Atheist Loves Christian Writer

 

Writing in the New Yorker, self-described atheist Mark O'Connell explains why he loves Marilyn Robinson's work, though it is steeped in Christianity.

Robinson visits RPI tomorrow:  http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/robinson_marilynne13.html

"When I say that I love Marilynne Robinson’s work, I’m not talking about half of it; I’m talking about every word of it."

More in the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/marilynne-robinson.html



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A Capricious God

"[Shalom Auslander] is scabrously funny, especially on faith and meaning, but his stories have a habit of breaking down. This is partly because his great subject, God's capriciousness, is a closed loop and as such can be difficult to frame as narrative. 'Pascal's last words were: May God never abandon me,' he observes early in the novel. 'A moment later, God did.' In such a universe, it's not that bad things happen to good people, but that everything that happens is ultimately defined by its own meaninglessness, by the futility of being alive."

Read more of David Ulin's review in the L. A. Times.

Shalom Auslander visits the Writers Institute on March 1st.

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