It’s been a Berry-filled week, in the aftermath of his Jefferson Lecture last Monday, which I’ve yet to read in full. For one, there was an affectionate puff piece in the NYT, a fine introduction to the man, and of course on Tuesday I drove over the hill for my bi-monthly fill of Lynchburg’s Wendell Berry book club. Maybe more on that club, and why I like it despite some inevitable disagreements, some other time…
This week also saw an introduction in The American Conservative by Glen Arbery to a new book of essays about Berry by various academics and journalists, edited by Mark Mitchell and Nathan Schlueter, great guys broadly sympathetic to Lawler’s work. What sounds particularly exciting, at least to my two-cheers-for-Berry pomocon spirit, is some of the more critical engagements by scholars otherwise sympathetic to Berry:
“A few of the contributors have serious issues with some of Berry’s positions. D.G. Hart takes issue with him for his rejection of organized religion. Several others point to Berry’s lack of attention to the good of politics, especially what co-editor Nathan Schlueter calls “formal mediating institutions,” and Schlueter himself comes closer than anyone to an outright rebuke of Berry for his disregard of “the original sin narrative, with all that it implies” in his pacifism.”
Berry’s presentation of himself as some sort of Christian is a topic that will have to be explored more as his influence grows, and so these sound like promising essays.
There’s also a bit of discussion of Berry’s novella Remembering, which I read this Spring with the book-club and highly recommend—starts a bit slow, but develops into a truly–oh, what the heck—memorable reading experience. One of the better literary witnesses against the lure of indeterminacy I’ve encountered, culminating in a breathtaking and mysterious envisioning of the heavenly/earthly life to come.
And alas, yes, there’s also mention of things like this:
“The ‘damnable fire’ of modernity has led the world into great peril. Perhaps it will not be necessary in our lifetimes to take what Rod Dreher in his provocative closing essay calls the ‘Benedict option’ of starting small, independent communities that will outlast the dark times to come. But perhaps it will.”
Now, I haven’t read Rod’s essay yet, but by that description, oh, boy! If it seriously calls for communities that will (in spirit or in law) “secede” from their doomed modern democracies, so as to outlast them in the catastrophic times to come, well, then it is written by man who needs to be forced at gunpoint to read Solzhenitsyn, Nemirovsky, etc., so as to face what actually happens when modern societies break down, and then some Thucydides and Xenophon also. Not sure where we’ll find such a patient gunman…
But I can’t end on a note like that! All in all, it sounds like a worthy collection. And as the NYT guy says, it’s pretty hard to actively dislike Wendell and what he stands for. I am pleased by his deserved triumph in being awarded the Jefferson Lecture, and offer sincere congratulations.
April 27th, 2012 | 12:47 am
Glad to see you mentioned my friend Nathan Schlueter, but I am skeptical of Berry-ism.
I know our friend Bob Cheeks thinks he re-thought things in a bad way, but Robert Penn Warren’s novels, poetry, and essays don’t connote the movement element that Berry-ites do.
That said, RPWarren spoke to these issues without having to be a secessionist too. He is worth reading. There are no RPW reading groups, but his collected poems are easily found.
Apart from all of his novels, you can read some of his LATE poetry in Or Else, Rumor Verified, and Being Here.
This poetry won’t make for reading groups, but it can be spoken about amongst friends, and it may make you think otherwise.
It may be sympathetic, but it is no Berry-ism–and no secessionism whether of Jefferson Davis or of the so called “Benedict Option.”
April 27th, 2012 | 1:50 pm
My limited experience with Berry has been that his essays are better than his fiction, which I find incredibly boring–and not because of the small-town subject matter. One can be write from a standpoint of moral commitment without moralizing and while exploring the depths of human psychology and the complexity of “situations.” Since I stopped reading the fiction after a few short stories (couldn’t stay awake), it’s probable that I’ve judged in haste….
April 27th, 2012 | 4:51 pm
Well, I hope this blog and FT in general will indeed do some further exploring of Berry, including “his presentation of himself as some sort of Christian.” From his essay “The Body and the Earth,” I’d say that for a non-Catholic, he comes very close to being a John Paul II kind of Christian, given that piece’s remarkable and intuitive affinity with the teachings of the Theology of the Body.
As for the estimable Rod Dreher, I strongly suspect he is no more a secessionist than, say, Alastair MacIntyre (from whom Rod is drawing the Benedict theme) nor has Rod somehow omitted reading Solzhenitsyn. Such fretting is typical of our times and the psychic discomfort many feel at realizing our conventional political categories are failing us completely. I hope FT will rise to this occasion, culturally speaking.
April 28th, 2012 | 12:56 pm
I don’t know about Berry’s “presenting himself as some sort of Christian.” I remember an interview where he was asked directly, and his response was that he considers himself a follower of the gospels. He was careful not to present himself as a Christian.
April 28th, 2012 | 6:07 pm
Elias’ and Robert F’s reports demonstrate precisely why the essay by D.G. Hart on Berry’s “rejection of organized religion” might be useful.
Anyone out there know more about this? My phrase “presents himself as a Christian” reflects my trying to be careful, given my merely intermediate level of Berry-knowledge.
April 28th, 2012 | 7:38 pm
Was there a problem with my first comment for this blog?
Sara, I have my differences related to republicanism, modernity, and theology with Mr. Berry but his writing is a significant contribution to literature because he does avoid the modern spiritual crisis. Here’s my review of “Hannah Coulter,” a book of Berry’s you should read.
http://www.voegelinview.com/hannah-coulter-review.html
April 29th, 2012 | 11:09 am
I would agree that those are legitimate criticisms of Berry.
April 29th, 2012 | 2:11 pm
Interesting comment I one of my favorite blogs praising recommending John C. Medaille’s article on the death of modern society and it’s potential benefits.
http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2012/04/the-imminent-implosion-of-a-society-of-zombies/
May 3rd, 2012 | 9:49 am
I’ve read all of Berry’s published fiction, some of it twice, and have never found any of it boring. I would say, however, that you get a better idea of what he’s about fictionally if you read a novel or two first before you go to the short stories. Novel-wise I’d recommend Jayber Crow, The Memory of Old Jack, and Hannah Coulter.
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