WHY I WROTE MY NOVEL by Larry Stout
WHY I WROTE MY NOVEL by Larry Stout, 6/7/09
I love literature. When I read the classics, from Shakespeare to Milton, from Melville to Steinbeck, I find myself in awe of their command of language and mastery of character. As a Christian, we should appreciate beauty wherever we find it. And it saddens me greatly that there have only been a handful of Christians in the past century who command the respect of the secular world in literature. Among them are G. K Chesterton, Flannery O’Conner, C. S. Lewis and perhaps a handful of others – but sadly, these have passed from the scene some time before.
In my lifetime, what has passed for Christian literature is simply red meat for the faithful. Frank Peretti’s angel novels have sold over 12 million copies, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins apocalyptic Left Behind stories have sold over 65 million copies, and the most recent Christian bestseller, The Shack by William Young has seen over one million sold so far. It proves that Christians have a strong counterculture and not much else.
To be honest, the works of these authors leave much to be desired. Eugene Peterson, a very good writer and author of over 30 books, including The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, compared The Shack to Pilgrim’s Progress. As much as I respect Peterson, I can guarantee that Young’s book will be long forgotten while Bunyan’s will continue to live on. Bunyan in his worst day never wrote anything like we find in The Shack. Consider this sample, “One can almost hear a unified sigh rise from the nearby city and surrounding countryside where Nature has intervened to give respite to the weary humans slogging it out within her purview.” I’ll take Bunyan any day.
The difference between popular best sellers, Christian or otherwise, and great literature is that great literature speaks to us – it makes demands upon our minds and probes the depths of our souls. Yes, it is not always easy to read such works. Yet the best fiction, poetry and theater challenge us beyond our expectations. We are better people for reading such works.
All of this has been on my mind for years. My heart’s cry for years has been for the church to not only be Christian refuge but also be a redeeming influence in the secular community. I agree with Abraham Kuyper, that there is not one square inch of the universe that the Lord does not declare, “This is Mine!”
This principle should apply to literature as well. I looked with envy over how a person like Ayn Rand could write novels that were able to advocate her philosophical system of Objectivism so eloquently and compellingly and wondered why Christians could not do the same with their faith. As I waited in vain for someone to pick up the standard, I decided that perhaps I should try my own hand.
I do not pretend that Hourglass represents great literature, but it was done with an honest attempt for that distinction. From the very first sentence to the very last one (which actually are mirror images of one another), the novel is filled with symbolism, imagery, and ideas wrapped inside an intriguing mystery story. The works of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Plato, Freud, Nietzsche, Thomas Kuhn and Lewis Carroll are alluded to and appreciated, but it is John Calvin who turns out to be the hero.
Does it work? Melissa Duits notes in her review of the book for Amazon.com, “Hourglass contains suspense, mystery, and humor but it is the way the author made me feel like I knew his characters that drew me in. The characters are rich, compelling, and – best of all – intelligent. We follow young Tyler Jackson as he wrestles with the ‘bigger issues’ of life. Tyler shares his thoughts with Dr. Alice Weis while taking us down a road of philosophical discussion, which includes everything from Calvin to Camus, Plato to Pascal.”
Mark Hettler wrote in his review for Amazon.com, “The philosophical discussions do not bog down or detract, but are woven into the plot as part of the mystery’s unfolding solution. In the end you’ve been presented with a compelling case for the author’s own philosophy of life, but not in a preachy way, but as the solution to a mystery.”
As much as I hope that Hourglass will be widely read, I would hope even more that it would inspire younger and more gifted Christian writers to emulate my attempt at raising the bar of Christian fiction. We will never reach the unbelieving world with literature that would only be read by the faithful.
I love literature. When I read the classics, from Shakespeare to Milton, from Melville to Steinbeck, I find myself in awe of their command of language and mastery of character. As a Christian, we should appreciate beauty wherever we find it. And it saddens me greatly that there have only been a handful of Christians in the past century who command the respect of the secular world in literature. Among them are G. K Chesterton, Flannery O’Conner, C. S. Lewis and perhaps a handful of others – but sadly, these have passed from the scene some time before.
In my lifetime, what has passed for Christian literature is simply red meat for the faithful. Frank Peretti’s angel novels have sold over 12 million copies, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins apocalyptic Left Behind stories have sold over 65 million copies, and the most recent Christian bestseller, The Shack by William Young has seen over one million sold so far. It proves that Christians have a strong counterculture and not much else.
To be honest, the works of these authors leave much to be desired. Eugene Peterson, a very good writer and author of over 30 books, including The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, compared The Shack to Pilgrim’s Progress. As much as I respect Peterson, I can guarantee that Young’s book will be long forgotten while Bunyan’s will continue to live on. Bunyan in his worst day never wrote anything like we find in The Shack. Consider this sample, “One can almost hear a unified sigh rise from the nearby city and surrounding countryside where Nature has intervened to give respite to the weary humans slogging it out within her purview.” I’ll take Bunyan any day.
The difference between popular best sellers, Christian or otherwise, and great literature is that great literature speaks to us – it makes demands upon our minds and probes the depths of our souls. Yes, it is not always easy to read such works. Yet the best fiction, poetry and theater challenge us beyond our expectations. We are better people for reading such works.
All of this has been on my mind for years. My heart’s cry for years has been for the church to not only be Christian refuge but also be a redeeming influence in the secular community. I agree with Abraham Kuyper, that there is not one square inch of the universe that the Lord does not declare, “This is Mine!”
This principle should apply to literature as well. I looked with envy over how a person like Ayn Rand could write novels that were able to advocate her philosophical system of Objectivism so eloquently and compellingly and wondered why Christians could not do the same with their faith. As I waited in vain for someone to pick up the standard, I decided that perhaps I should try my own hand.
I do not pretend that Hourglass represents great literature, but it was done with an honest attempt for that distinction. From the very first sentence to the very last one (which actually are mirror images of one another), the novel is filled with symbolism, imagery, and ideas wrapped inside an intriguing mystery story. The works of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Plato, Freud, Nietzsche, Thomas Kuhn and Lewis Carroll are alluded to and appreciated, but it is John Calvin who turns out to be the hero.
Does it work? Melissa Duits notes in her review of the book for Amazon.com, “Hourglass contains suspense, mystery, and humor but it is the way the author made me feel like I knew his characters that drew me in. The characters are rich, compelling, and – best of all – intelligent. We follow young Tyler Jackson as he wrestles with the ‘bigger issues’ of life. Tyler shares his thoughts with Dr. Alice Weis while taking us down a road of philosophical discussion, which includes everything from Calvin to Camus, Plato to Pascal.”
Mark Hettler wrote in his review for Amazon.com, “The philosophical discussions do not bog down or detract, but are woven into the plot as part of the mystery’s unfolding solution. In the end you’ve been presented with a compelling case for the author’s own philosophy of life, but not in a preachy way, but as the solution to a mystery.”
As much as I hope that Hourglass will be widely read, I would hope even more that it would inspire younger and more gifted Christian writers to emulate my attempt at raising the bar of Christian fiction. We will never reach the unbelieving world with literature that would only be read by the faithful.
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