Christians and Literature – 10 Questions for Vincent Cancilla

Previously, Mark Nenadov, Michael Plato, Olga Lukmanova, and Ian Clary’s answers on the topic of literature have been featured. Here are Vincent Cancilla’s answers.

1. Can you give a brief summary of where you live, your educational background, what you do for a living, what church you attend, and the religious tradition you stand in?

I currently live in Milton, Ontario (and no, I did not just move there because my favourite poet is John Milton, although that certainly helped). I have a Specialized Honours B.A. in English Literature from York University, and I did a partial M.A. in Lit at York as well, but I dropped out because of the liberalism in the programme. I work for the City of Mississauga in the Transit division, working as a customer service rep in their call center.

My wife and I attend the Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarean) in Kitchener, ON. I stand firmly in the Anabaptist tradition re: pacifism, but I am learning more about Reformed traditions over the last year and a half or so, and expanding my knowledge of church history.

2. How has your early upbringing shaped your view and use of literature now?

I come from a somewhat dysfunctional background. Having grown up in Jane & Finch in a broken family, I had little parental involvement or encouragement, and so up until grade 6 I could barely read at a grade 1 or 2 level. At some point in grade 6 I randomly picked up Lloyd Alexander’s children’s book series, “The Chronicles of Prydain”, and I determinedly spent 3 days over a Friday/weekend laboriously teaching myself to read by working through them. From then onward, I would take out books from the library, mostly of the fantasy genre, and slowly make my way through each volume, gaining a better grasp of English as I went.

My fascination with the creativity of the fantasy genre in my early encounters with books really shaped me to appreciate the role of imagination in experiencing literature, as well in enjoying really well written children’s books.

3. Are there any people who, in your adult life, have encouraged you to encounter literature in a deeper or more passionate way. If so, who? (they can people you know personally or not)

In my first year at York my English T.A., John Blazina, quite impressed upon me a zeal for literature. He was what is known as a ‘generalist’, a somewhat rare relic in our now highly specialized modern fields, but because of this he was such a treasure house of knowledge about every period of English Literature. A couple years after taking his Lit. survey course, I remembered him recommending that I should read Milton’s “Paradise Lost” because he knew of my fondness for the fantasy genre, and it was through that recommendation that I ended up reading the Bible itself and being converted by the grace of Our Lord.

Also, my Shakespeare T.A. in 4th year was a great inspiration, he taught our classes in such depth that he actually outstripped the lecturing professor of the course. He really gave me a love and appreciation for the complexity of Shakespeare’s works that I had never before known, especially in the distinction between the Biblical worldview vs. the Greek worldview.

4. What authors/works would you re-read if you had a month-long sabbatical to dedicate to reading?

I’ve wanted to write my own epic Christian poem for a few years now — mainly to correct all of Milton’s horrible theology! — so I would catch up on re-reading Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Milton, and some Chaucer as well. I’ve also wanted to read Tasso’s “Jerusalem Liberated”, and Lucan’s “Pharsalia”. In terms of fiction I’ve always loved Dickens and Melville and would like to read more of them.

5. Who are your favorite authors or characters portrayed in literature? (if any of them have substantially changed you, list how briefly)

Stephan Dedalus in Joyce’s “Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man” always resonated with me the most deeply. I was reading this in school at the time that I was converting, and so his experience with academia mixed with the confusion of identifying either with religion (better yet, with God) or the world, and the element of his sinful longings tied in with complex thoughts of God’s nature and the church, was really powerful to me. The sequence of the Jesuit “Bible camp” & the “descent into the underworld” paralleling the classical motifs in Homer and Virgil, with it’s intense sermon on Hell, really invoked a deep fear in me, sort of putting flesh on the (somewhat) more general imagery of Hell (Sheol/Hades) found in Scripture.

In terms of favourite authors, I would put Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton high up…also, Swift, Dickens, Melville, & Joseph Conrad. Chaucer’s “House of Fame” was one of the works that inspired me to get better versed in classical literature (I’m definitely not there yet), and to try to write metrical poetry and learn different poetic forms. Moby Dick is probably my favourite fiction book, for it’s dark allegorical nature and amazingly readable KJV-flavoured prose and plethora of Biblical allusions. I definitely need to re-read it now in light of discovering recently that it is an elaborate allegory about Calvinism.

In the fantasy genre, Robert Jordan *was* a great favourite…but The Wheel of Time series went downhill rather brutally, and is ending very poorly with the unfortunate inclusion of Brandon Sanderson (the awfully awful writer chosen to finish the series after Jordan’s untimely death).

6. Should Christians read more literature? What are the benefits to that? What are some cautions you would share?

It’s a tough question…literature can be very time consuming, usually at the expense of reading the Bible and personal communion and prayer time. I think one of the reasons literature is so much easier to read than the Bible is because it sort of “thinks for you.” It spells things out, whereas the Bible is very dense and laconic and makes you work really hard to get the meaning sometimes. But despite all this I think it’s very important for Christians to be versed in some measure with literature, mainly because that will help them read and understand the Bible better (i.e., to learn about genres, poetic forms/styles, approaches to reading, etc).

7. To what degree is reading communal for you? (ie. Are you more solitary? Do you share in any way with your friends? Are you in reading groups?)

I’m pretty much solitary…I’ve never belonged to any reading groups, other than small groups for Bible study. I sometimes share thoughts or meditations via e-mail on different things I’m reading, usually of a theological nature. I do, however, greatly enjoy a relaxing evening on the couch with my wife and each of us with a book in hand (I think this counts as communal?)

8. What are some methods or principles you use to decide what you will and won’t read?

Anything that is explicitly or graphically sexual is usually a write off; basically if it gets an AA or R rating kind of idea, I won’t usually touch it — although much epic poetry and fantasy literature includes graphic battle scenes, I’m not as bothered by that.

I’m not so disciplined to have any particular method, but I’m fairly elitist with my tastes…I mean, I don’t read a lot of pop fiction other than my indulgence here and there in fantasy (and I even stopped reading fantasy for about 7 years until recently). With literature or film, I’d much rather focus on the deep classics than a lot of the modern fluff that comes out, so I try to maximize profitability by choosing good, weighty material. I’m definitely more of a traditionalist, so the modern works (post 1960′s) hold a lot less interest to me in general.

9. What literary works or authors could be of the greatest value to the church if they were read more? Why?
Some the Early Modern authors that deal with complex theological problems I think could greatly benefit the church, just to see these ideas explored in a setting that is not strictly “religious” (inter-church). For example, Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” is an awesome exploration of problem of free will and determinism; Calderon’s “Life Is A Dream” is a beautiful allegory about the human condition and one with a strong Christian emphasis. For modern stuff, Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting For Godot” (although somewhat obtuse) offers a neat exploration into some Christian concepts vs. existentialism.

I think seeing these concepts worked through from other perspectives (secular/non-secular film, literature, etc) would really help the church with its ability to discern and articulate truth in different fields, to engage the academic culture and use its own language to spread the gospel (like Paul in Acts 17 with the Athenian philosophers).

10. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

I especially encourage people to read more poetry. Taking poetry very seriously is becoming somewhat of a lost art…read it, write it, study it! Go back to the old paths, too, don’t let modernism/post-modernism overrun everything!