“What you look hard at seems to look hard at you.” — Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ (1871)
We are surrounded by culture: film, literature, painting, photography, dance, decoration, architecture, music, sports. Culture high and low, digital and print, old and (constantly) new. The Catholic imagination is often thought of in terms of creativity — and for good reason — but criticism is a creative act. Criticism, done well and in a particular mode, can also be an act of faith.
An Ignatian approach to culture is both omnivorous and anchored in a Catholic worldview and language. Refined rather than reactionary, playful rather than pretentious, a Catholic critic seeks to find God in all creations: those both faithful and subversive. We will consider how the action of criticism can be a route toward a spiritual understanding. As Hopkins noted, sustained attention toward the world reflects back upon ourselves.
In this six-week online course, you will learn how to be a discerning culture critic. We will begin with ways of seeing culture, build a technique of engaging culture and develop our written responses to culture. We will read, watch, listen and write. You will receive weekly instructor feedback on your writing, and you will also share some of your writing with other group members during workshop.
Our course will run asynchronously online on the Wet Ink writing and workshop platform, which was designed for online instruction. Each week we’ll start with a posted lesson that prompts reflection through a narrative lecture focused on the topics and themes of that week, as well as course material. You will complete short exercises and participate in discussion forums. As a way to cultivate community, you may participate in two informal and optional Zoom meetings.
Week 2: November 11—Ways of Seeing: Attention as Communion Readings: “Drawn to that Moment” by John Berger, “The Medium is the Message” by Marshall McLuhan (excerpt).
Week 3: November 18—Becoming Culture Critics: The Four Modes of Criticism—Text, Tradition, Context, Viewer Listening: “Criticism as a Way of Life” episode of The Commonweal Podcast: Vinson Cunningham in conversation with Anthony Domestico Reading: Roland Barthes on criticism (from “Mythologies”) Viewing: Roger Ebert on film criticism (2005 interview)
Week 4: December 2—Framing a Critical Response + Introduction to Workshop Reading: “The Religious Art of Andy Warhol” by Jane Daggett Dillenberger (excerpt) Viewing: Selected paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Week 5: December 9—The Purpose of Criticism Reading: “The Decline of Book Reviewing” by Elizabeth Hardwick, “A Critic’s Manifesto” by Daniel Mendelsohn
Week 6: December 16—Tough Love: Criticism as Respect Reading: “The Way of the Critic: To Judge Is to Love” by James K.A. Smith.
Nick Ripatrazone is an author, editor, writer and teacher. His new book, “The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Midcentury America,” is the story behind a midcentury renaissance of nuns and sisters who wrote poetry (Fortress Press 2023).
His other recent books include “Longing for an Absent God: Faith and Doubt in Great American Fiction” and “Wild Belief: Poets and Prophets in the Wilderness,” both from Broadleaf Books, and “Digital Communion: Marshall McLuhan’s Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age,” from Fortress Press.
Nick is the culture editor for Image Journal, a quarterly magazine that seeks to publish the best writing and artwork informed by or grappling with religious faith.
He has written regular columns for Literary Hub and The Millions about literary magazines, teaching and poetry.
Nick has written for Rolling Stone, GQ, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Esquire, Outside, The Sewanee Review, America, Commonweal, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review, The Mississippi Review, The Poetry Foundation, the Catholic Herald (UK) and elsewhere.
Questions?
If you’re interested in the course but the enrollment fee poses a financial hardship, email Mike Jordan Laskey at jccucommunications@jesuits.org. You can also email Mike with any general questions about the course.