sewn paper
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Essays/Spirituality
March 2001
152 pages
ISBN 0-88984-221-1
$17.95
Fiction / Stories
September 1999
252 pages
ISBN 0-88984-208-6
$18.95
Fiction / Stories
October 1994
160 pages
ISBN 0-88984-145-4
$12.95
Author comes out of religious closet
`I remember having brunch with a fellow writer in the early '80s
and confessing to him that I had just realized I was a default Christian.
What I meant was, as a child of the '50s, I had been taken to church
and subjected to daily Bible readings and the Lord's Prayer at school.
As a result, whether I liked it or not, my world-view, my sociological makeup,
a lot of my psychological baggage, were essentially Judeo-Christian.
`Though it wasn't as fixed a factor as my race or sexual orientation,
it was there, and it was bound to affect my writing. I was still an atheist,
I hastened to reassure my friend, who had started to recoil.
- K. D. Miller, Holy Writ
`Canada hasn't produced many Annie Dillards or Anne
Lamotts - serious authors whose spiritual writings also enjoy popular
and critical acclaim.
`So the new essay collection, Holy Writ (Porcupine's Quill),
is a brave book of sorts. Author K. D. Miller risks accusations of flakiness
for writing about God outside the approved bounds of literary satire
or scientific debunking.
`After years of doggedly slogging in the ``little magazine'' trenches,
Miller celebrated a breakthrough - her 2000 fiction collection, Give Me Your Answer,
was shortlisted for two big awards and called one of the year's best
by The Star's Philip Marchand.
`Some might worry that Miller is committing career suicide in Holy Writ
by ``coming out'' as a believer. And she knows it.
` ``Even now,'' she writes, ``I would only call myself a Christian after
all kinds of politically correct throat-clearing.
` ``For years, I attempted atheism, largely because I craved its intellectual
cache. I sometimes still do, when it comes out in conversations that I go
to church, and the person I'm talking to gives me that sugary, seraphic
smile that means they've pegged me as one of the not terribly bright.''
`In Holy Writ, Miller asks herself and a number of other Canadian
authors - incluing Christians, Buddhists, Jews and agnostics - what role
(if any) faith plays in their creative endeavours.
`The views of Russell Smith, with their quaint, 19th-century patina,
fall well within the normal range among urbane artistes:
` ``I am hostile not just to organized religion, but to any form of
spiritual belief - to any talk of spirit or chakras or life-force or gods
or fairies or elves.''
`(Oh, my. Smith swipes at fairies and elves not one but twice in Holy Writ.
That atheists are often more zealous about religion than their believing
brethren is one of God's little jokes, like the platypus.)
`Essays by Robyn Sarah, John Metcalf and others are equally revealing
about such intimate subjects as writerly rituals and superstitions,
and the origins of inspiration, whose root word, after all, means
``spirit.''
`Miller's observations make up most of the book. She has thought
a lot about the connection between the worlds of literature and
religion:
` ``Each has a mission to the world. Each has a carefully refined
idea of what constitutes `good.' Each formalizes and brings out into
the open what is invisible, impulsive and private. And each introduces
the individuals to a community of like-minded souls.''
`She looks at such biblical figures as Martha and Pontius Pilate
with a novelist's discerning eye for character.
`The results are enlightening, but Miller is never the precious,
pretentious capital-A Artist.
`She writes about writing, yes, but also about her office job
and about commuting, housework, friendship, romance and other everyday
travails.
`Miller's candid, witty style resembles Lamott's, without the
self-conscious quirkiness.
`Holy Writ more closely resembles poet Kathleen Norris'
recent memoirs - erudite yet conversational tales of her own spiritual
homecoming that became surprise bestsellers.
`Who knows? Since Miller has come out of the God closet,
perhaps other authors will follow. I only hope - no, make that
pray - that they write half as well as she does.
`Holy Writ will no doubt inspire and affirm other artists - not
to mention ordinary folks - who wrestle (in secret)
with angels rather than devils.'
Kathy Shaidle hosts the faith and culture weblog, RelapsedCatholic.com.
This review first appeared in the Toronto Star.