Love is often called a leap of faith. But can faith be described as a leap of love? In Touching God: Hopkins and Love´, Duc Dau argues that the conversion of Gerard Manley Hopkins to Roman Catholicism was one of his most romantic acts.
Touching God´ is the first book devoted to love in the writings of Hopkins, illuminating our understanding of him as a romantic poet. Discussions of desire in Hopkins´ poetry have focused on his tortured and unrequited attraction to men. In contrast, Dau builds on existing queer and conventional readings of the poet´s work by turning to theories of mutual touch propounded by Luce Irigaray and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In the process, she uncovers the desire Hopkins actively cultivated and celebrated: his love for Christ. By analysing Hopkins´ writings alongside his literary, philosophical and theological influences, she demonstrates that this love is what he called eros´ or amor´.
Dau argues that descriptions of the body and its acts of tenderness - notably touching - played a vital role in the poet´s depictions of spiritual eroticism. By forging a new way of reading desire and the body in Hopkins´ writings, this work offers fresh interpretations of his poetry, and contributes to contemporary interest surrounding the relationship between love, sexuality and spirituality.
