 FROM THE EDITOR
The summer issue of Hereditas
is the fattest and richest yet. Word is getting out that we are
the little magazine with big ideas. Lucky for us a lot of very
good writers are willing help out. What is our goal -- and
theirs? To bring you as much Catholic writing as we can --fiction,
poetry, and essays on literature, aesthetics, education and whatever
else will lay another brick, set up another column in the broken
edifice of Western Catholic civilisation. We don't ask for much
-- just the reconquista of just about everything, the end of vulgarity
and mediocrity, and, while we're at it, the baptism and conversion of
the modern world. Probably this will take a while.
In the meantime, our interviewer, Karina Fabian would like you to meet one of our many allies in this work, Jeff Miller, the Curt Jester.
Look him up sometime. He is one of many Catholics you will meet
out there on the front lines, defending the Faith on the internet. Then
we have an article and pictures by Catholic teacher, Linda Gardner, who has a unique way of teaching literature at her Louisiana Catholic High School. Mark Scott Abeln
is back with another essay on aesthetics, this time an anaylsis of the
work and theory of Louis Sullivan, the man who designed skyscrapers.
Therese Dagenais returns with the first part of a series on the
Frankfurt School. Never heard of them? Well you've seen
their work of destruction, whether you realise it or not. Mrs.
Dagenais has researched a real eye-opener.
Dr. Seddon is back, this time with an article on reading historical
fiction. He's got a bibliography, too, for all you teachers and
homeschoolers out there. What a pleasant and painless way to have
history come to life! Donald Tremblay
brings us another of his studies of literature, this time with an essay
on Cervantes. And while we're on the subject of the author of Don
Quixote, let me tell you about our cover. Painter Galdino Lopez
has very kindly allowed us to photograph one of his paintings.
This Mexican painter (also husband and father of two toddlers), now
living in the United States, has a style very reminiscent of El
Greco. You can read more about him on the inside of the
front cover. The question of what constitutes a Catholic book is
something that comes up a lot when Catholic writers get together.
Once upon a time, when there were fewer books around, it wasn't so hard
to tell. Catholic books were written by Catholics and they had
Catholic themes in them -- or maybe they just assumed Catholic things.
Writer Ann Margaret Lewis has done some thinking on this and she shares her ideas with us in her essay on the Sacramental imagination.
We have some book reviews and hope to publish more in forthcoming
issues. As part of our commitment to promoting Catholic
literature and culture, we not only review as many Catholic books as
fall into our hands, but we also try to feature one small Catholic
publisher in each issue. This time it is our privilege to tell
you about some very busy people -- Arx Publishers who not only publish books, both fiction and nonfiction, but also the free magazine, Tarpeian Rock.
All in all, we've got quite a collection for you. And I certainly
hope you'll not only enjoy it, but take some of the ideas in here as an
impetus for your own reading. Those who read -- be they young students
or old students (and if you're alive at all, you're one or the other)
are those who think and keep on thinking. There is no substitue
for wise and useful words given from one human being to another.
You won't hear those words in rap songs, or movies, of television
shows. You may, if you are lucky, hear them from your neighbor --
but if you want to hear the wisdom of those far away in either time or
space, then you must read.
There is nothing (to adapt an expression from one of my favorite books), absolutely nothing, so fine as messing about in books.
Colleen Drippe’
Updated 11-21-2007, Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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