Rethinking Epiphany

Rethinking Epiphany assesses the different research traditions that have looked at epiphany and brings together a range of new perspectives on epiphany in literature, as well as new approaches to the study of epiphany in philosophical texts, media narratives, and contemporary music. It re-evaluates and challenges the definitions of the term by extending the domain of epiphany to fields beyond literature.

Part One of this edited volume considers the definitions and origins of literary epiphany, drawing among others on James Joyce, Henri Bergson, and Julia Kristeva. Part Two, which is focused on new approaches, presents case studies examining works of contemporary Anglophone literature, Finnish modernist literature, and classical texts from Therèse Raquin to In Search for lost time. Part Three explores whether the theory of literary epiphany, as it developed in response to the modernist short form, can be expanded to forms of writing and contemporary storytelling environments beyond literature. It includes chapters on Congo-Belgian hip hop, Kierkegaard’s epiphanies, and the media coverage of NATO expansion.

The collection offers an up-to-date overview of epiphany theory, as well as a detailed definition of the term. It examines the legacy of epiphany for the twenty-first century, and adds perspectives from narrative theory, psychology, philosophy, and media studies to the study of epiphany in modernist studies.