Church, City, and Labyrinth in Brontë, Dickens, Hardy, and Butor

By Marilyn Thomas Faulkenburg and Marilyn Thomas

Historically city and church have a common origin in the mythic labyrinth - tortuous, walled passageways enclosing a space considered sacred to the demigod. Gradually both concept and fact changed. By the end of the nineteenth century the city is perceived as a labyrinth, but labyrinth as a place of confusion and chaos instead of order. Man, the builder of cities to transcend the profane, becomes man, the demon who is trapped in his own creation. Bront , Dickens, and Hardy, whose novels span the nineteenth century, and Butor, who presents a culminating expression of the theme on the twentieth century, portray the changing relationship of church and city.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820420581
• ISBN13: 9780820420585
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publi
• Length: 147 Pages