When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays [Hardcover]

Marilynne Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 13, 2012

Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist, but also as a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. In When I Was a Child I Read Books she returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor.

In “Austerity as Ideology,” she tackles the global debt crisis, and the charged political and social political climate in this country that makes finding a solution to our financial troubles so challenging. In “Open Thy Hand Wide” she searches out the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith. And in “When I Was a Child,” one of her most personal essays to date, an account of her childhood in Idaho becomes an exploration of individualism and the myth of the American West. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* There is more food for thought in one of Robinson’s well-turned paragraphs than in entire books. Esteemed for her award-winning novels Gilead (2004) and Home (2008), Robinson is a consummate and clarion essayist. In her third and most resounding collection, she addresses our toxic culture of diminishment, arguing that as our view of society shrinks, public discourse coarsens, corruption spreads, education is undermined, science denigrated, spirituality and loving kindness are siphoned from religion, and democracy itself is imperiled. What has made America great, she reminds us, is our “heroic” focus on and investment in the public good. In the brilliantly corrective “Austerity as Ideology,” Robinson looks back to her Cold War childhood, during which America’s response to crisis was to ramp up our commitment to art and science. Now she fears that our obsession with “market economics” is putting us in danger of “losing the ethos that has sustained what is most to be valued in our civilization” as public schools, universities, libraries, and the free press come under siege. In “Imagination and Community,” Robinson lucidly and movingly explains how the imagination is the wellspring of healthy communities, and how profoundly reading enhances our capacity for sympathy. Intellectually sophisticated, beautifully reasoned with gravitas and grace, Robinson’s call to reclaim humaneness beams like the sun breaking through smothering clouds. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The great success of Robinson’s novels will ensure interest in her brilliant reflections on the most urgent questions of our lives. --Donna Seaman

From Bookforum

When I Was A Child I Read Books, is by far Robinson's most political work to date, and is a defense of what she considers the grand traditions of American democracy—generosity, hope, and radical openness to new experience—waged against a society that seems to believe itself in irreversible decline. Robinson's great virtue as an essayist is her ability to combine a deep knowledge of this country's literary, intellectual, and religious canon with a demotic, impassioned tone that is American in the highest sense. —Charles Petersen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (March 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780374298784
• ISBN-13: 978-0374298784
• ASIN: 0374298785
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the bestselling novels Home, Gilead (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), Housekeeping, and two books of nonfiction, Mother Country and The Death of Adam. She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful analysis of the responsibilities and blessings of a Christian life March 14, 2012

By las cosas

Format:Hardcover

This book consists of ten essays, mostly revolving around aspects of the Bible and Christianity. I would not have purchased the book had I known this, but found the essays deeply thought provoking. This is a book I will reread. The author is a thoughtful and believing Christian, and her understanding of what this means is the core belief from which she widely and deeply explores both the New and Old Testaments, and the nuance of language as understood by herself and others. There are entire sections of rigorous analysis when she sternly criticizes several recent Christian commentators of the Old Testament. And her sternest criticism is the lack of charity on the part of these critics, their willful blindness to the beauty of the language and unwillingness to read it on its own terms. Christians can reject, but not denounce, the Old Testament, which is not theirs to denounce. Show some respect, she insists.

And she shows enormous respect for both the New and Old Testament. There are close readings of various translations of the Bible, showing for example instances when charity is translated as love and reminding us of the incredible historic importance of making the Bible available in the local vernacular, a task which caused more than one translator to be killed by a jealous church.

Today in the western Christian world, and particularly in the United States to which the author largely addresses this book, words are a much devalued currency. Millions of words blabbing along daily, immediately replaced by another million. The result is an unavoidable cheapening of words, wherever we find them. The author uses a minimum of words in her essays. She is sparse, which in some cases results in an obliqueness.... But each word is carefully weighed, and she insists that we pay attention, that we follow her with the same care and gravitas that she expands on these essays. As readers we are very much the students of this long-time teacher.

The author asks, demands, that we closely examine the text of the book that forms the core of her and presumably the reader's, religion: Christianity. She lost me in that assumption, but the persuasiveness of her textual argument kept me fairly riveted to her analysis, particularly on the importance of laws in the Old Testament and the importance of Moses within that context as the precursor of Jesus' teachings. As a Christian she examines the teachings of the Bible and their relationship to her world, noting with sorrow and anger the failings of the present world, particularly in the United States. But she also describes the Bible as a novelist and teacher of creative writing, reminding us of the beauty of the images, the unsparing vividness of the stories. She laments that Old Testament translations by Christians are often "laundered to remove complexity and loveliness." In another essay she states that Christians have accepted, generation upon generation, the stewardship of the remarkable narrative that is the Bible. I found this a wondrous concept, that a book, even a book as well known as the Bible, needs the constant stewardship of the people studying that book to have a continued relevance, and that this stewardship must include a reverence. "This is too great a narrative to be reduced to serving any parochial interest or to be overwritten by any lesser human tale. Reverence should forbid in particular its being subordinated to tribalism, resentment, or fear."

I point out the essays on the Bible because I found them the most thought provoking. But there are also essays that for example discuss 19th century social activists and evangelicals (as that term was defined at the time) such as Oberlin; and, growing up in a world of big, difficult books, Latin teachers and a respect for learning in small town Idaho. She deplores what she sees as the current minimization of human nature and the essence of human beings which she argues can not fully be understood without understanding human beings as created in the image of God. "Lacking the terms of religion, essential things cannot be said." I find these provocative and very old-fashioned statements, but surely it is a gift she has given us in this book that we can be provoked, that we can strive to understand what she so strongly implores us to consider.

The essays are a combination of discursive and rigorous, though unfortunately they veer from one to the other without signposts or logic and the persuasiveness of the arguments decreases. When this occurs, when an exploration of the apophatic and its relationship to a writer's search for the unsaid suddenly veers into a digression about 'people' thinking the United States is too heterogeneous, I feel whip-lashed. The carefully argued statement, the beautifully constructed sentences are replaced by facile statements that are disquieting. The author sets a high standard for herself, and for the reader, in her carefully articulated thoughts, so the lapses or shifts are the more unsettling. She has two pet peeves in this book: fundamentalist Christians (though that is my shorthand, not hers) and the free market (which she also refers to as the inscrutable financial economy). She makes a fair effort to explain the concerns of the former, but is often dismissive in describing the later.

But these are relative nits. I would recommend this book to any person interested in a meditation and analysis of a text that is the cornerstone of a religion at the center of historical and current United States. Practicing Christians living in the United States should particularly find this book a wondrous and thought-provoking journey. Read more ›

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very, very smart April 22, 2012

By Debnance at Readerbuzz

Format:Hardcover

I'll go ahead and say it: Marilynne Robinson is too smart for me. I can be a lazy reader, seeking the quick answer, the easy answer.

This is not a book for lazy readers. It is not a book for simple readers.

Robinson is thoughtful and compassionate and deep. She sees past the first obvious answer and the second obvious answer and offers explanations that are unexpected and which embrace all we bring to a book. She is spiritual without being dogmatic and she is kind without leaving truth behind.

A book I need to read again. More slowly next time.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Cogent April 27, 2012

By Stephen T. Hopkins VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I read each of the ten essays in Marilynne Robinson's collection, When I Was a Child I Read Books, in a single sitting on separate days. I needed to engage my wits to follow her thorough and thoughtful arguments, and then needed a rest afterwards to absorb what I read. She must be the kind of teacher for whom alert students should schedule free time after her class for recovery. In many respects, she comes across as a writer's writer, with her careful choice of words and deliberative style. There may not be a better contemporary description of liberal Christianity and its sources and demands. Readers of her novels will gain insight from these essays and may consider re-reading the novels in light of the revelations from these essays. Any reader who appreciates fine writing and cogent reflection should consider reading the book.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's impossible to put this book aside without the invigorating feeling that comes with the exercise of our intellect May 29, 2012

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

Whenever I despair about the quality of our public discourse, I remind myself that ours remains a society inhabited by people like Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and essayist Marilynne Robinson (GILEAD, HOME). Generous, humane and occasionally witty, her point of view is an antidote to the partisan screeds that pass for political argument today, and her new essay collection is a bracing display of all those character traits in abundance.
From the outset, Robinson makes clear (in beautifully-chiseled prose that's hard to resist quoting at length) her displeasure at some persistent features of our current American political and cultural lives, denouncing those who advocate the "return to traditional values" that "seems to mean, together with a bracing and punitive severity toward the vulnerable among us, the establishment of a kind of religious monoculture we have never had and our institutions have never encouraged." Instead, she urges on us "the character of generosity, and the largeness of spirit that has created and supported the best of our institutions and brought reform to the worst of them."

Typical of Robinson's wisdom are these trenchant observations, in "Imagination and Community," of the damage flowing from the "excitements that come with abandoning the constraints of moderation and reasonableness:"

"Those whose work it is to sustain the endless palaver of radio and television increasingly stimulate those excitements. No great wonder if they are bored, or if they suspect their audiences might be. But the effect of this marketing of rancor has unquestionably been to turn debate or controversy increasingly into a form of tribal warfare, harming the national community and risking always greater harm...."

In "Austerity as Ideology," she bemoans the ideological cast of mind that has created a "climate of generalized fear" in this country, while pointing out how our obsession with a market-centered view of the world "has shown itself very ready to devour what we hold dear, if the list can be taken to include culture, education, the environment, and the sciences, as well as the peace and well-being of our fellow citizens."

But for all its passionate views on the flaws of American society, at its heart, Robinson's collection is more a religious than a political book. Classifying herself as a religious humanist, if anyone is capable of giving Calvinism or the fiery preaching of Jonathan Edwards a good name, it is Robinson.

One of her dominating concerns appears to be the mistreatment the Old Testament has received at the hands of Christians. In "Open Thy Hand Wide: Moses and the Origins of American Liberalism," she recognizes it is "usual to see the Old Testament treated as a sort of dead weight on Christianity, if not a positive embarrassment to it, by scholars as well as clergy." That's the jumping-off point for a close textual analysis of Chapter 15 of Deuteronomy and its "recurrent, passionate insistence on bounty or liberality...on being kind and liberal...and enjoying the great blessings God has promised to liberality to the poor."

To similar effect is "The Fate of Ideas: Moses," where she chides popular theological writers like Bishop John Shelby Spong (WHY CHRISTIANITY MUST CHANGE OR DIE) or Jack Miles (GOD: A BIOGRAPHY) and displays this exceptionally humane disposition toward the Old Testament: "It is often said that Europeans learned religious intolerance from the Old Testament," she writes. "Then how did we happen to skip over the parts where the laws protect and provide for the poor, and where oppression of them is most fiercely forbidden?"

The title essay, and the collection's most personal, is a loving portrayal of Robinson's childhood growing up as a "bookish child in the far West" (more specifically, Idaho), where she received both a fine classical education ("my style is considerably more indebted to Cicero than to Hemingway") and an inculcation into the fierce individualism that's native to that region.

That rigorous education means this is no book to crack open under a beach umbrella. Robinson typically spins out a complex argument that's rich with biblical, historical and literary references over the span of 20 pages or so, and you likely will find yourself stopping from time to time to reread a challenging passage. She's fond of words like "tendentious," "epiphenomenal" and "alembic," and unless your vocabulary is extensive, you would do well to keep a dictionary close at hand.

But that occasional diversion is a small price to pay for the time spent in the company of this truly original thinker. Whether one agrees with Robinson or takes strong exception to her incisive arguments, it's impossible to put this book aside without the invigorating feeling that comes with the exercise of our intellect and a renewal of our faith in the power of reason.

Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg on May 17, 2012 Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Writer With a Divine Purpose November 5, 2012

By Ian Gordon Malcomson

Format:Hardcover

This is one of the better collection of essays I have read that tackles the metaphysical issues of life in such a personal and intelligent way that it caused me to take stock of my own failings as Christian. While this book is primarily addressed to Christian believers, much of what it seeks to teach us is meant for the greater good of humanity: charity, fairness, goodness, love and tradition. According to Robinson, a very accomplished writer of popular prose, we live in a world where values are often framed by ideological and institutional beliefs that go contrary to what God intended for us as his creation. I have never seen, in all my years of reading, studying and teaching, a writer powerfully tackle some of the cherished humanistic views the way Robinson does it with history, theology and philosophy on her side. For instance, classical language used to describe our dependency on social values, supernatural awareness, eternal truths and personal creativity has over the centuries given way to a political culture that uses words to claim, complain and defame. The freedom that democracy once gave us in allowing us to learn how to act appropriately in a bigger world by growing in knowledge and wisdom has become a curse because it fails to connect individuals in a greater context. We truly have gone astray in our thinking, every man to his own way, as the ancient psalmist said in the Old Testament. Instead of inquiring after the ancients, the prophets, the great thinkers and God himself in the Bible, we have bought into the modern culture of what is in it for me.... So when we come against a problem such as our current debt crisis that threatens to destroy world economies, we buy into the concept of austerity or reduced living as the only way to overcome our impossible indebtedness, forgetting all the time that God, through the Bible, advocates the importance of practicing charity especially during the worst of times as foundational to society's prosperity. Consequently, we become a fragmented society that, in tough times, divides along the lines of rich vs. poor. As for the argument that society is progressing because it is moving towards a more humanistic understanding of how to deal with violence, Robinson shoots that theory full of holes. There is a growing danger that violence could intensify in the years to come as people perceive big government as a threat to their constitutional right to self-defense. She sees the modern version of liberalism as a concerted effort to shake off the constraints of important traditional Christian values(self-control, meekness, self-sacrifice, et cetera)that get in the way of individual choice. In one of her essays, she writes at length about the importance of reading extensively as a child in order to establish effective boundaries for properly developing an enduring respect for creation and all that emanates from it. Going out and finding that truth that makes us who we are starts with accepting that God's universe invites us in our little world to come and plumb the depths of its infinite greatness. We only fail when we get caught up in our parochial world of familiarity and prejudice that prevents us from loving others as God loves them, and not as we are told by earthly authority. Read more ›