To write an article on Seamus Heaney (1939-2014) might be a venture, given the many contributions to this field. Seamus Heaney's poetic career (1966-2010) went in search of answers to questions that were raised out of a preoccupation with the notion of selfhood. On the other hand, in the early modern period, certain thinkers associated with para-scientific literature confidently proclaim a vulnerable theory of selfhood which raises questions about the authenticity of the western traditional and classical understandings of the self. This study argues that Heaney's approach to poetry constructs a theory of the self which can be read as a revision of the illegitimate conception of humanity proposed in the twentieth century, one which has a continuing effect on contemporary thought, and makes the common-sense experience of the reality we live in both more widely understood and acknowledged.

Charles Taylor's contribution to the question of human existence expands across a wide range of areas to include ontological hermeneutics, linguistics, philosophy, and ethics. His Christian sensibility colors his philosophy of human existence which proposes that the self finds itself as a moral linguistic being who can exist only against a background of distinctions of moral worth and value and who is embedded in a world of meanings and dialogical relation with other linguistic beings. Marilynne Robinson's acclaimed novel Lila (2015) is an account of the life of a young woman damaged by poverty, abandonment, and neglect and at the end healed by God's grace. In fact, Lila is the story of how Lila, the title character, in her attempt to understand the meaning of existence through her being in the world and her linguistic awareness finds the answer to her questions in a higher sense of the good, the mystery of grace. In this study, first the dominant theses of Taylor's philosophical anthropology will be discussed followed by a discussion of Robinson's stand -which accords with that of Taylor -against the naturalistic theories of the self. Finally, the way the character's interpretation of human existence accords with Taylorian framework is explored.

Being some major problems of our contemporary world, racism and ethnocentrism demand persistent critical scrutiny. One oft-neglected aspect of these problems is how such prejudices are shared and communicated among the members of the dominant group. This study examines Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Sweat (2015), as a dramatic representation of how racism and ethnocentrism are reproduced and communicated as a social cognition. To this aim, the study tries to employ Teun Adrianus Van Dijk’s cognitively-based discourse analysis and focus on some micro-level aspects of racism as a social cognition rather as an abstract historical phenomenon. Contextualizing the play within its socio-historical moment, three trends of schematic attitudes and mental models regarding ethnocentrism_ as Van Dijk’s theory outlines_ are identified from and studied in the play. The findings demonstrate the socio-cognitive dimension of the discourse of racism, particularly the way it is reproduced and communicated among the dominant in-group members. Moreover, the discussion offers some insight on Lynn Nottage’s latest dramatic endeavor in a hard-hitting portrayal of the intersections of race, class, and political economy and in drawing attention to the real meaning of diversity and inclusion in contemporary America.

And there was one amazing experience that inspired Gilead: I did once see the sun and the moon on opposite horizons.-Marilynne Robinson and Debra Bendis, interview, The Christian Century There was a book many people read at that time, The Diary of a Country Priest. It was by a French writer, Bernanos. […] I remember reading that book all night by the radio till every station went off, and still reading when the daylight came.

ABSTRACT. Marilynne Robinson's Gilead (2007), a meditative letter written by an aging minister, probes the need for forgiveness and grace. George Bernanos's The Diary of a Country Priest (1936) pictures the suffering and sacrifice of an unnamed young priest in his attempt to open his parishioner's heart to the love of God. Both novelists explore themes such as forgiveness, love, peace, faith, and grace. This paper first discusses the prevalent Christian themes in these novels, and the ways each novelist presents the saving and life-giving power of God's grace in healing and restoring human soul, and then compares their treatment of these issues. The Protestant Robinson's sensibility regarding these religious themes seems very similar to that of the Catholic Bernanos. Indeed, the American writer seems to be considerably influenced by her French predecessor. There was a book many people read at that time, The Diary of a Country Priest. It was by a French writer, Bernanos. I felt a lot of sympathy for the fellow, […] I remember reading the book all nightby the radio till every station went off, and still reading when the daylight came [1].Marilynne Robinson, a contemporary American writer, has published only four novels in a span of more than thirty years and her career is incandescent with Christian sensibility, spiritual wonder, moral wisdom, and understanding of God. Written in the form of a letter with "the qualities of a sermon, a meditation, a diary, and a journal" [2], Robinson's Gilead (2007) chronicles the life of an aging Congregationalist minister, John Ames, who is dying of angina pectoris. After a long life of ministry in a family to which preaching has been a second nature, he spends his last days writing a long letter to his son, intending to show him the ways to live a good life. There had been, in Ames's life, much loneliness, and much sorrow, over watching other men with a family of their own and longing for one of his own. Late in life he has been 'graced' with a family of his own, whom he loves and does not want to lose out to death. Moreover, Ames struggles over an older and deeper conflict within his conscience. Though a Congregationalist minister, he can hardly bring himself to forgive his prodigal godson, "for disgracing his name and the family of his friend, Robert Boughton, a Presbyterian minister" [3]. Later, the novel starts to record Ames' reaction to Jack's return after twenty years. Regarding his late marriage as an unexpected joy, Ames wants to saves his wife and son from the potential harm of Jack Boughton, one "whose childhood was spent escaping from school" [3], and lifting small items of special importance to Ames such as his Greek Old Testament, Ames' reading glasses, and a little photograph. Other harmful things were done, but Ames' virtue prevented him from blaming Jack even in privacy of his thought. Stealing was not the only transgression, though. Earlier in his letter, Ames discloses a "pure meanness"-as it seems to him-of Jack's behavior. Still in college, Jack gets invol...