Category: Books
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Sed Contra: Reading Madeline St. John
Deal W. Hudson September 1, 2000 Crisis readers, I am sure, will want to know about the recent publication by Carroll & Graf of three novels by Madeleine St John (pronounced “sin-gin”), an Anglican and a Londoner, of Australian birth. St John’s work deserves to be widely read by Catholics who are in the habit…
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The Laughter That Binds Us All
Deal W. Hudson November 23, 2009 Marjorie Campbell’s new book, On the Way to the Kingdom, has its origins in the radical feminism of her youth and her discovery of the late humorist and newspaper columnist Erma Bombeck. A mother of three children (ages 13 to 20), a wife, and an attorney, Campbell turned away from radical…
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What Nietzsche Can Teach America
Deal W. Hudson August 31, 2010 I have often learned my most valuable lessons from my worst enemies. In graduate school, I spent several years wrestling with the texts of the atheistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who taught me one unforgettable lesson: Those who lack the tragic sense of life are apt to invent realities to…
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The Last Institution
Deal W. Hudson December 9, 2010 Some cliches, like some books, seem wise when we are young. Most of the D. H. Lawrence I admired when I was twenty sounds pretty silly to me now. I remember embracing the cliche about the inferiority of institutional religion as opposed to personal “religiousness.” In those days, I…
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Stories We Hear Again and Again
Deal W. Hudson December 7, 2014 We welcome the retelling of traditional stories because we are always seeking both to understand and endure the stories we inhabit and ultimately the narrative which is our entire life. Why else would both the main characters in Casablanca, played by Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, ask for the same…
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A Writer Who Questions Whether or Not Jesus is Real
Deal W. Hudson January 10, 2015 Madeline St John (1941-2006), pronounced “sin-gin,” is a writer who never caught on in the United States, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was her early death in 2006. When Carroll & Graf published three of her novels in the late 90s, I was certain American readers would…
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Campy Intellectuals and the Great Books
Deal W. Hudson April 10, 2015 I love lists. For many years I have sought out lists of the best novels, films, golf courses, men’s clothing shops, hat shops, electronic stores, and musical recordings, among other enthusiasts. And it’s well worth the effort, especially at the end of the year when the “Best of…” lists…
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The Exorcist Author Learns Death is a Lie
Deal W. Hudson April 25, 2015 A Book Review: William Peter Blatty, Finding Peter: A True Story of the Hand of Providence and Evidence of Life after Death Regnery Publishing, March 30, 2015 256 pages, $27.99 Honesty is rare, and when it’s found in a book such as this the effect is quite arresting and compelling.…
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Books To Read Before You Reach 30
Deal W. Hudson June 15, 2015 Katherine Brooks at the Huffington Post recently suggested a list of “30 Books to Read Before You Turn 30.” I find such lists valuable, given that I often find out about good books I didn’t know, or I am reminded to read books I haven’t yet gotten around to.…
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For Christmas: Books Containing a Witness to Human Horror
Deal W. Hudson December 6, 2015 If you give only one book for Christmas, I recommend The Complete Works of Primo Levi (boxed in 3 volumes). The books are beautifully bound and edited, the pages sturdy, the fonts well-chosen, and the layout assures no hot lights or squinting are required for reading. The entire collection has been newly…
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