Pavarotti's Return to Catholic Faith
At ArtsandFaith.com, Steven Greydanus has noted this detail about Luciano Pavarotti that was overlooked in most obituaries.
The diocese had received criticisms that it had gone overboard in honoring a remarried divorcé. But Pavarotti's parish priest, Fr. Remo Sartori, said the twice-married singer had been reconciled with the Catholic faith, reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Pavarotti had received the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick before losing his battle against pancreatic cancer last Thursday, aged 71.
Church leaders and pastors, including Pope Benedict XVI, sent messages conveying their condolences. The Pope's message expressed his sorrow at the loss of "a great artist who with his extraordinary interpretative talent honored the divine gift of music".
Scott Cairns in the Cleveland Daily Banner
An article about one of my favorite human beings has popped up in the Cleveland Daily Banner.
Persepolis (2007) - A Guest Review by Kenneth R. Morefield
I'm thrilled to offer the first of what may be several reviews coming from Kenneth R. Morefield, who has occasionally contributed some fine guest reviews to Looking Closer in the past. Morefield is an Assistant Professor of English at Campbell University.
Morefield's at the Toronto International Film Festival having a grand time, and he's enthusiastic about this particular release: Persepolis. Sounds like a unique film, and a must-see. Here's his report...
George R. R. Martin's Epic... on HBO?
I just stumbled across a head-spinning revelation on SuperFastReader's site.
George R. R. Martin, one of the greatest fantasy writers living today, is on Book 5 of the popular series A Song of Ice and Fire.Read more
SuperFastReader on Madeleine L'Engle
Following up my earlier post on Madeleine L'Engle's passing, here's the super SuperFastReader remembering her, in two posts.
Greydanus on "Bella"
I had a chance to see Bella at Biola (Wow, there's a sequel idea for you: Bella at Biola!) several months back, but found myself in a fascinating conversation with Amazing Grace producer Ken Wales, and by the time he'd finished regaling me with tales of his experiences in Hollywood, I'd missed the screening.
But they were great stories -- I'm not complaining. Had no idea that Wales was present on the set when the great Peter Sellers Pink Panther flicks were shot. Wow.
Anyway, I apparently do need to catch up with Bella at some point. Anybody out there want to send me a screener?
Steven Greydanus has just published a thorough, two-page examination and appreciation of the film:
It's the kind of against-all-odds success story every film school student hopes and dreams about. Three first-time film producers‚ a first-time writer‚ director, an actor, and a co-writer set out to make a film with a script and no money. After connecting with entrenpreneurs and getting financing, they shoot the film over a little more than three weeks in New York. The finished picture is selected for a major film festival (Toronto)‚ gets some press, and winds up scoring the People's Choice Award, catapulting it into the spotlight and leading to additional honors and success, including theatrical distribution (set for release in the fall. See the website at http:// www.bellathemovie.com/).
Talk to director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and his colleagues‚ actor Eduardo Verstegui, writer‚ producer Leo Severino, and producer Sean Wolfington‚ and it's clear that they're as thrilled to be in their shoes as any first-time producers and filmmakers would be. At the same time, it's also clear they have a shared perspective quite different from most filmmakers, whether inside or outside the Hollywood establishment.
"Assassination" Buzz Builds
Thanks to Peter Chattaway for catching this blog entry by Karina at Spoutblog:
Two weeks ago, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford was the film Warner Brothers had "no idea what to do with." As of this writing, it's the most gushed-over title at the Toronto Film Festival, and word has hit the wires that star Brad Pitt has won the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival. If the folks at WB still havn't figured out what to do with Andrew Dominik's masterful, Malickean tragedy of celebrity envy, they probably don't deserve to have their name on it. . . .
In other words, Jesse James looks like a painting and plays like an epic novel. There are immediate pleasures to be found in the cinematography and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' eerie score, and in the sexy, comic subplot touched off by a character named Dick Liddil's inability to keep his namesake in his pants. But otherwise, it's likely the most "difficult" film produced with Hollywood money and starring an A-list star since Eyes Wide Shut. It demands repeat viewings, and as such, it'll either be a massive commercial failure, or it'll touch off a new wave of American cinephilia. I guess it's clear which option I'm rooting for.
Madeleine L'Engle: 1918-2007
Madeleine L'Engle is one of the artists whose views and work have inspired me the most. As I was writing Auralia's Colors, I frequently revisited her thoughts on the power of art. She referred to great artmaking as "collaboration with God."
On Thursday night, at the age of 88, Madeleine L'Engle made her journey through a wrinkle in time and space.
And I feel that I lost a grandmother and a mentor. Most of that guidance came through her nonfiction work -- Walking on Water, The Rock That is Higher -- although she certainly manifested what she believed about faith and imagination in great novels like A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.
I met her once when I was a student at Seattle Pacific University. I sat with her after her presentation, and I told her what Walking on Water meant to me, and how I wanted to follow in her footsteps, and the footsteps of Tolkien, as a storyteller. She was so inspiring and gracious to that audacious youngster. And she was so enamoured of Seattle and its view of Mt. Rainier, which often seems to hover above the horizon as the layers of low clouds blend in with the sky. "I love it here," she gushed. "Yours is the only place I've ever seen that has its own flying mountain."
Writing about her enduring affection for children's stories, she insisted that her age was not an isolated chronological statistic, but only the most recent addition of a year to her life: “I am also four, and twelve, and fifteen, and twenty-three, and thirty-one, and forty-five and . . . and . . . and . . .”
May God continue to bless her work for ages to come. She's one of the few who embraced the freedom that Christ gives us in art and imagination, and as a result, her work has a reach and influence that so many others don't.
If you haven't read it, pick up a copy of Walking on Water, L'Engle's reflections on faith and art, and discover one of the richest treasures in the library of the Christian imagination.
Much, much more about her to come. Stay tuned.
UPDATE #1: Here is Christianity Today's report, along with a previously published 1979 interview with L'Engle.
A few highlights:
Why do you find the form of a children's book compatible for what you want to say?
The fantasies are my theology. In a way, I'm going to say things in my new book, A Ring of Endless Light, that I said in Planet. People who can't understand the earlier book may understand this one. But I couldn't write Ring if I hadn't first written Planet.
Theologically, I suppose that there is an openness and an aliveness to many young people that ceases in adulthood. Jesus said, "I thank thee Father of heaven and earth that you have revealed these things to children and hidden them from the wise." Maybe I'm still trying to grow up myself.
...
The act of honest work—would you call it a form of worship?
Yes. I've called it a form of prayer before, but I think prayer is largely worship. Prayer may be work. Adam worked in the garden. His work was his play. For me that's true. I think the awful thing is that for many people their work is drudgery—neither a gift, nor a vocation. Hugh and I are both lucky that we do work we love.
...
Would you say that art is religious?
Whether artists are aware of it or not, art is always incarnational. True art is Christian. Sometimes I know that my work at its best keeps me from straying, keeps my faith intact. Someone once asked me if the fact that I was a Christian affected the way I work. I said no, but the way I work affects my Christianity.
Are you a universalist?
No. I am a particular incarnationalist. I believe that we can understand cosmic questions only through particulars. I can understand God only through one specific particular, the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth. This is the ultimate particular, which gives me my understanding of the Creator and of the beauty of life. I believe that God loved us so much that he came to us as a human being, as one of us, to show us his love.
UPDATE #2: Here is a link to the biography at her official website. Here is the acceptance speech Madeleine gave upon receiving the Newberry Award in 1963. And look at the list of honors and awards. Want to read more interviews? Here you go.
Thanks to Glenn McCarty for sharing the news with me.
A Very Great Loss in the World of the Christian Imagination
Madeleine L'Engle is one of the artists whose views and work have inspired me the most. As I was writing Auralia's Colors, I frequently revisited her thoughts on the power of art. She referred to great artmaking as "collaboration with God."
On Thursday night, at the age of 88, Madeleine L'Engle made her journey through a wrinkle in time and space.
And I feel that I lost a grandmother and a mentor. Most of that guidance came through her nonfiction work -- Walking on Water, The Rock That is Higher -- although she certainly manifested what she believed about faith and imagination in great novels like A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.
I met her once when I was a student at Seattle Pacific University. I sat with her after her presentation, and I told her what Walking on Water meant to me, and how I wanted to follow in her footsteps, and the footsteps of Tolkien, as a storyteller. She was so inspiring and gracious to that audacious youngster. And she was so enamoured of Seattle and its view of Mt. Rainier, which often seems to hover above the horizon as the layers of low clouds blend in with the sky. "I love it here," she gushed. "Yours is the only place I've ever seen that has its own flying mountain."
Writing about her enduring affection for children's stories, she insisted that her age was not an isolated chronological statistic, but only the most recent addition of a year to her life: “I am also four, and twelve, and fifteen, and twenty-three, and thirty-one, and forty-five and . . . and . . . and . . .”
May God continue to bless her work for ages to come. She's one of the few who embraced the freedom that Christ gives us in art and imagination, and as a result, her work has a reach and influence that so many others don't.
If you haven't read it, pick up a copy of Walking on Water, L'Engle's reflections on faith and art, and discover one of the richest treasures in the library of the Christian imagination.
Much, much more about her to come. Stay tuned.
UPDATE #1: Here is Christianity Today's report, along with a previously published 1979 interview with L'Engle.
A few highlights:
Why do you find the form of a children's book compatible for what you want to say?
The fantasies are my theology. In a way, I'm going to say things in my new book, A Ring of Endless Light, that I said in Planet. People who can't understand the earlier book may understand this one. But I couldn't write Ring if I hadn't first written Planet.
Theologically, I suppose that there is an openness and an aliveness to many young people that ceases in adulthood. Jesus said, "I thank thee Father of heaven and earth that you have revealed these things to children and hidden them from the wise." Maybe I'm still trying to grow up myself.
...
The act of honest work—would you call it a form of worship?
Yes. I've called it a form of prayer before, but I think prayer is largely worship. Prayer may be work. Adam worked in the garden. His work was his play. For me that's true. I think the awful thing is that for many people their work is drudgery—neither a gift, nor a vocation. Hugh and I are both lucky that we do work we love.
...
Would you say that art is religious?
Whether artists are aware of it or not, art is always incarnational. True art is Christian. Sometimes I know that my work at its best keeps me from straying, keeps my faith intact. Someone once asked me if the fact that I was a Christian affected the way I work. I said no, but the way I work affects my Christianity.
Are you a universalist?
No. I am a particular incarnationalist. I believe that we can understand cosmic questions only through particulars. I can understand God only through one specific particular, the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth. This is the ultimate particular, which gives me my understanding of the Creator and of the beauty of life. I believe that God loved us so much that he came to us as a human being, as one of us, to show us his love.
UPDATE #2: Here is a link to the biography at her official website. Here is the acceptance speech Madeleine gave upon receiving the Newberry Award in 1963. And look at the list of honors and awards. Want to read more interviews? Here you go.
Thanks to Glenn McCarty for sharing the news with me.