Called Out of Darkness

As I mentioned in Week in Review: Connections Edition, Anne Rice’s Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008)  offers a number of comments on education.   The  tension which Rice  wrestled with in  her  call as a writer speaks to a  reality encountered  by many in  the higher education, i.e., a confusing mixture of encouragement/discouragement offered by human beings in the role of shaping/teaching youth transitioning to their respective vocational roles in the larger culture.

“I took to the freedom of college, and navigating amid interesting classes and lecturers; and I responded strongly to complete lectures which enabled me to learn without the necessity of cumbersome and difficult books.     The classes in sociology and in journalism and in music appreciation were particularly illuminating.   The classes in English were discouraging.   I made less-than-perfect grades because I wasn’t considered an effective writer.   And the atmosphere of the English classes was disciplinary and confining.

‘We may assume,’ said the teacher, ‘that there are no Hemingways or Faulkners in this classroom.   Therefore we expect you to write in decent sentences.’   I loathed the very idea of assuming mediocrity.   I barely got by.

The one story I submitted to the college literary magazine was rejected.   I was told it wasn’t a story” (p.76).

So how did Anne Rice emerge as a creative writer  without the  support of  her professors?   Peer encouragement, with memories extending back to 5th grade, and I would add the grace of God  fused with  the determined, educational vision  nurtured by  her parents.   Have you faced similar challenges to your sense of vocation/call?   If so, how have you overcome?   For those who are currently in the role of educators, what recommendations do you have regarding how to encourage creative students?

Note:   I find it of interest that Rice later

wrote novels about people who are shut out of life for various reasons.   In fact, this became a great theme of my novels — how one suffers as an outcast, how one is shut out of various levels of meaning and, ultimately out of human life itself (p.78).

In Friday’s Week in Review, we’ll have some links to articles highlighting the role/value of monsters.   At present, Rice’s books on Jesus are on my too read shelf. Can anyone comment as to how/whether these books highlight the theme of being an outcast?

Note:   Updated 10/28/2009, 8:45 am.