…is now up on GodSpy. The book, by David Lebedoff, is a surprising dual biography of (!) George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh.

After a nearly summer-long hiatus, while editor Angelo Matera worked to further upgrade GodSpy into a first class “Web 2.0″ Catholic online magazine and intellectual forum, new posts, articles and links are now coming on daily, and many will be contributed by our own John Murphy. 
John’s latest is a review of Ron Hansen’s most recent book, [...]

Tags: Add new tag, Exiles, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Murphy, Ron Hansen, The Wreck of the Deutschland

I am delighted to report that Clan Murphy has (more or less) completed its relocation to Ashland, Oregon, which means that we can begin to blog again, or at least (while we’re warming up those cold “writing muscles”). pass along some interesting tidbits.
To whit: 
As readers of The Mystery of Things may suspect, I have a certain [...]

Tags: lit crit, theory

First, John and I have blogs up on GodSpy, follow-ups to the pope’s visit to the United States: Mine is After the Pope: Time to Hit the Books? John’s is on the front page as I write this: Gazing Upwards: The Pope’s Homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
And thanks to Kathleen Lundquist for the heads-up on [...]

Tags: Catholic fiction, Debra Murphy, Godspy, John Murphy

Here’s a fun speculation from a Jewish blogger: the idea that JRR Tolkien was inspired by the Purim story related in the Book of Esther for the main plot of The Lord of the Rings.
No question, JRRT knew his Bible very well. (Or, as the writing teachers like to say, “Steal, but only from the [...]