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Document Details : Title: Gao Xingjian's One Man's Bible Subtitle: Engaging with Literature as a Spiritual Activity Author(s): PAGAN, Nicholas O. Journal: Studies in Spirituality Volume: 27 Date: 2017 Pages: 43-55 DOI: 10.2143/SIS.27.0.3254095 Abstract : Chinese novelist Gao Xingjian’s contention that literature is of spiritual value implies that the bonds established between authors and their readers must be spiritual. This article considers these ideas especially in relation to Gao’s novel One Man’s Bible. After tracing the way in which One Man’s Bible invokes disparate voices sometimes associated with an ‘inner mind’, the article explores the question of whether it is possible to have spirituality without religion. Although recognizing that the necessity of interdependence may be captured by the Confucian notion of ren the article argues instead that the special bond between author and reader may be much better understood from a Christian point of view when readers are exposed to literary fictions which combine celebration of a living God with belief in the value of love and selflessness. |
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