n>In September 2019 Loyola University in Chicago hosted the third biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, attended by hundreds of writers, readers, teachers, publishers, and aficionados of Catholic literature. Headliners include National Book Award winners, bestselling memoirists, award-winning playwrights and filmmakers, and beloved poets: Alice McDermott, Tobias Wolff, Paul Schrader, Richard Rodriquez, and Kristin Valdez Quade, to name merely a few. Less than a decade ago, Catholic intellectuals were expressing concerns about the void in public discourse regarding the contributions of Catholics to contemporary American literature. But then, a call went out, and the faithful literati responded with gusto, as the recent conference gives evidence. While many people think of American religion as synonymous with “evangelical” (or in the case of Harold Bloom and Ross Douthat, as synonymous with “Gnosticism”), and usually regard our belles lettres as secular, Catholics have, at least within the previous century, been prime players on the literary stage. Culture editor at Image Journal Nick Ripatrazone takes readers behind the scenes into the lives and works of great American fiction writers, who were either practicing or cultural Catholics. In Longing for an Absent God: Faith and Doubt in Great American Fiction, Ripatrazone shows readers why this discussion matters as he unpacks the vocabulary of faith, doubt, and “Catholic” that will benefit us in our returned engagement with Catholic writers.Read Full Article »
