Literature has been said to contain “the best that has been thought and said” about the human condition. The wellspring of art and literature is essential to the flourishing of the human soul, spirit, and civilization. Books are under assault all across our culture, now, more than ever, a return to the wonders of art and literature is necessary if a civilized polity of any kind will survive the vicissitudes of late modernity.
My newly published book, The Odyssey of Love, attempts to offer this to all readers. From Homer to Tolstoy, I gather together twenty-one previously published essays from various journals and magazines on art and literature and offering a pathological interpretation of over 40 different books, plays, and poems from over 2500 years of literature. Matthew Arnold wrote that our artistic tradition contains “the best that has been thought and said” about the human condition. I concur. And I would go as far as saying that from Homer to Tolstoy, art and literature can move the sun and the other stars. It is the most transcendent of all human endeavors.
You can buy the book here: The Odyssey of Love: A Christian Guide to the Great Books (Wipf and Stock, 2021).
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