Prodigal Ministers in Fiction

In three novels focused on the lives of ordained ministers, J. G. Lockhart’s Adam Blair, James Robertson’s The Testament of Gideon Mack, and Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, the meaning of home and the movement from being lost to being found are key themes shared with the parable of the Prodigal Son. In Adam Blair, the paradigm informs the movement towards being found; in Gilead, the minister comes home to himself, to others, and to God; in Gideon Mack, it is the bleakness of being lost which the parable brings into sharp relief. The connection between the parable and this unusual category of literary figures is particularly strong and illuminates the theological context out of which each is drawn.

The American Short Story and the Prodigal Son

The prevalence of the Prodigal Son paradigm in the American short story tradition is analysed as offering a perspective on issues of independence and identity. The significance of the personal change brought about by the experience of breaking away from home is discussed in short stories by Irving, Poe, Harte, Garland, James, Cather, and Wolfe, many of whom refer directly to the parable in their work. Many of the characters in the stories are compelled to leave home by circumstance or choice, often in the search for redemption or personal happiness. They may seek to return, but the impossibility of a successful homecoming after the revolution involved in leaving is a key feature in this tradition, on a personal level and beyond.

The Prodigal Son and Shakespeare

In this chapter the ubiquity of references to the Prodigal Son in Shakespeare’s work is explored, leading to a discussion of Shakespeare’s use of the Bible in general and of the Geneva Bible in particular. Two plays are considered in detail: Henry IV Part 1 and King Lear. It is suggested that Shakespeare offers a creative exegesis, or midrash, of the parable in both plays. In the first, the parable is reworked in a way which leads the reader to question the motives of both Hal and the Prodigal in the original text. In the second, the complex overlay of the parable on the plot and characterization offers at least the possibility of grace and hope at the end of the play.

The Prodigal Son in Elizabethan Literature

This chapter considers the influence of Roman comedies, such as those of Terence, on the development of a Prodigal Son tradition in Elizabethan literature. It is argued that the potential danger of rebellion against authority, and fears about change and its consequences in a period of stability following religious and economic upheaval, offer a context in which the parable might be meaningfully adapted. The ubiquity of the paradigm is explained in the light of this historical setting, and the tendency for writers to identify with the figure of the Prodigal is explored.

The Prodigal Son in Poetry

While there are many examples of Prodigal Son poems, the works of Bishop and Smith are compared as they both struggle to make sense of ‘home’ from a perspective of exile. For Bishop, home is shown to have little or no meaning; for Smith, it is full of meaning and cannot be ignored. Both have to come to terms with the loss of home, while accepting its role in their formation, and this is a feature of their poems which both implicitly and explicitly references the Prodigal Son parable. The role of Robinson Crusoe as a type of Prodigal Son is explored and contrasted by both in terms of Crusoe’s experiences of homecoming and his relationship to the wider community.

Conclusion

An overview is given of the ways in which the Prodigal Son appears in various literary genres and periods, as well as his waiting father and older brother. Reading the literary texts as contextual exegesis of the parable, the main findings of each chapter are summarized and compared. Colm Tóibín’s reflections on the new power of religious language in literary contexts, beyond the realm of belief, are offered as a way to understand that which has been lost and found in the journey the Prodigal Son has made through literature.

Female Victorian Novelists and the Prodigal Son

The novels of three female Victorian novelists are compared in this chapter: George Eliot’s Adam Bede; Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South; and Margaret Oliphant’s Kirsteen. From different religious perspectives (agnosticism, Unitarianism, and a broad orthodoxy) each connects to the Prodigal Son in different ways as they seek to explore the conflict in their characters between family responsibilities and the drive for independence. The role of the Bible, and of parables in particular, in each novel is discussed, before the identification of characters with figures in the parable of the Prodigal Son is compared. It is argued that each novelist reads the motivation behind the Prodigal’s leaving differently, and raises the question of whether or not his departure was justified.

Reading the Prodigal Son

This chapter is a review of approaches to the parable of the Prodigal Son from the perspective of biblical and literary studies. The focus in biblical studies on a search for the parable’s meaning in the historical context of the life of Jesus or of the early Church is compared with literary study’s interest in the parable as offering a shared vocabulary with which to explore universal themes. The differences in understanding the significance of the parable’s history of reception are discussed, and the limits of the parable’s openness and flexibility in terms of multiple meanings are considered. The variety of ways in which the Prodigal Son has been read across time and place is celebrated and the aim of the book as a discussion of specific genres, literary periods, and places, rather than a survey, is introduced.