The novel form’s secular individualism resists being filled with transcendental belief

Evidence

It is no more than a corollary of the idea of such a relation between individuality and sociality if we state the following: as man as individual, and so his attributes as man qua man, come to replace man as social element in the foreground of interest, the bond must tighten that pulls him—over the head of his social group, as it were—toward all that is human, suggesting to him the notion of an ideal unity of mankind. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 684 (#complicates, via linked claim)

When our earthly career strikes us as a mere preliminary phase in the fulfillment of eternal destinies, when we have no home but merely a temporary asylum on earth, this obviously is only a particular variant of the general feeling that life as a whole is an adventure. … Like a dream, it gathers all passions into itself and yet, like a dream, is destined to be forgotten; like gaming, it contrasts with seriousness, yet, like the va banque of the gambler, it involves the alternative between the highest gain and destruction. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 474 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: The novel’s form resists reduction to any single ideological message.; The English novel tradition marginalizes religion in favor of materialist plotting; Novels encode their stance on Islamic identity through form as much as content. (+2 more)

Related

• Religious estrangement from earthly life mirrors the adventure’s fragmentary character (similarity 0.83)
• The novel form carries three centuries of secular individualism shaping its possibilities (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Rising individuality necessarily yields belief in mankind’s ideal unity #complicates (0.82) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 684
• Religious estrangement from earthly life mirrors the adventure’s fragmentary character #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 474
• The English novel tradition marginalizes religion in favor of materialist plotting #corroborates (0.60)
• Novels encode their stance on Islamic identity through form as much as content. #expands (0.55)
• The novel’s form resists reduction to any single ideological message. #qualifies (0.50)