This book was such a joy to read, being both interesting and easy to read as well as inspiring to immediately go out and read lots of other books! A few weeks ago, I posted about the introduction of this book, in which Karen Swallow Prior lays out her argument that reading (of the sort that thinks and assesses the content) is good for developing virtue. In the main body of the book, she takes 12 virtues (the cardinal virtues, the theological virtues, and the heavenly virtues) and considers each one in light of a particular work of fiction literature.
While we could probably take just one work of literature and consider what it has to say about all 12 virtues, I appreciate that she wanted to give the broad spectrum--this book is essentially a lesson on how to look at books from a variety of genres and how to open ourselves to be changed for the better by the goodness and badness we find. She also helpfully considers what each virtue really means and looks like, seeking out clarifications through etymology and other uses of the root words.
Also, in taking a different book to look at each virtue, Prior shows how we can apply this kind of careful reading to every genre. I certainly have my favorite genres, and she even write about two of my favorite books (A Tale of Two Cities for the virtue of Justice, and Persuasion for the virtue of Patience.) But she considers authors and styles that are widely different, which has since inspired me to look forward to trying out each of these styles, if not each of the books that I haven't yet read. The earliest work is from the 17th century--Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress which is a Puritan allegory that she uses to think about the virtue of discipline. For more modern works, she uses George Saunders' short story "The Tenth of December" to talk about Kindness. In between we have F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cormac McCarthy, Mark Twain, Tolstoy (along with Dickens and Austen whom I already mentioned), Edith Wharton, Flannery O'Connor, and Shusaku Endo.
It would be impossible to even summarize the points of each virtue for each book, since that is what Karen Swallow Prior has done in this book.... and it is a book! I can, however, summarize some of my favorite points and mention a few things that I disagreed with.
The chapter on Faith (which looked at Shusaku Endo's book, Silence) was particularly helpful to me in realizing the danger of pride as we "work out our faith in fear and understanding" as Paul says in Philippians chapter 2. We conscientiously seek to know God and understand what he would have us do.... and before we know it, we can find ourselves looking at other people and thinking, "why aren't they doing what I'm doing?" (Perhaps not expecting them to do the very things we are doing, but we suspect that they aren't seeking God's will the way that they ought to.) I read Silence when I was in college and hated almost every moment of it. And in a way, I felt a bit validated in reading this chapter, because Prior speaks to the discomfort of the subject matter, as we see first one and then two missionaries to Japan apostatize and then become assimilated into Japanese culture. And the central question is, "do they have saving faith? CAN they have saving faith?" And there is no way to read the book and come out saying a positive "yes" or "no." Which is what frustrated me! But Prior points to this as the power of the writing, taking away the pride of the reader. We don't and we never will have the power to say decisively: this person is damned. But we can look at our own faith and say: is this real? And we remind ourselves that this is not our trial...but should it ever become ours, we borrow more words from Paul in Philippians and pray and ask God fervently that "with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, by life or by death."
This chapter on faith, by the way, did not make me want to go re-read the book again. (Perhaps the only one that didn't do that.) I think I still have an almost visceral repulsion to this story, it is so horrifying and unsettling. But I appreciate so much that I now feel like I have gotten the point (or at least one of the points) that I should have seen when I read it 10 years ago.
Another favorite chapter was on the power of kindness. First, Prior draws the connection with kinship (among other things.) And through the story of Saunders' "Tenth of December", she draws out the power of treating other people like family. We love them, understand them, seek to understand them, and are careful about what we say (or should be), knowing that as family, we might hold more power over their emotions than we ought to. Kindness doesn't always have to go to this extreme, but there is a care and concern at the heart of it that can be directed toward anyone, even the passing stranger on the street. There is also an essential connection between kindness and truth. There is no way to separate the two. "Niceness" is different. Even the etymology of "nice" has an association with ignorance and lack of understanding. The story itself shows a meeting between two strangers in the woods--an old man who is terminally ill and preparing to kill himself, and a boy out pretending "rescue the damsel in despair". They meet, and they are kind to each other, showing concern for the other's health and basic needs. The result of this everyday sort of kindness is that the old man is revived in his desire to live (a sad irony, since he is terminally ill and now must consider the tough days in front of him.) Both he and the boy realize that they were living in a cloud, imagining things that weren't true. Because of their chance meeting in the woods and their kindness, they see the truth more clearly and are ready to meet life with their "eye's open" and ready to appreciate it.
Throughout the book, Karen Swallow Prior has a roughly Augustinian approach to virtues, understanding that they are a mean of behavior or thought between two extremes, which are considered to be the related vices. And throughout the book, I have taken some issue with this... sometimes with the extremes, and sometimes with the whole framework of a virtue being the middle ground between two vices. One example of this is the way she writes about patience. I love much of what she had to say in the chapter on Persuasion (it is, after all, one of my favorite books!) A helpful one-liner that I took note of was, "patience is not passivity, but perseverance." Part of her understand of patience is that it's "a willingness to endure suffering." This is linked to the following idea that if there were no suffering, there would be no need for patience.... which I don't think quite lines up with a normal/everyday understanding of patience and suffering. We have often told our kids that "Patience means waiting without whining or complaining." Perhaps if you have a very soft understanding of suffering, waiting for something could qualify.... but no, waiting in and of itself is not suffering. Now, I do agree that all moments of suffering require patience, but I don't think it follows that suffering must be present for a person to exercise patience. In reading Prior's assessment of the extremes associated with the virtue, I've probably become more set in my disagreement. She says that the vice of excess that is related to suffering is "wrath" (!) and the vice of deficiency is "apathy." And here is my objection: we are talking about patience! (not suffering) Excess and deficiency must be related to the thing in the middle! An excess of patience might result in apathy, but certainly not wrath and anger. And a deficiency of patience is.... well.... impatience. Impatience can sometimes (often does) lead directly to anger, but more closely shows an extreme selfishness and entitlement. She does end the chapter the with extremely helpful and succinct comment that "patience has often been considered a sub-virtue of courage."
In spite of my disagreement about the framework she is setting up, I have found most of her thoughts on the actual virtues to be wise and inspiring. I appreciate the many, many references she makes to other writers, theologians, and philosophers. And most of all, I have a better way of reading and practicing virtue at the same time--truly learning to be by doing one of the things I love best: immersing myself in fiction and literature.
