From: ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman)
Subject: Re: Madeleine L'Engle question
Organization: AT&T
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 17:59:11 GMT

In article <84729@netnews.upenn.edu> crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford) writes:
>In article <1992Jul29.131711.2115@cbnews.cb.att.com> ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman) writes:
>>
>>tears).  Just to help you out some, the contemporary writers that
>>I esteem most highly are Dillard, O'Connor, John Updike, Gabriel
>>Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera, Thomas Pynchon, and Graham Green.  
>>Anybody willing to recommend something else along those lines?
>>
>
>Well, I'm working on a novel.  8-)

Hey, good for you.  I'm always encouraged when I hear about Christians
who are trying to make it in the arts.  It's a rough way to go, and 
it's needed now more than ever.  Do it, and do it well.

>I completely agree on Annie Dillard.  I don't think there's a better
>writer out there today.  Gabriel Garcia Marquez is also amazing.
>In a similar vein, try Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" about
>Indian independence (loosely); he writes in a similar style to
>Marquez.

The thing that strikes me about those twentieth-century Christians who 
*have* made it as writers (made it in the sense of being recognized and 
esteemed within the entire literary world, and not just by the editors 
of Zondervan Books, or whatever) is that almost all of them come
out of a high-church, very liturgical, smells and bells tradition.
Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy and Graham Green were Catholics.  
Madeleine L'Engle is Episcopalian.  J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and 
T.S. Eliot were Church of England.  There are a few exceptions, of
course (Annie Dillard and Frederick Buechner come to mind), but it honestly
makes me wonder what it is about these traditions that seems to
recognize and foster creative development.  Or, to turn it around,
we're a newsgroup of thousands of Baptists :-).  Why can't at least
one of us write the Great American Baptist novel?  

>As for Christian-influenced fiction ... good question.  I'd like to
>see more of it, just as I'd like to see more Christian-influenced
>but NOT ghettoized music.  One of the sadder things happening right
>now, IMO, is the compartmentalization of Christian art; nobody else
>gets to hear/see/read most of it.  One of the more exciting things
>is the occasional breakthrough out of the ghetto.

I used to think that literature was immune from this compartmentalization,
but it's not.  Most of the major Christian publishers now have fiction
departments, and people like Calvin Miller and Frank Peretti and Steve
Lawhead and Harold Fickett are selling tons of novels to people who
exclusively frequent Christian bookstores.  I think it's great that
Christians are writing novels.  But I see the same fundamental danger 
here that I see in CCM - emphasis on message at the expense of style.  
In my opinion, these folks tend to write theologically correct, lousy
novels.  I'd rather take my theology straight, thank you.

Just in the interest of fostering discussion, I'd like to propose a
list of fictional works and poetry written by twentieth-century
Christian authors.  I'm hoping that there are others out there
who share this passion, and who will add to the list.  I know that
I'm always looking for more along these lines.   To start:

Annie Dillard - "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," "Holy the Firm," "An
American Childhood," "Tickets on a Prayer Wheel," "A Writer's Life" 

Flannery O'Connor - "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "Wise Blood," "The
Violent Bear it Away"

Walker Percy - "The Moviegoer," "Love in the Ruins," "The Second Coming,"
"The Last Gentleman," "Lost in the Cosmos," "The Thanatos Syndrome"

Graham Green - just about anything, but particularly "The Power and
the Glory" and "The Heart of the Matter" to see his theological
perspective

T.S. Eliot - "Four Quartets" 

Frederick Buechner - "Godric," "The Book of Bebb"

Larry Woiwode - "What I'm Going to Do, I Think"

John Updike - anything, but particularly his four "Rabbit" books - 
"Rabbit, Run," "Rabbit Redux," "Rabbit is Rich," and "Rabbit at
Rest" - to get a picture of modern man alienated from God and
himself

Robertson Davies - "Fifth Business," "The Manticore," "World of
Wonders"

I assume that most folks know about J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, George
MacDonald and Charles Williams.  

These are all writers who are vocal about their Christian faith and who
write amazingly well, in my opinion.  My guess is that none of them
would wish to be affiliated with a CCL movement.  Anybody want to
add to, comment on, or detract from the list?  

>===============================================================================
>Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu
>"What a waste it is to lose one's mind, or not to have a mind is being very
>wasteful.  How true that is."--J. Danforth Quayle to United Negro College Fund 

Andy Whitman
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
att!cblpn!ajw