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Barbour to present new book about solitude

By David Gonnerman '90
October 28, 2004

St. Olaf College Professor of Religion John Barbour will read from and talk about his latest book, The Value of Solitude: The Ethics and Spirituality of Aloneness in Autobiography (University of Virginia Press), at St. Olaf tonight at 7:30 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in Viking Theater on the first floor of Buntrock Commons.

"Most people feel ambivalent about solitude, both loving and fearing it depending on how they experience being alone at certain points in their lives," says Barbour. "This book explores some of the ways in which experiences of solitude -- both positive and negative -- have been interpreted as religiously significant." Barbour's book also shows how solitude can raise ethical questions as writers evaluate the virtues and dangers of aloneness and consider how social interaction and withdrawal can most meaningfully be combined in a life.

Barbour's work breaks new ground in that it links solitude with ethics and spirituality, and it approaches solitude by way of autobiography. The work ranges from the early Christian and medieval periods to modern times in examining the varieties of solitary experience of writers such as Augustine, Petrarch, Montaigne, Gibbon, Rousseau, Thoreau, Thomas Merton and Paul Auster. Barbour says that for many authors the process of writing an autobiography is itself conceived of as a form of solitude, a detachment from others in order to discover or create a new sense of personal identity. He maintains that solitude has helped certain authors reorient their lives according to moral ideals and spiritual aspirations.

Barbour, who earlier this year became the first appointment to the new Martin E. Marty Chair in Religion and the Academy, received his Ph.D. in the field of religion and literature from the University of Chicago Divinity School. His teaching and research at St. Olaf center on the ethical and theological issues raised by works of fiction and autobiography. His three previous books are: Tragedy as a Critique of Virtue: The Novel and Ethical Reflection, The Conscience of the Autobiographer: Ethical and Religious Dimensions of Autobiography and Versions of Deconversion: Autobiography and the Loss of Faith. He is married to St. Olaf Professor of Art Meg Ojala, with whom he led the college's Global Program in 2001-02.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.