Why do you read? In particular, why do you read fiction?
As my school years recede ever-farther into the distance, my consumption of fiction has narrowed. These days, I read mostly police procedurals and mysteries in my free time, especially if they are set in a milieu unfamiliar to me (it’s like travel without the hassle or expense!). I find such stories to be relaxing and entertaining — if they aren’t too “real” and graphic.
And that’s why the question — why read fiction? — presented itself to me as I read this article in Crisis Magazine: (https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/flannery-oconnors-catholic-mind). It is another encomium to Flannery O’Connor, an author widely lauded in Catholic circles (http://staustinreview.org/2018/03/06/misfits-mystics-flannery-oconnor-friends-2/; https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/the-vocation-of-flannery-oconnor/18676/). Invariably, her champions describe her work as “grotesque,” “dark,” and “violent,” though they admire the ways in which she uses these qualities to bring spiritual truths to light. Those are the very qualities, however, that make her work off-putting for me. I had to put down A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Other Stories. The characters and situations were too dark and, I must admit, frightening.
Perhaps I’m turning away from the Cross when I turn my back on stories that reveal life in all its ugliness. In police/detective fiction, the protagonist is seeking justice and usually finds it. Not so in the real world or in more realistic works. I find, however, that I don’t have to go looking for crosses to bear; the ordinary course of living supplies ample opportunity to take up my cross and follow Jesus. Whether I do so well, or at all, is another matter.
In the end, it’s a matter of taste. I have found great spiritual truths in the fiction of C.S. Lewis and Michael D. O’Brien, among others. Whose fiction draws you closer to God?
Tamara-I am relieved to hear how you feel about Flannery O’Connor’s works. I thought I was the only one. I trudged through A Good Man Is Hard To Find and was left with a sense of foreboding and doom. I’m sure I’m just not “getting it,” but I see enough evil around me that I don’t want to find it in my reading, too. I suppose it is just a matter of personal taste.