Living the Good Life: Rowan Williams on Marilynne Robinson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This was an exciting week for book lovers, as Marilynne Robinson's latest novel,\u00a0Lila, was released to much acclaim - even from people who weren't huge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/10\/21\/living-the-good-life-rowan-williams-on-marilynne-robinson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Living the Good Life: Rowan Williams on Marilynne Robinson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This was an exciting week for book lovers, as Marilynne Robinson's latest novel,\u00a0Lila, was released to much acclaim - even from people who weren't huge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/10\/21\/living-the-good-life-rowan-williams-on-marilynne-robinson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. 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{"id":6286,"date":"2014-10-21T06:11:08","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T11:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=6286"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:24:36","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:24:36","slug":"living-the-good-life-rowan-williams-on-marilynne-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2014\/10\/21\/living-the-good-life-rowan-williams-on-marilynne-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Living the Good Life: Rowan Williams on Marilynne Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This was an exciting week for book lovers, as Marilynne Robinson\u2019s latest novel,\u00a0Lila<\/em>, was released to much acclaim \u2013 even from people who weren\u2019t huge fans of her previous novels: the National Book Award-winning\u00a0Housekeeping <\/em>or the\u00a0Pulitzer-winning\u00a0Gilead\u00a0<\/em>and its follow-up,\u00a0Home<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the New Statesman<\/i>, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrote about Robinson\u2019s fiction, and how it is not just a collection of stories set in Christian America but a political and ethical project:<\/p>\n

There have been some accounts of these novels that might lead you to imagine that Robinson is constructing an idyll of unfallen rural America, a celebration of small-town values, community loyalties and simple faith. Because she has identified herself as not only a Christian but a Calvinist of sorts, many have assumed that she will line up with a conservative religious agenda and an appeal for a return to frontier virtues. In fact, her political record (including eloquent support for Obamacare) has made her a deeply controversial figure for the religious right. And this novel ought to dispel any such myths for good. The earlier novels actually provide a sharp indictment of the way in which the comfortable society of the town has forgotten its own history \u2013 its record in the conflicts around the civil war as a bastion of the Union and a safe refuge for runaway slaves.<\/p>\n

The understated but pervasive racism of the 1950s is all the more effectively evoked by being highlighted in the benign figure of old Boughton, Ames\u2019s best friend. Ames himself, in\u00a0Gilead<\/i>, comes to see this with unwelcome clarity and to wonder whether the town is under a curse, the curse of no longer being able to hear the question\u00a0posed to its \u201cgoodness\u201d by rebellious and critical voices such as Boughton\u2019s son with his African-American wife. And Glory Boughton in\u00a0Home<\/i>\u00a0reflects, in the same vein, on the \u201ccurse of sameness\u201d that afflicts her own life and that of her community.<\/p>\n

Read the rest here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"