I have been reading the Confederacy of Dunces. The story of its publication—rejection by publishers, reluctant discovery by Waker Percy, rapid critical and commercial success—is a familiar one, of course, and one that contains an editorial lesson. Toole submitted his manuscript to Simon and Schuster, where it was read by editor Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb recognized the book's immense merits but viewed it as a little too pointless. Continue Reading »
If a hoarsely chanted version of the “Hot Pockets” jingle means anything to you, that’s probably a sign that you are a fan of the stand-up comedy of Jim Gaffigan. Clean, Catholic, and hilarious, Gaffigan—who writes his material with his wife Jeannie—has impressed many by his ability to . . . . Continue Reading »
The name they chose for their group was, J. R. R. Tolkien self-effacingly recalls, “a pleasantly ingenious pun . . . suggesting people with vague or half-formed intimations and ideas plus those who dabble in ink.” The description conjures a picture of “donnish dreaminess,” a rag-tag band of tweed-clad writers who met for a pint from time to time. Continue Reading »
Frenemies
Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker
The Holiness of Hobitry
Adam Schwartz, The University Bookman
Virtual Reality as Moral Ideal
Matthew B. Crawford, The New Atlantis
In and Out
Frank Redpath, The Times Literary Supplement
Did you know that “Religious liberty has an important place in American society, to be sure”?That’s the opening sentence of the final paragraph of a summary in The New York Review of Booksof the gay rights vs. religious liberty debate. Continue Reading »
Ireland's 40-Percent Solution
Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing
Art and Money
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
Selfies Say ‘Lonely'
Katrina Trinko, National Review
What's So Funny About Jim Gaffigan's Christianity
Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post
David Mills has found himself in trouble—for making the stunning claim that conservative Catholics are not conservative Protestants, and conservative Protestants are not conservative Catholics. Continue Reading »
On a recent train ride, I sat next to a young German woman living in the United States. She was raised by atheists, but had a deep religious longing. She was baptized and tried Christianity. Her experience of Christianity in Germany left her wanting something deeper, and through a friend, became a . . . . Continue Reading »
Love Is Our Mission, a preparatory catechesis on family tied to the Catholic Church’s upcoming World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, begins exactly as it should: with Jesus revealing that being created in the image and likeness of God means being created to offer others the gift of ourselves. Continue Reading »
Planets, Priests, and a Persistent Myth
Stephen Barr and Dermott Mullan, Wall Street Journal
Dante Turns Seven Hundred and Fifty
John Kleiner, The New Yorker
Protestant Reformer Martin Luther's 16th Century Notes Found
BBC News
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