In the Crypt of the Sun: Towards the Narrative Politics of Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark

The article considers some of the ways in which Seamus Deane's novel maps political, sectarian, and folkloric borders onto the Catholic tradition of textual exegesis. In particular, the essay argues that Reading in the Dark treats Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises as a productive site where both political and community identity are reconfigured through direct contact with literary-theoretical concerns.