reviewed by Christy Isinger
Many novels could be written about the life and work of Catholic poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Ron Hansen’s Exiles entwines the religious life and struggles of Hopkins with the five heroic nuns who lost their lives in a shipwreck and became the inspiration of Hopkins’ great poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland. The essential beauty of these very different religious lives, played off each other in the book, give life to the Christian reality of being exiles within the world and is further evidence that Ron Hansen is a truly great Catholic writer.
Exiles explores the inner life of Hopkins and his love of his art and Church. Hansen approaches this complex nature of Gerard Manley Hopkins, highly innovative Victorian poet and Jesuit priest, not as an incomprehensible anomaly as most contemporary critics view him, but simply as a personality, complete with many talents and gifts, that has given itself entirely to God in service. This honest attitude of the writer lets Hopkins’ life speak clearly for itself.
Hopkins is a convert to Catholicism, influenced by Cardinal Newman and the Oxford movement, and strives to enter the Society of Jesus. His great love for God as well as his intelligence lends itself to religious life, but he also feels called to give up his love of poetry. Hopkins is persistently conflicted throughout his life as to whether he should willingly sacrifice his talents of poetry to God, or use them by writing works of poetry to express God’s love. Hansen takes us through Hopkins’ life with this struggle always present, yet not soul-crushing as many would suppose, but a source of constant dependence on God even through times of desolation and physical sufferings.
Exiles becomes all the more intriguing as Hansen tells the stories of the five German nuns who die in the Deutschland disaster. Again, Hansen’s elegant prose brings to life the quiet simplicity of the convent and the agonizing sacrifice of these nuns to leave their country for America. The depth of Hansen’s faith is expressed as he tells the life stories of each nun, how they grew up, how they discovered their own vocation, their love of God and service to the Church. Hansen writes of religious life in a fascinating way. He shows the nuns as real women in the world but alongside their intense faith and holiness as well as their individual personalities.
The tragedy of the wreck of the Deutschland is heart wrenchingly told by Hansen. Clearly, the imagination of Hopkins must have also been inspired by this tragedy as his poetry is interspersed throughout the book as Hansen retells the event in graphic detail. It is amazing to think that this true catastrophe brought about the beauty of Hopkins’ poem and, in turn, this artistically crafted novel.
Ron Hansen’s superb prose, which seemed in Mariette in Ecstasy unsurpassable, is once again so well executed and beautiful that this very short novel completely draws in the reader. Hansen’s writing about religious life is the best I have ever read. There is no overly pious word use or tired and boring psychological studies of the main characters. The truth of their vocations, complete with darkness, sacrifice, and deep love of Christ, is told with simplicity, honesty and a beauty that I believe will not fail to touch even the most skeptic disbeliever.
Recent Comments