Theology and the Poetics of Testimony

Abstract

Abstract In the literature of cultural criticism, a genre has developed that I will call the “poetics of testimony.” This genre includes poetry, theology, novels, and other forms of literature that express unique events or experiences outside the representation of modern, rational discourse. Many of us are acquainted with Elie Wiesel’s observation, “If the Greeks invented tragedy, the Romans the epistle, and the Renaissance the sonnet, our generation invented a new literature, that of testimony.” Wiesel’s “invention” has become a common reality of our time. The writers of contemporary literature—African Americans, incest and rape survivors, postcolonial theorists, gays, lesbians, bisexuals—all turn to the term “testimony” to describe their discourse, to tell truth as they see it, as they experience it, and what truth means to their communities.