013: The Stories of J.F. Powers
Feb 7, 2023
In this episode, Danny, Heather, and Charles discuss stories "The Forks" and "Look How the Fish Live" by the 20th-century writer J.F. Powers, whose first novel, Morte d'Urban, won the 1963 National Book Award for fiction. Powers applied his gentle satire to a wide range of fictional worlds, but it best known for his stories about the domestic lives of priests. Flannery O'Connor wrote of Powers "Powers and I are, I suppose, the only two young writers in this country who are well thought of and connected with the Church. We both have the same kind of horns." (23 Dec. 1958, HB 309-310).
Topics
0:10Intro to JF Powers and his writings about American Catholics before Vatican II
2:08Clericalism in the Church
11:50How do we live in the world as clerics and lay people?
22:40Worldliness and the Church
28:23Plot summary of “Look How the Fish Live”
33:23Theodyssey
39:33What is dominion, and what is participation?
46:42The world and understanding one’s own limitations
50:35Thanks for listening!
