New Jerusalem: Myth, Literature, and the SacredUniversity of Scranton Press, 2000 - 243 pages New Jerusalem. links the archetypal images of modern literature with ancient myth and ritual. In this collection of essays on American Literature, Nancy Clasby shows that the primary forms shaping premodern consciousness rise still with undiminished force, structuring modern poetry and fiction. Our literature is a vast, echoing house of symbols, comprising the sacred space of the modern world. Archetypes of death and rebirth, indelibly inscribed in human consciousness, find fresh expression in contemporary writing. The lost Eden and the heavenly Jerusalem are symbols that speak in a perennial language of modern writing and revealing the deep relationship between consciousness and the forms of the sacred. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American anima appears archetypal aspects associated beauty becomes begins Billy body calls characters child consciousness critics culture Daisy dance dark death describes desire divine earth effort emerges exist experience expression eyes face fall fear feeling feminine figure final fire forces Gimpel gnostic hand heart hero heroic human images imagination innocence James language light linked literature live logos lost Manabozho meaning mind mother moves myth mythic mythos Nancy narrative nature never objects pain patterns play poet poetry present reading reality reflects rejects relationship remain represents reveals rise role sacred says seeks sense social soul spirit story structure struggle suffering suggests Sula symbol tells things thought transformation tree true truth turn unconscious understanding University Press vision wisdom York