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What Are We Doing Here? Essays

What Are We Doing Here? Essays

Essays
Published
2018
Language
English

Synopsis

A collection drawn largely from lectures Robinson delivered at universities in the year before the 2016 US presidential election, addressing faith and politics, aesthetics and culture. She traces much of contemporary American culture back to its Puritan roots, revisits the long argument between faith and reason, and turns to thinkers like Emerson and Tocqueville for a vision of political life built on obligation and generosity rather than cynicism.

About the author

M
Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson (born November 26, 1943, in Sandpoint, Idaho) is an American novelist and essayist. Her novels include Housekeeping (1980) and Gilead (2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, along with its related novels Home (2008), Lila (2014) and Jack (2020). She taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop from 1991 until her retirement in 2016 and received the National Humanities Medal in 2012.