Marilynne
Robinson
The
Authority of Narrative
Underwritten by: JC Huizenga
Narrative is itself a powerful language of meaning. It differs from ordinary language as song differs from sound. From her perspective as a writer and teacher of writers, Marilynne Robinson, professor of creative writing at the University of Iowa and author of the acclaimed novel Housekeeping and a collection of essays entitled The Death of Adam, will reflect on the power of narrative to embody meaning which is at the same time complex conceptually and freighted emotionally. At its best, Robinson claims, narrative integrates modes of experience, which in discursive language are often expressed without human context, therefore inadequately. In all narrative humankind is entirely central, she asserts, and both fiction and Scripture would be read much more fruitfully if narrative were granted its value.
