A Stay Against Confusion: Essays on Faith and Fiction

I have always enjoyed Hansen's books, his unique style. This collection of essays was a treat. As I read each one, I thought it was so remarkable, and then I would read the next essay and like it even more. I especially liked the one about his mentor, John Gardner, the one about Hopkins (does any Margaret not like Hopkins?), the one about Cain, the one about Anima Christi, the one about Tolstoy, the one about Ignatius of Loyola, the one about...oh wait, I am listing the whole book, accidentally. That means I loved every one of these essays. Mr. Hansen not only has the gift of writing, but he also discusses his faith very well. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in writing, or interested in living the examined life.

Ron Hansen shows his cards in "A Stay Against Confusion." He reveals himself to be a passionately spiritual writer; this world is not the only one that exists in his fiction. I greatly enjoyed his westerns, "Desperadoes" and "Jesse James", without really getting the underlying archetypal structure in them (Hansen says his treatment of "the dirty little coward" Robert Ford is a consideration of the Judas story.) But in "Marriette in Ecstasy" and the unforgettable historical novel "Hitler's Niece", Hansen wrote about the extremes of good and evil in an unmistakably religious way. But his novels aren't heavy-handed, "faith-promoting" tracts; they are alive and as necessarily ambiguous and multifaceted as the best fiction is.This collection of essays explores Hansen's thinking about faith and fiction. He is a Catholic of the Vatican II variety, but this isn't an obstacle for people of other traditions to get him. He's a terrific writer. His prose is as sharp and clear as a diamond and he's a gifted storyteller. Indeed, in "What Stories Are And Why We Read Them" he insists that fiction musn't be didactic (as a lot of religious-based fiction is.) You can't beat readers over the head; they have to be carefully led into caring *what happens next.* (This concern over reader accessibility also sets him apart from many contemporary writers.) In "Faith and Fiction" he describes how we use stories in order to figure out the world, to deduce principles that we can live by. A story can be the vehicle for the Holy Spirit to touch our lives; an occasion for grace. In "The Wizard" he remembers the late, rambunctious novelist and critic John Gardner, who was a mentor, and tries to put him into perspective (warts and all.) In "Stigmata", perhaps the most fascinating essay in the book, he looks at what made him write his novel about a stigmatic ("Mariette") and if there are really such holy people in this fallen world. He masterfully explicates Leo Tolstoy's "Master and Man", Gerard Manley Hopkins poetry, and the film based on Isak Dinesen's story "Babette's Feast."In his book "Hitler's Niece" (about the dictator who was an apostate Catholic who hated Christianity) and his other novels and short stories Hansen creates a fictional world that is quiveringly alive with the possibilities of good and evil. Where eternal destinies and the fate of the world hang on the decisions of individuals. Where free will *matters*. "A Stay Against Confusion" is an excellent introduction to this world.

I bought this book based on its subtitle (Essays on Faith and Fiction) and on my appreciation for Ron Hansen as a faith-filled writer. I expected it to be more about the integration of faith and fiction, and I loved the sections dedicated to that topic. As an author myself, I feel a kinship with Hansen in that I too write fiction from a faith perspective. I felt a little bit cheated by the chapters on Hansen's family members, but moved deeply by the story of the murdered Jesuits in El Salvador. That's why I rate this book "almost great." I don't fault the author but rather my own expectation that it would be something more than it was. All in all, I'm happy to have the book in my library, and much of it is highlighted in yellow.

It was a happy fault. I tend to buy too many books at the mega-stores, and during a recent visit to Nebraska I saw Ron Hansen's newest book right near the door as I walked in. To be honest, it was the cover that first attracted my eye. To be even more honest, it was the writing that caused me to stay up half the night. I could not stop until I had read the whole book in one sitting. "A Stay Against Confusion" is a marvelous collection of essays from a talented and insightful author. I cannot think of another contemporary writer who so thoroughly combines a talent for his craft with the kind of "Catholic Imagination" that informed the work of people like Georges Bernanos, Flannery O'Connor and Grahame Green. But don't worry - this is NOT a collection of essays designed just for Roman Catholics! Hansen has a 'sacramental' world view - he is in touch with the mystery that shimmers just below the surface of things, and his writing helps us to encounter that. I found myself looking at the world differently after I read this book. His essay on the movie "Babette's Feast" gave me new language to describe a film that I have always loved. His essay on the Jesuit martyrs of Central America challenged my comfortable lifestyle, and drew me into the reality of suffering. The several essays on the craft and vocation of writing reveal some of the inner workings of a creative mind - a mind at once deeply rooted in the here-and-now, but at the smae time open to mysteries bigger than our categories. His concluding essay on the Eucharist will speak to believers and non believers alike. Again, this is not a "spirituality book" designed for a selective audience. This collection of essays touches on a broad variety of topics: the craft of writing; film; teaching; family; sacraments; faith. It is a stellar example of what "Catholic" writing should be: a marvelous combination of faith and reason, seriousness and humor, mystery and logic, humility and certainty. Whatever your background, I think you will find food for the mind AND the soul in this fine collection of thoughtful essays.

I found these essays fascinating, both for Hansen's general insights concerning the relationship between religious faith and writing, as well as for an opportunity to read about the background behind such wonderful novels as Mariette in Ecstasy and Atticus. Hansen is known as a stylist, a writer of beautiful prose, but he is also, apparently, a fine weaver of essays and ideas. I loved this book.