With the wealth of inspiration that the homeliness of Christmas offers, Easter can appear to be literature’s second-string festival. As well as the religious symbolism of Easter the idea of becoming new is very potent, the idea of being born again and beginning afresh. The word Easter comes from a Germanic word that is cognate with “east”, and therefore with dawn, pointing to the spirit of new beginnings which Easter represents. Benjamin Disraeli coined the term for celebrating Easter, so however you’re Eastering this weekend there are no shortage of literary works inspired by Easter to keep you company. Three of the four parts of Faulkner’s magnum opus are set on the Easter weekend of 1928, with the final part occurring on Easter Sunday.

Source: The Irish Times April 01, 2018 04:52 UTC