In his 2024 National Book Award-winning novel, ‘James,’ Percival Everett grapples with philosophical and metaphysical questions as well as racial issues, while enveloping all in sarcasm and irony.
Books
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Masked man: Al Jolson and the politics of performance
Richard Bernstein tackles difficult topics in his short study of an extraordinary entertainer, Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson in Lithuania in 1886), and a profoundly important movie—and not just because “The Jazz Singer” is recognized as the “first talkie.”
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Review: A novel about aging, ailing and the inevitability of death
With ‘Featherless,’ her new novel about aging, ailing and the inevitability of death. A. G. Mojtabai joins so many other prominent contemporary fiction writers (Toni Morrison, Phillip Roth, Marilynne Robinson and Margaret Atwood, to name a few) who have explored aging late in their careers.
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Review: The future of Catholic theology departments in colleges and universities
Massimo Faggioli’s new book asks the question: “What is [theology’s] intrinsic value if it is not rooted somehow to the ongoing development of the life of the church as a community of disciples attempting to live Jesus-like lives?”
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Review: Ernest Hemingway’s simple, devotional and private Catholicism
Was Ernest Hemingway’s lifelong subject a study of saintliness? A new book on his religious faith provides ample evidence of that.
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Why Catholic literary circles should remember the writings of William Barrett
William Barrett is hardly remembered in Catholic academic or literary circles, though his Catholic novels offer richly textured stories that avoid the sensational and sentimental.
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An atheist walks into a Catholic convent: Charlotte Wood on her novel ‘Stone Yard Devotional’
Wood’s earlier novels contain explicit social critiques, but ‘Stone Yard Devotional’ does its intellectual heavy lifting at an arm’s-length distance. “I wanted to write a book that doesn’t teach or explain or condescend,” she told America in an interview over Zoom in February.
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Review: A priestly ministry on hockey skates
‘Hockey Priest: Father David Bauer and the Spirit of the Canadian Game’ shows the interplay of spirituality and sport in the world that Father Bauer helped create.
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Review: Philip Berrigan’s prophetic ire
‘A Ministry of Risk,’ a collection of the writings and speeches of the late Phil Berrigan (1923-2002), is a provocative anthology destined to leave most readers bewildered, challenged and perhaps even a little angry.
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Review: André Aciman’s formative year in Rome
The novelist and memoirist André Aciman chronicles his formative year in Rome as a teenager in ‘Roman Year.’