W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, William Golding, Elizabeth Jennings, C. S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Stevie Smith . . . These are some of the great poets and novelists whose struggles with faith find expression in their works, and who demonstrate the fascinatingly different forms that faith can take in different times and places. Richard Harries considers the work of twenty of these writers, painting vivid pictures of their lives and times. He also provides numerous critically sympathetic insights into the spiritual dimension of their writings. The result is a book for readers of all religious persuasions, especially those who are fascinated by the ways in which faith is refracted through the lens of great poetry and fiction.Also by Richard Harries:The Beauty and the Horror (SPCK, 2016) 'A major new defence of Christianity that does not flinch from asking difficult questions about the kind of God who could have created our world.' The Bookseller 'A heartening book, confronting the hardest questions with wide knowledge and deep wisdom.'John Carey, Chief Literary Reviewer, Sunday Times 'An eloquent, honest and engaging case for Christian faith.'The Tablet 'A deeply interesting book.'Mary Warnock

ContentsIntroduction ix1 Fyodor Dostoevsky: trough a furnace of doubt 12 Emily Dickinson: A smouldering volcano 153 Gerard Manley Hopkins: 'Away grief's gasping' 324 Edward Tomas: The elusive call 475 T. S. Eliot: Out of hell 616 Stevie Smith: A jaunty desperation 757 Samuel Beckett: Secular mystic 838 W. H. Auden: 'Bless what there is for being' 979 William Golding: Universal pessimist, cosmic optimist 11210 R. S. Tomas: Presence in absence 12311 Edwin Muir and George Mackay Brown: Light from the Orkneys 14012 Elizabeth Jennings: Poet of pain and praise 15513 Grace in failure: Four Catholic novelists - Graham Greene, Flannery O'Connor, Shusaku Endo and Evelyn Waugh 16414 C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman: Competing myths 17815 Marilynne Robinson: Christian contrarian 193Notes 205Acknowledgements 227Index 229