Interprets Hemingway's fiction through the philosophical lens of Giorgio Agamben Resolves debate over Hemingway's religious orientation Brings Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Giorgio Agamben into close conversation for an interdisciplinary study of political theology, existentialism, posthumanism, and modernist literature Leverages Giorgio Agamben's analysis of secularization for an unprecedented reading of Hemingway's fiction Reveals the Roman Catholic foundations of secular existentialism, as well as the existential underbelly of literary modernism Presents the ritualistic killing of animals by human beings as the latter's semi-conscious attempt to reclaim the imago Dei Builds upon the preceding points to level a posthumanist critique of moral absolutism Marcos Antonio Norris implements Giorgio Agamben's notion of 'secularized theism' to resolve a critical disagreement among Hemingway scholars who have portrayed the writer as either a Roman Catholic or a secular existentialist. He argues that Hemingway is, properly speaking, neither a secularist nor a theist, but a 'secularised theist', whose 'religion' is practiced through sovereign decision making, which, in its most extreme form, includes the act of killing. This book resolves an important debate in Hemingway studies and uncovers fundamental similarities between theism and atheism, building upon the theoretical undertaking first introduced by Agamben and the Existentialists (EUP, 2021). Bringing Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre and Giorgio Agamben into close conversation, the author reconceptualises existentialism, issues a posthumanist critique of moral authoritarianism and advances an original interpretation of Hemingway as a secularised theist.

While Giorgio Agamben's work has not previously been categorised as existentialist, his work creatively repackages important existentialist themes in a politico-theological context. This collection of essays offers creative new ways of considering Agamben's critique of the sovereign exception, as well as other existentialist themes, including feminism and postcolonialism. The international range of contributors each challenge, complicate or reimagine Agamben's reading of the sovereign exception, which appears among the writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Heidegger, Beauvoir, Fanon, Kafka, Dostoevsky and others in both theistic and atheistic forms.Divided into three sections Agamben and the Sovereign Exception, Agamben and the Death of God and Existentialist Themes in Agamben this collection re-introduces Agamben as an unacknowledged existentialist philosopher who takes the major themes and concepts of existentialism in a startling new direction.