Roland Receives His First Book of the Year Notice...
...in the TLS
Just a quick notice. As RWH’s humble amanuensis, I cannot forbear to mention that the recent edition of the Times Literary Supplement includes the annual “Book of the Year” list, as proposed by the journal’s regular contributors, and A.N. Wilson’s choice for the honor was Roland in Moonlight.
The endorsement reads thus:
A. N. WILSON
Roland in Moonlight by David Bentley Hart (Angelico Press) is a dialogue with the author’s dog Roland, who turns out to be a philosopher of mind, with a particular bee in his bonnet about the inadequacy of materialist explanations for “consciousness”. The dog, a dab paw on the laptop, has also been editing, or knocking into shape, David’s late Uncle Aloysius’s poems and essays. Aloysius was one of those god-haunted atheists. Some of the poems, especially one in which the Theotokos visits Hell and returns to Heaven to upbraid Her Son for its cruelty, are especially haunting. The book is also laced with moving reflections on married love, and some sympathetically despondent thoughts about American politics. Probably the dottiest book of the year, but/and I KEEP returning to it.
Needless to say, we are grateful. No dog could deserve it more.
Glad to see Roland recognized even though his main focus is his original haiku collections.
A stunningly good book; I picked it up with a wee bit of "what in the world is this going to be....and am I about to waste considerable time?" It turned out to be a sheer delight--and a revelation--from start to finish. Thank you!