Leif Enger: Magic or Miracles?

I interviewed Leif Enger last week, author of the wildly successful Peace Like A River (2001). His new title is So Brave, Young, and Handsome and it’s garnering warm reviews. Peace was a western tale set in 1961 with a Bible-thumpin’ father who performed miracles. It was also a Book Sense Book of the Year, Book of the Month Club choice, Time Top 5 books of the year, NPR choice, and New York Times Bestseller 2001. The miracles, always set in a context of prayer, preaching, or Bible reading, didn’t prevent sales from topping 1 million copies.

So while it’s bad form to ask about an author’s previous book when he has a new one to promote, I had to mention that I grew up in a fundamentalist church and was drawn to his portrayal of miracles in Peace. Turns out he attends an Assembly of God church. The interview twisted into a conversation where he pretty much agreed with this blog’s ongoing discussions about art, Christian fiction, and the capabilities of reaching a larger audience with literature that is Christian.

I was thrilled. Here was a living example of what we have been pecking at from multiple vantage points. (There’s a lot more to tell, but that must wait for another day.)

Here’s What I Didn’t Expect
That night’s reading at the St. Louis County Library collected 65ish people, most of whom had read both books. He said it was easily the best informed group he had run into on Day 17 of the book tour. There were lots of good questions. This one stopped me cold:

“Is there magical realism in the new book like there was in the first one?”

In my pre-interview research, I’d come across this final interview question on his publisher’s website:

Q: Magic plays such a great role in this story. Is it important that we as readers believe the veracity of these events: e.g. the tornado, Jeremiah walking off a platform into space, Reuben's journey to the beyond, to name a few, or just that Reuben believes?

A: I hope even skeptical readers will enjoy the novel, but my own suspicion is that miracles, big obvious ones as well the more comfortable variety (kittens in springtime, Puckett's homer in Game Six) are underway around us. I was raised to this belief and have as yet no proof that it is not so. Why lessen our joy by throwing out what the author of Hebrews called "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"?

In St. Louis, Enger answered by redirecting the language into the “miraculous” events of the book without soft pedaling their biblical nature.

Miracles No More?
I know it’s just two examples, but I can’t help wondering—Have we done such a poor job of living Christianity that most people today don’t even know what a miracle is? That the very word isn’t even in the average person’s vocabulary?

The writing question goes like this: Has Gabriel Garcia-Marquez and company’s magical realism unintentionally hijacked miracles from us as James Joyce boldly stole “epiphanies” from his religious background to describe heightened moments of fictional insight? (Today epiphany is only a word used in reference to fiction.)

It seems we have much more territory to reclaim than we thought.

I’d be interested in your response.

In Case You Were Unaware (1 of 2)

I just found Nextbook, which is a Jewish Literary/Cultural magazine that is devoutly Jewish.

It’s rich and proficient, though I’m not quite sure how religious it is. (Being religious is not necessary, of course. It's just easy to associate a Jewish zine with relgion.) It sets a pretty high standard for quality. Maybe we could pull something like this off someday..?

In Case You Were Unaware (2 of 2)

First-Time Novelists Make a Splash on the Web

Says the article:

It's more and more common for a debut novel to have elaborate homes on the Web, complete with blogs, chatrooms, videos and games. Oftentimes the sites are richly illustrated, almost cinematic.

"I think that we're just scratching the surface in publishing," says Ferdman. "As writers get to understand that they can use this medium to basically further their art and their craft in terms of storytelling, then I think we'll see things that go a lot further than Marisha's site."

Thanks to MaudNewton for the link.