Typological methods and a scheme of Protestant iconography constitute the fiction of Rudy Wiebe. This structure and style are the necessary consequences of an artistic vision that is self-consciously Christian and evangelical. After a brief discussion of the problem of belief and literature, the dissertation presents Wiebe's Anabaptist theology and examines the typological and parabolical means by which Christian beliefs can become a method of composition. Wiebe's project is to create a fiction in which realistically presented lives and actions exist consubstantially with the gospel of Jesus. A pervasive iconic imagery and ironic reference result in a carefully controlled evangelical "sentence," one which allows Wiebe a fictional re-enactment of the incarnation. In Peace Shall Destroy Many, First and Vital Candle, and The Blue Mountains of China. Wiebe experiments with retrospective typology and with analogical sacrificial actions. In the historical novels (The Temptations of Big Bear, The Scorched-Wood People, The Mad Trapper), he exploits typology proper, giving epistemological authority to his chronicles of faith by establishing the hermeneutical divide in history itself. The gospel is again present, but now it is almost entirely anticipatory and ironic. The dissertation concludes by speculating about Wiebe's latest experiment in evangelical fiction, the self-regarding dramatization of a Christian Wiebe-persona acting in a documentary present.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.68678 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Hildebrand, George H. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of English) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000147142, proquestno: AAINK61037, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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