The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought

In the tradition of nineteenth-century novelists who turned to the essay, Marilynne Robinson offers a beautiful and authoritative approach to refining the ideas our culture has handed down to us. Whether considering how the McGuffey readers were inspired by midwestern abolitionists; how creationism, "long owned by the Religious Right," has spurred on contemporary Darwinism; or how John Calvin, who was a Frenchman in Geneva, points to America's continental origins, Robinson writes with great conviction. Her essays are filled with the excitement of discovery. "Who can imagine how the things we call ideas live in the world," she writes, "or how they change, or how they perish, or how they can be renewed." In these ten essays, Marilynne Robinson brilliantly addresses subjects that have become the territory of specialists - religion, history, the state of society. The writing is "contrarian in method and spirit," as she states in her introduction, but "Who can imagine how the things we call ideas live in the world, or how they change, or how they perish, or how they can be renewed?" In the tradition of nineteenth-century novelists who turned to the essay, Marilynne Robinson offers a beautiful and authoritative approach to refining the ideas our culture has handed down to us. Whether considering how the McGuffey readers were inspired by Midwestern abolitionists; how Creationism, "long owned by the Religious Right," has spurred on contemporary Darwinism; or how John Calvin, who was a Frenchman in Geneva, points to America's continental origins, Robinson writes meticulously and with great conviction. Her essays are filled with the excitement of discovery.

Marilynne Robinson is the author of HOUSEKEEPING and MOTHER COUNTRY, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1989. She has taught at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop since 1991. THE DEATH OF ADAM received the PEN/Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. In 1998, Robinson received a Mildred and Harold Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Iowa City.