Posts tagged "Lit"
Mary Karr, Mini-Lives, and News From Across the (Human/Robot Divide)
Books / Grace in Practice / Identity / Law / Psychology

Mary Karr, Mini-Lives, and News From Across the (Human/Robot Divide)

by WB on Mar 27, 2013 • 3 Comments

Reading Mary Karr’s fantastic memoir Lit, one quote in particular stuck out to me as beautifully describing a tendency we humans have to fall into more limited emotional ranges:

…anything worth doing could be undertaken later. Paint the apartment, write a book, quit booze, sure: tomorrow. Which ensures that life gets lived in miniature. In lieu of the large feelings – sorrow, fury, joy – I had their junior counterparts – anxiety, irritation, excitement.

I don’t want to read into Karr’s emotional experiences, but for me this passage elucidates the emotional life lived in times when the Law, or demand to achieve, is…

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Donuts and Engine Coolant By the Side of the Road
Addiction / Books / Literature / Music / Prayer

Donuts and Engine Coolant By the Side of the Road

by David Zahl on Jan 29, 2013 • 1 Comment

Another incredible and seasonally appropriate section from Mary Karr’s Lit, her memoir about getting sober (and many other things). Dev, it should be noted, is her son. Talk about broken vessels. We are beyond excited and honored that Mary will be joining us at our upcoming conference in NYC (4/18-20):

Prayer isn’t patching up the marriage yet, though applied to small problems from time to time, it sometimes yields up a feasible idea.

Stranded without child care once, I figure out after a prayer — it comes to me — that I could slip Chris, an ex-hooker from the [halfway] house, a…

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Alcoholic Prayer, Schizophrenic Counselors and the Nazareth Principle
Addiction / Books / Literature / Music / Prayer

Alcoholic Prayer, Schizophrenic Counselors and the Nazareth Principle

by David Zahl on Jun 8, 2012 • 1 Comment

Another wonderful section of Mary Karr’s memoir of addiction and recovery, Lit, tells of how God chose to speak profoundly to her through the mouth of a total nut (and fellow addict). Obviously the Bible offers great precedent for this kind of thing (what we like to call The Nazareth Principle), but it’s nonetheless remarkable to hear of such occurrences in more modern contexts. Of course, Alcoholics Anonymous–the subject and setting of much of the book–embodies this idea. Crazy people in AA meetings often say smart things. Balaam’s ass might as well be the movement’s mascot.

In this excerpt, Mary recounts…

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Mary Karr on Resurrected Dislocation, God’s Voice and Flame Throwers
Addiction / Books / Testimony

Mary Karr on Resurrected Dislocation, God’s Voice and Flame Throwers

by David Zahl on May 15, 2012 • 1 Comment

A few more excerpts from Mary Karr’s wondrously wise Lit: A Memoir, ht JZ:

“If you live in the dark a long time and the sun comes out, you do not cross into it whistling. There’s an initial uprush of relief at first, then — for me, anyway — a profound dislocation. My old assumptions about how the world works are buried, yet my new ones aren’t yet operational. There been a death of sorts, but without a few days in hell, no resurrection is possible. You don’t have to be Christian for the metaphor to make sense, psychologically speaking… Crazy.…

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Mary Karr on Tin Cups, Mirrors and Prayer’s Relief
Church / Literature / Poetry / Relationships

Mary Karr on Tin Cups, Mirrors and Prayer’s Relief

by David Zahl on Apr 11, 2012 • No Comments

Two phenomenal quotations from the phenomenal Mary Karr. The first one comes from the unbelievably great essay “Facing Altars” which is included in her poetry collection, Sinners Welcome, ht PW:

People usually (always?) come to church as they do to prayer and poetry—through suffering and terror. Need and fear…

The faithless contenders for prayer’s relief who sometimes ask me for help praying (still a comic notion) often say it seems hypocritical to turn to God only now during whatever crisis is forcing them toward it – a kid with leukemia, say, husband lost in the World Trade Center. But no one I…

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Addiction / Books / Interviews / Literature / Testimony

Mary Karr Discusses "Lit"

by Jeff Hual on Jul 9, 2010 • 1 Comment

This one comes to us by way of MB contributor Emily. I think it’s safe to say that Mary Karr is a fellow Mockingbird, whether she knows it yet or not! Her life story reminds me of another MB favorite, Brennan Manning (author of “The Ragamuffin Gospel”), of whom it’s been said that the Lord allowed him to walk through dark valleys so that he could later lead others to the Light.