, properly speaking, neither a secularist nor a theist, but a "secularized theist," whose religion is practiced through sovereign decision-making, which, in its most extreme form, includes the act of killing. This book resolves an important debate in Hemingway studies and uncovers fundamental similarities between theism and atheism, building upon the theoretical undertaking first introduced by Agamben and the Existentialists (EUP, 2021).
Bringing Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Giorgio Agamben into close conversation, the author reconceptualises existentialism, issues a posthumanist critique of moral authoritarianism, and advances an original interpretation of Hemingway as a secularised theist.

Weight: 572g
Dimension: 161 x 241 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399516785