An Anthology of Essays

As we fare forward—and the driving force of time will push us forward whether we like it or not—literature can light our paths. Reading literature will not automatically bring wisdom. But it promises to reinforce and expand what wisdom we have by illuminating our imaginations. It is in this spirit that First Things published these essays over the years. Our literary imaginations need to be disciplined and enriched by criticism. Even the best readers seek guides and companions along the way. The critics in this volume have been selected because they are trustworthy friends who are both loyal to the integrity of the writers’ art and faithful to divine truths.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction, by R. R. Reno

2 Auden and the Limits of Poetry, by Alan Jacobs

3 The Sacred Heart of Victor Hugo, by Algis Valiunas

4 The End of the Road, by R. R. Reno

5 The Strange Shipwreck of Robinson Crusoe

6 God & Bertie Wooster, by Joseph Bottum

7 Jane Austen, by Public Theologian, by Peter J. Leithart

8 The Witness of Czeslaw Milosz, by Jeremy Driscoll

9 Hast Thou Considered My Servant Faust?, by David P. Goldman

10 The Cursed Poets and Their Gods, by Algis Valiunas

11 George Eliot: Good Without God, by Alan Jacobs

12 The Moral Witness of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, by Daniel J. Mahoney

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: First Things
• Language: English
• ISBN - 9781979525619