Augustine’s Confessions and Shakespeare’s King Lear

Power, Parenthood, and Presence

AvKim Paffenroth,Miles Hollingworth

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

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Beskrivning

Paffenroth returns to two of the most quintessentially commanding yet vulnerable protagonists in the Western canon – Augustine, the real life, fifth century bishop of Hippo, known to us mostly through his own telling of his life in Confessions; and King Lear, the legendary king of Briton, known to us mostly from Shakespeare’s version of his tragic end. Having examined problems addressed in both works of love, language, nature, and reason, Paffenroth here picks up more purely relational matters: both protagonists wield (or have wielded) power over others, yet struggle to learn its right application; both raise children, but have deeply problematic relations with their children, their partners, and (in the case of Augustine at least) their parents; neither has an intuitive or unproblematic relationship with a fully present God or gods – Augustine struggles mightily to have such, while Lear cries out to heaven but it is unclear he ever gets a reply. As different as the books and men are, how they relate to women and God shows illuminating and complementary points of comparison.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2025-12-11
Mått:140 x 218 x 14 mm
Vikt:300 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Reading Augustine
Antal sidor:136
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781350500884

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Mer om författaren

Kim Paffenroth is Professor of Religious Studies at Iona University, USA.

Recensioner i media

Paffenroth has done a remarkable job highlighting the continued relevance of two unlikely figures in the western canon: Augustine and Shakespeare. Should the world fear two “toxic males” in a world skeptical of power imbalances? No, Paffenroth suggests. In fact, what makes Augustine and Shakespeare’s Lear stand out is their awareness of their problematic privilege and power despite their obvious shortcomings in fully addressing these problems they identify. Paffenroth reminds us that with the hermeneutic of scrutiny we can still find beauty in literary texts regarded as classics. Caring scrutiny is what we need to discover the real reason these men and their stories have endured: the discovery of empathy even amid failure. And if the powerful can discover empathy despite their own failures and shortcomings, there is hope for the future.

Innehållsförteckning

Acknowledgments Introduction Origins and Ends 1. Augustine and Power 2. Lear and Power 3. Augustine and Women in Confessions 4. Women in King Lear 5. Conclusion: Powerfully Present Epilogue Bibliography Index