Annie Dillard and the Word Made Flesh : An Incarnational Theory of Language

"Annie Dillard's most defining characteristics are her belief in the power of language and her Christian faith.

The confluence of these convictions is particularly evident in her identification with Christ's designation as Word.

This identification informs her four-limbed incarnational theory of language, which manifests itself in all of Dillard's works.

First, because of her belief in the incarnate Word, Dillard believes that the incarnate world speaks a spiritual language that can be heard and interpreted.

Viewing the material and the spiritual in a dialectic relationship rather than in a dichotomous one, Dillard argues for the value of the material world for its own sake but also reads nature as a text, translating and giving expression to its spiritual language.

Second, because Christ was a physical embodiment of the spiritual, Dillard believes that the spiritual realm continues to be real and substantial, not ephemeral or abstract.

Third, because Christ as Word imbued the world with meaning, Dillard believes that language has the sole capacity to express meaning inherent in the world as well as the power to create meaning. Thus, Dillard provides a corrective to what she calls contemporary modernism, which questions not only the inherent meaning of language but the existence of meaning itself.

Finally, because Christ's role as author of the Word was sacrificial, so Dillard believes that the writer must adopt a similarly sacrificial role, depleting herself for the sake of her work." Though Dillard's spiritual belief is arguably the most intrinsic aspect of her writings, no full length examination of her beliefs has ever been undertaken.

This study also greatly extends the critical examination that has been given to Dillard; going beyond the consideration of Dillard's first, Pulitzer Prize-winning text, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, the primary focus of most Dillard criticism, it examines the full corpus of Dillard's nonfiction still in print, as well as her first book of poetry, Tickets for a Prayer Wheel.

Incorporating close textual readings, identifying and analyzing scriptural allusions and demonstrating a clear awareness of and engagement with critical responses to her texts, this volume is an important contribution to Dillard scholarship.