Fifth gospel (genre)

Fifth gospel is a literary genre focusing on fictional transfigurations of Jesus.

The term has been coined by Theodore Ziolkowski.

[1] According to Ziolkowski, in "fictional transfigurations of Jesus" "the characters and the action, irrespective of meaning or theme, are prefigured to a noticeable extent by figures and events popularly associated with the life of Jesus as it is known from the Gospels.

"[2] Books in this genre include Lars Görling [sv]'s 491, Gunter Grass's Cat and Mouse, John Barth's Giles Goat-Boy and Gore Vidal's Messiah and Live from Golgotha.

[1] This article about a literary genre is a stub.