"One of the professed goals of this work is to bring the theology of French philosopher Jean-Luc Marion (b. 1946) together with literary criticism. Marion is an important thinker in the phenomenological tradition, and in recent times he has become one of the leading voices in contemporary theology. But until now the relevance of Marion's work had not reached the field of literary theory, and this book attempts to forge that connection. Falke (English literature and culture, Univ. of Tromsø, Norway) focuses on the theme of love, which, according to Marion, takes precedence over all other experiences. In the introduction the author writes that "criticism should itself be an act of love"; indeed, it should not be separate from the rest of life, and it should add something to the world. This is because literature expands one, and books provide an "elsewhere" that takes the reader away from ordinary self-possession.

And so, it seems, one can cultivate the capacity for love through reading that enhances love's virtues, including attention, empathy, and a willingness to be overwhelmed. Falke reflects thoughtfully on the phenomenology of reading, and shows the relevance of Marion's claim that "erotic reduction" is the key to who one is. Summing Up: Recommended." - CHOICE "For Falke--love is a submission of the ego to the other, not in submitting to the domination by the other, but in putting aside one's ego desires, and opening one's self to becoming changed by the other--whether or not the other reciprocates the love . That in short form is the challenge Falke poses to the reader of her book: allow at least the literary book, if not the theoretical and argumentative book, for the most part, to change your inner self, rather than coming to the book with a sense of a need to control, own, and dominate. Moreover, not only does Falke construct a theoretical structure for developing her thesis of reading as erotic love, as a form of allowing the book to speak to you in its own terms, from its own frame of reference, Falke also, provides a practicum for how to perform the erotic reduction of a text . The adoption of erotic reduction is a logical necessity, even when psychologically difficult, if our goal is to get inside the mind of the book , as it were." - Literature and Theology.