Ritual unbound

Description:

"This study explores the vestiges of primitive sacrificial rituals that emerge in a group of canonical modernist novels. It argues that these novels reenact a process that achieved its seminal expression in the Genesis story of "The Binding of Isaac," in which Abraham, prevented from sacrificing Isaac, offers up a ram in his place. Abraham's gesture breaks with the archaic practice of human sacrifice but implies the necessity of finding a substitute victim."--BOOK JACKET.

subjects: Modernism (Literature),  Scapegoat in literature,  Sacrifice in literature,  English fiction,  History and criticism,  Rites and ceremonies in literature,  Fitzgerald, f. scott (francis scott), 1896-1940,  Woolf, virginia, 1882-1941,  Conrad, joseph, 1857-1924,  James, harry, 1916-1983,  English fiction, history and criticism, 20th century

People: F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940),  Virginia Woolf (1882-1941),  Henry James (1843-1916),  Joseph Conrad (1857-1924),  Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939)

Places: United States,  Great Britain

Times: 20th century