Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Mind of the Maker: Review

Oh, Dorothy L. Sayers, your erudition and classic university training are showing.  And showing me up!  I've been plugging away at The Mind of the Maker for four days--which is rather a long time for me for a book just over 200 pages long. But I found this one to be very slow going and way over my head, too. I usually find Sayers to be easy to understand, even when her classic university training is showing and she throws in Latin and French for good measure. I just can't grasp this one--the words go in the eyes, and just don't seem to find a foot-hold anywhere in the brain.  I'm just going to give y'all the synopsis from the book below and leave it at that.  No rating--I'm quite sure it's excellent (DLS always is), but I can't very well rate something that I can't really understand properly.  Oh, I get the analogies in their simplest forms and I get some of the illustrations she makes to prove her points while reading--but I couldn't properly explain to you right now this minute what she really said without cheating and peeking at the book.  Not if you promised me a million dollars.

Synopsis from the back of the book: This classic with a new introduction by Madeleine L'Engle, is by turns an entrancing meditation on language; a piercing commentary on the nature of art and why so much of what we read, hear, and see falls short; and a brilliant examination of the fundamental tenets of Christianity.  A mystery writer, a witty and perceptive theologian, culture critic, and playwright, Dorothy L. Sayers sheds new, unexpected light on a specific set of statements made in the Christian creeds. She examines anew such ideas as the image of God, the Trinity, free will, and evil, and in these pages a wholly revitalized understanding of them emerges. The author finds the key in the parallels between the creation of God and the human creative process. she continually refers to each in  a way that illuminates both.

No comments: