Faith and art …

… Review: Alice McDermott belongs among the great Catholic novelists. | America Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

• One of my early encounters with Alice McDermott’s writing was an essay in which she claimed that she believed that every sentence she wrote was influenced by her Catholic faith. I was stunned. Her statement struck me as religious hyperbole. Who did she think she was? Matthew? Mark? Luke? John? Having read all nine of her novels, and several more than once, I now believe what she said.