Table Of ContentRoutledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature
POSTMODERN, MARXIST,
AND CHRISTIAN
HISTORICAL NOVELS
HOPE AND THE BURDENS OF HISTORY
Lynne W. Hinojosa
“At a time when hope is too often dismissed as a utopian ideal,
Hinojosa argues that this virtue is, in fact, a worldly practice, one
that engages not only the future but the present and past as well. Her
readings of modern historical fiction within the framework of Jürgen
Moltmann and others show how genuine hope makes a difference in
the lives of characters and readers alike, enabling us to participate in
God’s mission of love and justice.”
Elizabeth Newman, Adjunct Professor of Theology,
Duke Divinity School
“Hinojosa deftly navigates the fields of literary theory, Marxist
thought, and Christian theology to appraise the hollowed‐out ac-
counts of history and hope in much contemporary fiction. Novels as
disparate as The English Patient and Parable of the Sower come under
scrutiny for circumventing ‘the historic character of reality,’ a phrase
from Hinojosa’s primary interlocutor, Jürgen Moltmann. These and
other works manifest hope as ironic detachment or triumph over time
or presumptuous utopia, while Marilynne Robinson’s fiction, in
contrast, discloses the congruity of history and hope as her characters
experience transformation within, not in spite of, the brokenness of
the past, present, and their longed‐for futures. For specialists perhaps,
this book nonetheless speaks to the urgency of our cultural moment in
which the myriad crises we face cry out for a practical, actionable
hope by which we can claim that another world—of wounds healed,
of violence reckoned with—is possible.”
Debra Dean Murphy, Associate Professor of Religious Studies,
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Postmodern, Marxist, and
Christian Historical Novels
Postmodern, Marxist, and Christian Historical Novels: Hope and the
Burdens of History argues historical novels can help readers receive the
burdens of history—meaning both the burdens of the past, present, and
future and the burden of living in time—and develop a more robust
conception of and concrete practice of hope. Since the 1960s, historical
novels have been a dominant literary genre, but they have been
influenced primarily not by Christian but by postmodern and marxist
thinkers and writers. This book provides a theological and literary
analysis of all three types of historical novels—postmodern, marxist, and
Christian—and outlines what each school of thought can learn from
each other regarding historical understanding and hope. Using Jürgen
Moltmann’s theology of hope and Frank Kermode’s literary criticism as
a theoretical basis, the book offers readings of novels by Julian Barnes,
A.S. Byatt, Octavia Butler, Michael Ondaatje, Ian McEwan, and Ursula
LeGuin, among others, and ends with an extended analysis of Marilynne
Robinson’s Gilead series.
Lynne W. Hinojosa is Associate Professor of Literature in the Honors
Program at Baylor University. She received her Ph.D. in English from the
University of Notre Dame (2003). In addition to essays in journals such
as Literature and Theology, Religion and Literature, and the Journal of
Modern Literature, she has published two scholarly monographs: The
Renaissance, English Cultural Nationalism, and Modernism, 1860–1920
(2009), and Puritanism and Modernist Novels: From Moral Character to
the Ethical Self (2015).
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Edited by Janka Kascakova, Gerri Kimber and Władysław Witalisz
Polish Literature and Genocide
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Uncertainty and Undecidability in the Twentieth-Century Literature and
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Our Henry James in Fiction, Film, and Popular Culture
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Narratology and Detective Criticism
Alistair Rolls
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Studies-in-Twentieth-Century-Literature/book-series/
RSTLC
Postmodern, Marxist,
and Christian Historical
Novels
Hope and the Burdens of History
Lynne W. Hinojosa
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2022 Lynne W. Hinojosa
The right of Lynne W. Hinojosa to be identified as the author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-15536-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-15537-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-24457-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003244578
Typeset in Sabon
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
For Victor, with hope
Contents
Acknowledgments x
1 History, Hope, and Historical Novels: Postmodern,
Marxist, and Christian 1
2 Frank Kermode, Jürgen Moltmann, and Three
Modern Derivatives of Christian Hope 26
3 Postmodern Historical Novels: Idealistic Hope and
Ironic Hope 47
4 Marxist Historical Novels: Utopic Hope 78
5 Moltmann on Eschatological Historiography and
the Modern Church 124
6 Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead Series: Historical
Novels for a Disburdened Church 149
Index 197
