{"title":"The Art of Astonishment: Reflections on Gifts and Grace, by Alice Brittan","authors":"Alan Northover","doi":"10.25159/1753-5387/11721","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The Art of Astonishment: Reflections on Gifts and Grace (2022) by Alice Brittan is a rich tapestry of extensive cultural knowledge and intimate personal experience. The stories of Hermes and other trickster figures are strands woven throughout the narrative revealing the flexible and often surprising presence of grace. Although Brittan’s book stands on its own, familiarity with Lewis Hyde’s The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World and Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art will enrich a reading of her book, two texts that especially inspired Brittan and which she cites throughout. Brittan’s style is also indebted to Hyde, as she intersperses quotable pithy statements—for instance, “Grace is always undue, an event that can never be earned or willed” (32) and “Grace is a form of excess, which is why it is always an experience of refreshment and increase” (144)—with in-depth explorations of case studies and insightful readings of a diverse range of texts. Brittan’s erudition emulates Hyde’s, as she coherently synthesises","PeriodicalId":43700,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Literary Studies","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Literary Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1092","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.25159/1753-5387/11721","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Art of Astonishment: Reflections on Gifts and Grace (2022) by Alice Brittan is a rich tapestry of extensive cultural knowledge and intimate personal experience. The stories of Hermes and other trickster figures are strands woven throughout the narrative revealing the flexible and often surprising presence of grace. Although Brittan’s book stands on its own, familiarity with Lewis Hyde’s The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World and Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art will enrich a reading of her book, two texts that especially inspired Brittan and which she cites throughout. Brittan’s style is also indebted to Hyde, as she intersperses quotable pithy statements—for instance, “Grace is always undue, an event that can never be earned or willed” (32) and “Grace is a form of excess, which is why it is always an experience of refreshment and increase” (144)—with in-depth explorations of case studies and insightful readings of a diverse range of texts. Brittan’s erudition emulates Hyde’s, as she coherently synthesises
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Literary Studies publishes and globally disseminates original and cutting-edge research informed by Literary and Cultural Theory. The Journal is an independent quarterly publication owned and published by the South African Literary Society in partnership with Unisa Press and Taylor & Francis. It is housed and produced in the division Theory of Literature at the University of South Africa and is accredited and subsidised by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training. The aim of the journal is to publish articles and full-length review essays informed by Literary Theory in the General Literary Theory subject area and mostly covering Formalism, New Criticism, Semiotics, Structuralism, Marxism, Poststructuralism, Psychoanalysis, Gender studies, New Historicism, Ecocriticism, Animal Studies, Reception Theory, Comparative Literature, Narrative Theory, Drama Theory, Poetry Theory, and Biography and Autobiography.