Finished proofing the galleys about noon yesterday. The book goes to the printer on Monday.
The Pitch of G.M. Hopkins
Denis Donoghue has an essay on a new biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins, saying biographers and readers of the poet cannot be too at ease with him. The pious poet is complicated.
Christian Partisanship
According to this article in World (subscription req.), the editor of the large Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, George Kurian, believes historical arguments from the Christian camp should accentuate the positive and overlook the negative. World reporter Mark Bergin asked, “Why not include such historical realities [as the follies of Christians or those who called themselves Christians] for the sake of truth?” Mr. Kurian replied, “It’s a question of motivation. This is a Christian encyclopedia. It has to be on the side of Christians, because that is the purpose of the encyclopedia.”
I can’t say I agree with Mr. Kurian. Christians are on God’s side, which is also the side of the truth. We side with the truth, regardless how good we look in its light. Even when Joshua prepared to conquer Jericho and met an angel of the Lord, he asked the angel (thinking he was a man) whose side he was on. “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come” (Joshua 5:14 NIV).
That’s where we are with any history; we are with the Lord, not the church or other Christians genuine or nominal. We are on the side of the truth, of what’s real, of the Lord of all creation.
The Friday Fight: Tin Cans
Having seen the good stuff with Viking reenactors, I can’t get behind the style or lack of it in this video. If it wasn’t the pirate’s intervention, these tin cans might have hurt each other.
Friday without a fight
Thought for the day: “His strength was as the strength of 8.273, because his heart was in compliance with minimum federal purity standards.”
This disjointed post may be all you get today. I have a phone meeting with my editor tonight, followed by a Viking meeting.
Today is the birthday of one of the greatest Norwegians of all time–Hans Nielsen Hauge. I note with some shock that I’m cited as an authority in the Wikipedia article on him.
This month’s Writer’s Digest features a joint interview with Jerry B. Jenkins and Stephen King. Note that I say “joint.” It’s an interview with both of them at once. Apparently they’re buddies. Who knew?
King says, “I got to know [Jerry] through the Left Behind series, which has a lot in common with The Stand–both are stories about the end of the world, with Christian overtones (mine has more four-letter words). While I’m not a big believer in the Biblical apocalypse and end-times, I was raised in a Christian home, went to church a lot, attended MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship–lots of Bible drills, which every writer could use, Christian or not), and so I knew the story…. Jerry writes sturdy prose and plots well. He’s also warm and compassionate. Understands families inside out. There’s a lot there to like.”
Maybe King will cut evangelicals a little slack in his future books.
Devil’s Garden, by Ace Atkins
As many of you may know, pioneering hardboiled detective writer Dashiell Hammet, creator of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, paid his dues as a real-life detective, an operative for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
Ace Atkins, author of Devil’s Garden, discovered a fascinating fact about Hammet’s detective career—that he actually worked for the defense in one of the big court cases of the 1920s—the trial of movie comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle for manslaughter.
(Even though not well known today, Arbuckle was a superstar in his time. He rivaled Chaplin and Keaton as the most popular silent comedian. That all ended when a young actress died during a party he hosted in San Francisco in 1921. Lurid rumors about her death spread [and were printed in newspapers], with the result that, though he was eventually acquitted, Arbuckle’s movie career died.)
This novel employs multiple viewpoints, but we see the action mainly through Hammet’s and Arbuckle’s eyes. Their vantage points are very different. Hammet is a poor man, suffering with tuberculosis and alcoholism, barely managing to support a wife and baby. Yet he has a future. Arbuckle lives like a king, eating at the best restaurants and riding around in a car with a built-in commode. But his good times are nearly done. Continue reading Devil’s Garden, by Ace Atkins
In which Walker attacks another straw man
First of all, please understand that I’m not becoming an atheist. I’m about to restate an argument against the existence of God, one which I feel as if I “grasped” today. But that doesn’t mean I’ve adopted that argument. It’s my job, as a novelist, to try to understand how people think, even when they’re very different from me. I’d say, “I’m a professional. Do not try this at home,” but I don’t really believe it’s destructive to faith to understand opposing arguments. It’s vigilance and intellectual honestly.
Anyway, I think I figured out one reason why atheists feel morally superior to religious believers, even though history is not exactly overflowing with examples of atheists who were great humanitarians and moral paragons (no doubt there are some, but in general religious believers have been both far worse and far better than atheists).
To an atheist, anyone who says he believes in God appears to be complicit in cruelty. Continue reading In which Walker attacks another straw man
How appropriate
Last night, Sen. Norm Coleman’s lawyers conceded that, under the rulings of the Minnesota courts, it’s not possible for Norm to win the recount.
Here’s Hot Air’s report.
So now my new senator is Al Franken. On top of having Amy Klobuchar for my senior senator, and Keith Ellison for my congressman.
And today is April Fools’ Day.
Tragically, this isn’t a joke.
Except in the cosmic sense.
Update: According to the radio, there still remains the step of taking it to the MN Supreme Court. But I’m going to save wear and tear by giving up now.
Apropos of nothing: the father of the Stooges
First of all, let me state for the record that I’m not a fan of the Three Stooges. I liked them when I was about ten years old, but lost early my taste for slap-in-the-face, poke-in-the-eye humor (I got plenty of that in real life).
But there’s been talk lately about a new Three Stooges movie, which is supposed to star Benicio Del Toro as Moe, Sean Penn as Larry, and Jim Carrey as Curly (!). It’s not supposed to be a biopic, but a new work in Three Stooges idiom, sort of a live-action pastiche.
That reminded me of a story I discovered while noodling through Wikipedia one sleepless night. I’ve always been fascinated by early Hollywood, for some reason, and this was a very odd story I’d never heard of before. Continue reading Apropos of nothing: the father of the Stooges
There’s a moral here somewhere…
Of all people, Floyd at Threedonia posts a story and a link about how T. S. Eliot actually rejected George Orwell’s Animal Farm, when he was working as an editor for Faber and Faber:
IT must rate as the literary snub of the 20th century. T S Eliot, one of Britain’s greatest poets, rejected George Orwell’s Animal Farm for publication on the grounds of its unconvincing Trotskyite politics.
And you’re upset because Dubious Stories rejected your fanfic novella?