Behind the Bookcase

Blog Summary

In Amsterdam during World War II, Anne Frank passed through a small door hidden by a bookcase. Behind that bookcase, she began a life of hiding which allowed her to escape Nazi ideology for a time.

Literature I read as a youth, not least Anne Frank's diary, provided a hiding place for me as well. Against Nazi-like laws of science, morality, and social hierarchy, Literature opened a profound vision of empathy, mercy and love. Yet that early privileging of mercy over truth led me down a well-worn path to a postmodern, pluralistic view of truth.

As a Reformed Christian today, I don't believe literature offers a sufficient hiding place from the Nazi within each of us. I have found only one hiding place, one Architect, who can uphold both mercy and morality, in whom "mercy and truth have kissed each other."

Yet by this faith--not in spite of it--I also see extraordinary value in the "deconstructive" literature of American culture and my own youth. And it is this tension I hope to explore as I retrace my steps through the hiding places of my adolescence--with the hope that readers of any faith or philosophical stripe may find value in such a journey.

Read Along

Reading Schedule

January—In Search of a Hiding Place
February—The Home Christendom Built: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
March—A Wall of Mercy: The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
April—Tearing Down Walls of Race: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
May—Tearing Down Walls of Greed: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
June—Tearing Down Walls of Religion: The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
July—Tearing Down Walls of Gender: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins
August-- Tearing Down Walls of Nature: The Bear by William Faulkner
September—Tearing Down Walls of Language: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
October—Tearing Down Walls of Selfhood: The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
November—Beyond Deconstruction: Death to Self in The Guide by R. K. Narayan and Paul's Letter to the Romans
December—Conclusion: A New Architect?

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Quote #45

"People disagreeing everywhere you look, makes you wanna stop and read a book..." Bob Dylan, Watching the River Flow

Friday, November 20, 2009

Quote #46

Mrs. Cadbury: "Tell me what you know about yourself."
Anne Shirley: "Well, it really isn't worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury... but if you let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you'd find it a lot more interesting."

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Quote #47

"American publishing is able to embrace the Other...to enter the anonymous corners." --Colm McCann, 2009 National Book Award Recipient. (Read my blog next year to understand why this is a profound summary of American lit.)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Quote #48

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." Flannery O'Conner

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Quote #49

"A wounded deer leaps the highest." --Emily Dickinson

Monday, November 16, 2009

50 Quotes til Launch

Today's Quote: "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." Mohandas Ghandi

(Check back each day for a new one...until January 5th, launch day for Behind the Bookcase!)

Saturday, October 3, 2009

How You Can Help

Take the Read Along Challenge: Make your own journey through the selected texts. Create your own reading club, create a blog devoted to the subject, or simply post your own insights in the comments section of this blog.

Sing Along (or paint or draw, etc.): Interact with the subject matter in a creative way, and I'll try to post it in the Sing Along section of my website. A great place to find and be found by other artists and readers.

Join the Email Update List: Get an email update when I post each week.

Join the Facebook Group: Coming soon!

Recruit a Friend: If you value this project, why not tell a friend?