"a belief in the existence of grace and of good people; reverence for the human and quotidian; presencing the natural and the supernatural, the horizontal and the vertical, with a lively feeling for each phenomenon’s proper weight."
Thank you! That is the clear and succinct definition of contemplative realism that I have been seeking (and pestering you for) for a long time. And if historical fiction is permitted within that definition, as it must be if By the Rivers of Babylon is a candidate, then I would claim that my own historical novels also fit, which is a reflection, I confess, that I find quite comforting.
Sure! Though (I hope you won't be vexed that) I consider such a summary too incomplete to be a full definition! :) Still, I certainly don't see why historical fiction couldn't take a contemplative-realist angle. Which loops back to the wonderful image (your own) of the idea being "not a walled garden, but just a garden."
Ah, but a garden without walls, by its nature, cannot be completely defined. If you cannot fix its boundaries, all you can do is locate its center. And the formula you gave, if it does not locate the center of contemplative realism, certainly locates the center of something worth contemplating.
Question: is a thing without walls necessarily a thing without borders? Demarcations? I submit that it is not--but perhaps we’re straining the analogy. Anyway, this is encouraging. Thanks.
"a belief in the existence of grace and of good people; reverence for the human and quotidian; presencing the natural and the supernatural, the horizontal and the vertical, with a lively feeling for each phenomenon’s proper weight."
Thank you! That is the clear and succinct definition of contemplative realism that I have been seeking (and pestering you for) for a long time. And if historical fiction is permitted within that definition, as it must be if By the Rivers of Babylon is a candidate, then I would claim that my own historical novels also fit, which is a reflection, I confess, that I find quite comforting.
Sure! Though (I hope you won't be vexed that) I consider such a summary too incomplete to be a full definition! :) Still, I certainly don't see why historical fiction couldn't take a contemplative-realist angle. Which loops back to the wonderful image (your own) of the idea being "not a walled garden, but just a garden."
Ah, but a garden without walls, by its nature, cannot be completely defined. If you cannot fix its boundaries, all you can do is locate its center. And the formula you gave, if it does not locate the center of contemplative realism, certainly locates the center of something worth contemplating.
Question: is a thing without walls necessarily a thing without borders? Demarcations? I submit that it is not--but perhaps we’re straining the analogy. Anyway, this is encouraging. Thanks.