In A
STAY AGAINST CONFUSION Ron Hansen explores the role his religious
faith plays in the creation of his fiction, an acclaimed body of
work that includes such novels as MARIETTE IN ECSTASY and ATTICUS
as well as the award winning short story collection NEBRASKA. The
essays consider the relationship between faith and fiction,
sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, but always in Hansen's
carefully wrought language.In
the book's preface, Hansen reveals how his Catholicism first
pointed him toward a career as writer:"Looking back on my childhood now, I find that
church–going and religion were in good part the origin of my
vocation as a writer, for along with Catholicism's feast for the
senses, its ethical concerns, its insistence on seeing God in all
things, and the high status it gave to scripture, drama, and art,
there was a connotation in Catholicism's liturgies that
storytelling mattered."Once
combined with what Hansen calls his, "yen to live out in my
imagination other lives and possibilities," the lure of the
writer's trade was inescapable. As A STAY AGAINST CONFUSION
reveals, he considers his work a sacred endeavor. Those familiar
with his work know his stories are awash in sacred imagery,
sometimes explicitly as in MARIETTE IN ECSTASY, the story of a
young woman who appears to receive the wounds of Christ, and
sometimes implicitly as in ATTICUS, a mystery that includes a
retelling of the Prodigal Son tale.The
first essay in the collection, "Faith and Fiction," includes
Hansen's thoughts, delivered in an almost scriptural rhythm,
concerning the creation and purpose of faith–based
fiction:"A
faith–inspired fiction squarely faces the imponderables of
life, and in the fiction writer's radical self–confrontation
may even confess to desolation and doubt. Such fiction is
instinctive rather than conformist, intuitive rather than
calculated; it features vital characters rather than comforting
types, offers freedom and anomaly rather than foregone conclusions,
invites thoughtfulness not through rational argument, but through
asking the right questions."While Hansen devotes the first three essays to exploring fairly
theoretical territory, charting a course for the writer of deep
religious faith, A STAY AGAINST CONFUSION also includes a series of
biographical sketches, ranging in subject from Hansen's
grandfather, to fellow writer and mentor John Gardner, to Saint
Ignatius of Loyola. In these three essays, the reader is introduced
to the kind of men Hansen admires and how their lives have impacted
his life and his work. Each biographical essay is imbued with a
deep sense of respect for its subject as Hansen seems to explore
the very souls of these three very different men.The
next five essays are critical studies of a variety of artistic and
religious works, including the story of Cain and Abel, the poetry
of Gerard Manley Hopkins, a short story by Leo Tolstoy, the film
Babette's Feast, and the prayer known as "Anima Christi." Hansen's
keen analytical skills come to the fore here as he stretches the
boundaries of each work under consideration, seeking what each
might reveal about God and about the power of
storytelling.A
STAY AGAINST CONFUSION ends with two essays exploring mysteries of
the Catholic faith --- stigmata and the Eucharist --- which bookend
a third essay detailing the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests who
were killed by Salvadoran soldiers in 1989. That essay, "Hearing
the Cry of the Poor: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador," leaves
theory behind in favor of a passionate retelling of the brutal
suppression of the Catholic faith in El Salvador by soldiers who
had been trained in the United States. The only political document
in the book, this essay may well be the most powerful piece in the
collection as Hansen uses his considerable abilities to paint a
horrific picture of faith under persecution.Hansen's collection should cement his reputation as a
beautiful, thoughtful writer as it reveals the deeper wellspring of
his work and his passionate belief in God.