Literature
In 1974, the Dutch priest and writer Henri Nouwen was allowed to live with the community of monks as a temporary member for seven months. This is rather unusual, because while the Trappists do accept retreatants for some days, it is usually not possible to become a "temporary monk", as Nouwen did. The permission was granted particularly due to Nouwen's close friendship with abbot John Eudes.
After his retreat, Nouwen's diary was published in 1976 under the title "The Genesee Diary - Report from a Trappist Monastery." This book is now deemed one of the fundamental works about Trappist spirituality and contemplative life in general. It is also widely recommended to be read by prospective monks during their vocational discernment.
Read more about this topic: Abbey Of The Genesee
Famous quotes containing the word literature:
“A people’s literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them. The writings of the day show the quality of the people as no historical reconstruction can.”
—Edith Hamilton (1867–1963)
“A book is not an autonomous entity: it is a relation, an axis of innumerable relations. One literature differs from another, be it earlier or later, not because of the texts but because of the way they are read: if I could read any page from the present time—this one, for instance—as it will be read in the year 2000, I would know what the literature of the year 2000 would be like.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“The calmest husbands make the stormiest wives.”
—17th-century English proverb, pt. 1, quoted in Isaac d’Israeli, Curiosities of Literature (1834)