Rowan Williams on Dostoevsky

For information, some of the early reactions to Rowan Williams' new book on Dostoevsky. The Guardian reviewer finds much interesting thinking in it, but wonders whether it contains "the worst prose ever written by a poet." A.N. Wilson is rather more engaged in the TLS, as is Salley Vickers in the Times. Williams has given interviews to the Guardian and the Telegraph (A.N. Wilson again).

Gregory Bateson

An interesting recent Guardian article by Tim Parks on the anthropologist Gregory Bateson and his view of the arts and their possible effect on social life; I know nothing at all of Bateson, but his views are an interesting part of the background noise about what the arts might be made to do in mid-twentieth century Britain.

Auden's prose

Following on from an earlier post, another review of the third volume of Edward Mendelson's edition of Auden's prose, this time by Sean O'Brien, reflecting on the cultural distance now evident between Auden and our contemporary life.

Dallas Sweetman

I note the premiere this week of this new play by Sebastian Barry, reviving the commissioning of new plays by Canterbury Cathedral. The heyday of the Canterbury plays was between 1928 and the years immediately after the war; my own article on the first of these, John Masefield's The Coming of Christ, is forthcoming in Humanitas. The Journal of the George Bell Institute.
A preview has appeared in the Telegraph.
[October 10th: reviews in the Times, Observer, Guardian and Telegraph; overall conclusion: nice building, difficult acoustics.]

The Golden Generation

I note a new exhibition at the British Library on the abolition of the Lord Chamberlain's powers of theatre censorship in 1968; it is due to run until the end of November.
There was also a conference to coincide with the exhibition, marking the end of an AHRC-funded research project, details of which are available on the project website.

The Lady Chatterley trial

Have recently read a splendid article by Mark Roodhouse on the Anglican involvement in the Chatterley trial of 1960, and in particular the role of Mirfield father and literary critic Martin Jarrett-Kerr. It is particularly interesting on the tensions between Christian emphasis on the integrity of the creative act and the perceived need for censorship to avoid harm or scandal both within the church and in wider society. Jarrett-Kerr's 'peculiar vocation' to the literary world, in the eyes of some, forced him to negotiate between the literary reputation of Lawrence and the welfare of souls, as one colleague put it.
It's in the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 59; 3 (July 2008), 475-500 (available online, by subscription.).

The Word made art

I note an interesting-looking event in London on November 1st: a series of three lectures by Neil McGregor (director of the British Museum) on artistic responses to themes related to the social implications of the Incarnation. Details on the Scott Holland Trust site.

Literature and religion

I note from a week or two ago a report in the Guardian Review (July 4th) on an interesting exchange at a University of Manchester event between Martin Amis, the theologian Graham Ward and the critic James Wood.

Charles Williams

I note in passing a review by Rowan Williams of a new book on Charles Williams by Gavin Ashenden, from the TLS; the subject is described as "a deeply serious critic, a poet unafraid of major risks, and a theologian of rare creativity". Ashenden is chaplain to the University of Sussex.

Bob Dylan and 60s religion

After listening on Saturday morning to a Radio 4 programme considering the importance of Bob Dylan, I'm reminded of Hugh McLeod's recent observation on the quasi-prophetic status given to Dylan, in his recent book on the religious crisis of the Sixties. He only raises the point briefly, but there is much work to be done on the gradual widening of the sphere of 'religiously significant' music to include pop.
See my review of McLeod's book, in Reviews in History.