‘Touching God: Hopkins and Love’ is the first book devoted to love in the writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, illuminating our understanding of him as a romantic poet. Discussions of desire in Hopkins’ poetry have focused on his unrequited attraction to men. In contrast, Duc Dau turns to Luce Irigaray and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theories of mutual touch to uncover the desire Hopkins cultivated and celebrated: his love for Christ. ‘Touching God’ demonstrates how descriptions of touching played a vital role in the poet’s vision of spiritual eroticism. Forging a new way of reading desire and the body in Hopkins’ writings, the work offers fresh interpretations of his poetry.

"‘“Touching God” offers provocative insights about the relationship between the life of the body and the life of the spirit. This book is quite innovative because it avoids what we might call a standard “queer” or even “gay” approach to Hopkins. While acknowledging an ample fluency in the scholarship on the homoerotic Hopkins, Dau gives us a poet to read for the insight he offers on the experience of the body in relation to the love of God. Dau suggests that Hopkins’ poetry is for everyone, a commendable achievement in a world shaped by the politics of identity. It is a rare book that can speak to a feminist or queer reader as well as a traditional Catholic; “Touching God” is one such book.’"

Frederick S. Roden Source: Advance Praise

"‘This study will contribute to a new understanding not only for readers of Hopkins but also for those concerned with the subject of Christianity and sexuality. Highly readable, personal yet objective, Dau draws on fresh scholarship of the Victorian background, a wide range of Hopkins studies, and present-day theories. “Touching God” is a first-rate contribution to the whole subject of the theology of the body.’"

James Finn Cotter Source: Advance Praise