http://numberingourdays.blogspot.com/2008/05/festival-of-faith-and-writing-2008-paul.html
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Festival of Faith and Writing, 2008: Paul Mariani and Beena Kamlani
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Paul Mariani and Beena Kamlani discussed the author-editor relationship. The interaction between the two was fun to watch–showing a clear mutual respect, and even enjoyment, that had developed through times of counterpoint and tension.
Mariani, currently at Boston College, is the author of 16 books, and has a biography of Hopkins coming out soon. (He also published a book on Hopkins in 1970.) He’s written six books of poetry and five biographies.
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Mariani began with a brief bio. He attended Manhattan College in the Bronx, where he first encountered Hopkins. He grew up in the working class, has three sons, and spent thirty years teaching at the University of Massachusetts.
In February, 1970, he published a commentary on Hopkin’s sonnets. He read Hopkins as he rocked his son Paul’s cradle; Paul has grown up to become a Jesuit priest. (laughter) Critics often missed the sacramental heart, the search in Hopkin’s work.
Hopkins was raised Anglican, was touched by Newman’s movement, the Oxford Movement, and went to Catholicism.
Mariani (with a touch of humor) says he went through purgatory writing a biography of William Carlos Williams, and hell writing bios of Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and Hart Crane (which included two suicides). All these men were searchers. Hopkins is his Paradiso.
He did a retreat at Weston in March, 2000. Father Cartwright asked him, “Would you be willing to turn your life completely over to Christ?” This terrified Mariani. After some reflection, he decided, “Why the hell not? I’ve screwed it up.”
Once he surrendered, he heard a voice telling him, “Go to B.C.!” He interpreted this as meaning Boston, and consulted with Father Cartwright. The Father advised him to continue the retreat and see if it kept coming up.
Three weeks later, Mariani wrote a letter to the President of Boston College, a priest. Nothing happened for three more weeks. Then a response: “I’m intrigued. Come and see me.” In his meeting with the President, he was offered a Chair.
He went on a 30 day retreat, where he read a book by Hopkins he had been given, and understood the poet for the first time. Terror. Consolation. The insights were not just Catholic, but out of common experience, unity. Out of that experience came Thirty Days, a memoir. He went to Boston College the following fall.
Mariani met Kamlani in person for the first time today. He’d expected [a gorgon?]. (laughter)
He had heard Kathleen Norris speak earlier in the day. A writer can have acedia–try to bully, sweet talk, get money and run.
He has been a caretaker for his father-in-law, mother-in-law, and father. It takes a toll, a human toll. Caregiving deepens, empties, adds richness. He sees diamond coming in Kathleen Norris; he hadn’t seen her for six years. She’s radiating the face of God. You become deeper, even if you don’t see it in yourself.
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Mariani, Paul (MC1962) author
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Dear John,
I believe that Paul is a member of the Class of 1962.
Mike
[JR: Thanks, Mike. Much appreciated. ]
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