Help My Unbelief: James Joyce and Religion

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From the very beginning James Joyce's readers have considered him as a Catholic or an anti-Catholic writer, and in recent years the tendency has been to recuperate him for an alternative and decidedly liberal form of Catholicism. However, a careful study of Joyce's published and unpublished writings reveals that throughout his career as a writer he rejected the church in which he had grown up. As a result, Geert Lernout argues that it is misleading to divorce his work from that particular context, which was so important to his decision to become a writer in the first place. Arguing that Joyce's unbelief is critical for a fuller understanding of his work, Lernout takes his title from Ulysses, "I believe, O Lord, help my unbelief. That is, help me to believe or help me to unbelieve", itself a quote from Mark 9: 24. This incisive study will be of interest to all readers of Joyce and to anyone interested in the relationship between religion and literature.

Reviews

Lernout meticulously pinpoints and researches minor references to religion in Joyce's oeuvre, providing an index of ideas that will undoubtedly be an excellent resource for scholars seeking an explanation for religious allusions which have hitherto been overlooked or unexplained, particularly in Joyce's early work... This is a vast, informative work that will be useful both to new readers and experienced Joyceans alike. -- Routledge ABES
Lernout's book is an indispensible starting point for an extended examination of religion in Joyce's works and his always intricate perspectives. -- Journal of Modern Literature Volume 34, No.2
Lernout's vision is sharp and engaging. -- James Joyce Quarterly
... Lernout provides an excellent account of Joyce's work in relation to contemporary free thought and anti-clericalism. -- Forum for Modern Language Studies, Vol 48., No. 1
[E]nlightening, lively, original and exacting. * James Joyce Broadsheet *
Geert Lernouts book Help My Unbelief: James Joyce & Religion provides a comprehensive and helpful survey of both the historical context and the religious references in James Joyces work...An obvious strength of this book resides in Lernouts work with primary and archival material like Joyces notebooks and his library in Trieste...Geert Lernouts important work provides strong evidence to support his claims about Joyces troubled relationship with both the Irish Roman Catholic Church and the Christian faith. -- Michael Gillingham, University of Alberta * Irish Studies Review *
The evidence he offers from start to finish from Joyces texts, letters, and the testimony of others is incontrovertible.Three examples...Quod erat demonstrandum! -- Peter A. Bien * Religious Studies Review *

Author Bio

Geert Lernout is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Antwerp, Belgium,and Director of the James Joyce Centre. He has published The French Joyce (1990) and Iets Anders: De GoldBerg-Varieties van Bach (2001).