P.D. James gets name-dropped a lot on this blog, despite the fact that I wouldn’t want my 14-year-old brother reading her books. So why all the rave reviews?
Certainly, James is not for the faint of heart. Her writing is like a scalpel. She takes a clinical theological word, ‘sin,’ and dissects it to reveal a toxic amalgam of lurid motives and ugly desires that result in explicit outcomes. Protagonist Adam Dalgliesh, brilliant and self-critical, is keenly attuned to the twisted nature of human instincts, and uncomfortably aware that he can’t absent himself from the equation.
In Dalgliesh we find a fallen man tracking down evil perps. The difference between them? Dalgliesh is aware; he owns his selfishness, and carries a burden of self-loathing that drives him to relentless standard of performance. World-weary but spiritually conscious, he always seems to be on the verge of an Ecclesiastes-like realization.
If you haven’t read James before, you may be wondering: What’s the benefit of a front-row view of sin? On at least one front, the benefit is considerable. In the words of Herbert Fingarette:Were a portrait of a man to be drawn, one in which there would be highlighted whatever it is most human, be it noble or ignoble, we should surely place well in the foreground man’s enormous capacity for self-deception.
C.S. Lewis continues the thought:We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are.
And John Calvin finishes connecting the dots:Thus, our feelings of ignorance, vanity, want, weakness, in short, depravity and corruption, remind us that in the Lord, and none but He, dwell the true light of wisdom, solid virtue, exuberant goodness. We are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and, indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves.
Does P.D. James take the long way around to reach “solid virtue, exuberant goodness” and redemption? Maybe so. But in our culture, I’m all but convinced that this strategy is necessary and ingenious.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
In Defense of P.D. James
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3 comments:
hi. i'm glad you found my blog so that i could find yours.
we think similarly. i especially like your tag "life in christ is pure joy. life on earth is pain. therefore, life is bittersweet."
how true that is.
i'm looking forward to visiting your site often..
I haven't read anything by P.D. James, and now you've made me curious. Does she explicitly set out to do what you've described — i.e., to unpack the word "sin" and expose human depravity — or is that just your Christian "take" on her writing?
Thanks very much, jessi. This is what you call happy coincidence. I'm planning to keep exploring your site too.
q, very good question. What I said could be read as implying that James writes purely to exound on 'sin.' That doesn't nearly do her justice, as her writing is nuanced, her characters are Dickensian, and her plots are gripping.
James is Catholic, however, and as a Christian, I definitely pick out sin/evil as a strong theme in her writing.
Try one of her novels and you'll see what I mean. Cover Her Face is the first book in the esteemed Adam Dalgliesh series.
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