The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris [0]
Epigraph
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE
DAWN
ST. JOHN’SABBEYLITURGYSCHEDULE
THE RULEAND ME
THEDIFFERENCE
JEREMIAHAS WRITER:THE NECESSARYOTHER
EXILE,HOMELAND,ANDNEGATIVECAPABILITY
NEW YORK CITY:THE TRAPPISTCONNECTION
LOS ANGELES:THE OANTIPHONS
BORDERLINE
THE CHRISTMASMUSIC
PASSAGE
THE PARADOXOF THE PSALMS
BAPTISMOF THE LORD:A TALE OFINTIMACY
CELIBATEPASSION
GOOD OLD SIN
THE CLOISTER WALK - ACEDIA
PRIDE
ANGER
NOON
DEGENERATES
NEWMELLERAYABBEY LITURGYSCHEDULE
CHICAGO:RELIGIONIN AMERICA
THE WARON METAPHOR
SAVED BYA ROCKETTE:EASTERSI HAVE KNOWN
TRIDUUM:THE THREEDAYS
TRIDUUM NOTES
CINDERELLAIN KALAMAZOO
THE VIRGINMARTYRS:BETWEEN“POINT VIERGE”AND THE“USUAL SPRING”
MINNEAPOLIS:COCKTAILS WITHSIMON TUGWELL
A STORYWITH DRAGONS:THE BOOK OFREVELATION
MARIA GORETTI:CIPHER OR SAINT?
EVENING
GENESIS
ROAD TRIP
PLACES ANDDISPLACEMENT:RATTLESNAKESIN CYBERSPACE
LEARNINGTO LOVE:BENEDICTINEWOMEN ONCELIBACY ANDRELATIONSHIP
THE CLOISTERWALK
THE GARDEN
THE CHURCHAND THESERMON
SMALL TOWNSUNDAY MORNING
AT LAST, HERLAUNDRY’S DONE
DREAMINGOF TREES
MONKS ANDWOMEN
A GLORIOUSROBE
WOMEN ANDTHE HABIT:A NOT-SO-GLORIOUSDILEMMA
THE GREGORIANBRAIN
OZ
GENERATIONS
MONASTICPARK
THE LANDS OFSUNRISE ANDSUNSET
THE NURSINGHOME ON SUNDAYAFTERNOON
ONEMAN’S LIFE
“IT’S ASWEET LIFE”
COMING ANDGOING:MONASTICRITUALS
“THE REST OFTHE COMMUNITY”
“THE ONLYCITY INAMERICA”
NIGHT
Acknowledgements
“The Cloister Walk is a new opportunity to discover a remarkable
writer with a huge, wise heart. . . . Norris resonates deeply for a lot
of people: She’s one of those writers who demands to be handed
around. You want to share this great discovery, giving her work as
a gift—or you simply shove a copy in the face of a friend, saying,
‘Read this.’ ”
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“A deeply moving encounter with the heart and mind of a writer
devoted to the highest level of inquiry.”
—Booklist
“The allure of the monastic life baffles most laypeople, but Norris
goes far in explaining it. . . . What emerges, finally, is an affecting
portrait—one of the most vibrant since Merton’s—of the misunderstood,
often invisible world of the monastics.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Norris presents ample proof that holy people don’t have to be
starchy . . . If you learn anything from The Cloister Walk, it’s that
monks are people too. They gossip, crack jokes, fall asleep in
church, suffer through depression and doubt like the rest of us. On
the other hand, if Norris has accomplished what she sets out to
do, you’ll close the book feeling just the slightest bit holier yourself.
. . . It’s hard not to admire Norris’s determination to rediscover
monastic principles and try to explain them to a world that
often seems godless, bereft of spirituality. And it’s instructive, even
inspiring at times, to see how she applies what she’s learned to
everything she does. Perhaps there’s hope for spiritual life outside
the cloister after all.”
—Newsday
“Luminous . . . Norris’s feel for the poetry she finds in the liturgy
is one of the most potent parts of the book.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“When several years ago I read Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, poet
Kathleen Norris’s first prose book, I was struck by her apparent reinvention
of nonfiction. Little writing that is published now can truly
be called new. . . . Yet Norris reminded me then, and still reminds
me now, that some new things may remain to be done with facts
and with words. . . . [In The Cloister Walk] Norris continues to write
plain-spoken meditations that expand the purview of nonfiction. . . .
She writes about religion with the imagination of a poet. She broadens
any theme, no matter how narrow; she never preaches. She also
writes with a refreshing sense of worldly attachment. The sturdiness
of her writing style complements a sturdiness of spiritual outlook
honed on humility and liberated by her mischievous sense of
humor. . . . In reading Norris, one comes to feel like a spiritual
collaborator and,