Best known for a trilogy of historical novels set in the fictional town of Gilead, Iowa, Marilynne Robinson is a prolific writer, teacher, and public speaker, who has won the Pulitzer Prize and was awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama. This collection intervenes in Robinsons growing critical reputation, pointing to new and exciting links between the author, the historical settings of her novels, and the contemporary themes of her fictional, educational, and theoretical work. Introduced by a critical discussion from Professors Bridget Bennett, Sarah Churchwell, and Richard King,Marilynne Robinsonfeatures analysis from a range of international academics, and explores debates in race, gender, environment, critical theory, and more, to suggest new and innovative readings of her work.

Rachel Sykes is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary American Literature at the University of Birmingham

Jennifer Daly is an independent researcher and Research Strategy Officer at Trinity College Dublin

Anna Maguire Elliott is Senior Research Administrator at the University of Portsmouth

Introduction Rachel Sykes, Jennifer Daly, and Anna Maguire Elliott
Robinson in context: A critical discussion Sarah Churchwell, Richard H. King, Bridget Bennett

Writing, form, and style
1 It might be better to burn them: Archive fever and the Gilead novels of Marilynne Robinson Daniel King
2 One day she would tell him what she knew: Disturbance of the epistemological conventions of the marriage plot inLila Maria Elena Carpintero Torres-Quevedo
3 Robinsons triumphs of style Jack Baker

Gender and environment
4 The female orphan and an ecofeminist ethic-of-care in Marilynne RobinsonsHousekeeping andLila Anna Maguire Elliott
5 Souls all unaccompanied: Enacting feminine alterity in Marilynne RobinsonsHousekeeping Makayla Steiner
6 The domestic geographies of grief: Bereavement, time and home spaces in Marilynne RobinsonsHousekeeping andHome Lucy Clarke

Imagined histories: Race, religion, and rights
7 Domesticating political feeling, affect and memory in Marilynne RobinsonsHome Christopher Lloyd
8 Onward Christian liberals: Marilynne Robinsons essays and the crisis of mainline Protestantism Alexander Engebretson
9 Presence in absence: The spectre of race inGilead andHome Emily Hammerton-Barry

Robinson and her contemporaries
10 Everything can change: Civil rights, civil war and radical transformation inHome andGilead Tessa Roynon
11 A great admirer of American education: Robinson as professor and defender of Americas best idea Steve Gronert Ellerhoff and Kathryn E. Engebretson
12 Acknowledging a numinous ordinary: Marilynne Robinson and Stanley Cavell Paul Jenner

Epilogue A little different every time: Accumulation and repetition inJack Rachel Sykes