The New Believers

The New Believers identifies a group of today's most important novelists, Margaret Atwood, J. M. Coetzee, Junot Díaz, and George Saunders, who have challenged the trend of depressing and defeatist novelistic endings by turning to spiritual beliefs, powers, and presences. Through spiritual belief, these writers use the novel to imagine more hopeful and caring ways of being in the world, ones that can challenge Christian Nationalism and neoliberal capitalism and empower leftist and liberal causes, such as women's rights, migrant rights, animal rights, and care for the environment. Through a survey of the current state of novel studies, close readings of key works by each writer, and new archival research on Margaret Atwood and J. M. Coetzee, The New Believers shows how these writers transform novelistic realism through spiritual realism and reshape the current debate about religion, secularization, and literature.

Author: Jack Dudley
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 07/30/2026
Series: Cambridge Studies in Twenty-First-Century Literature and Cul
Pages: 246
Weight: 0.74lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9781009772518