The interpretation ofliterature in extra-literary terms has led to many abuses. But the fault lies with ideologies, not with the extra-literary disciplines whose perspectives they have appropriated.1 Such disciplines are as much a part oflif e as their objects of study: ethics is no less "real" than morality. Literature, too, is a part oflif e. And despite aesthetes' claims to the contrary, it cannot help also but be "about" life to some degree, since the practical resonances ofits medium, language, can never be entirely suppressed. A work ofliterature, accordingly, may sometimes also be a contribution to theology, political philosophy or ethics. When it offers itselfas such, the critic is entitled – indeed invited – to respond, as I shall do here, by developing the discussion along extra-literary lines.