Being a Writer, Being Catholic

Sometimes the Twain Can Meet

Valerie Sayers June 7, 2004 - 4:51am

In a recent talk to a group of Catholic writers, artists, and academics, book editor and journalist Paul Elie argued that the most distinctive thing about the contemporary Catholic writer is his or her "aloneness," and that any distinctively Catholic writing must come to terms with that fact. "What makes the Catholic writer feel so fixed in isolation? Why do we feel, each of us, that we are working alone in the dark?" Elie asked. The answer he gave was multifaceted and...

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About the Author

Valerie Sayers is professor of English at the University of Notre Dame. Her new novel, The Powers, and reprints of her previous novels will be published by Northwestern University Press.

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