If you follow RobAroundBooks then you know that my reading over the past few months has been almost exclusively fiction-based, but now, with this latest book that I dive into, I’m taking a diversion back into the non-fiction arena, and it’s with a title I know not what to expect of.
I have spoken briefly about Richard Holloway’s Between the Monster and the Saint (Canongate Books) already. I featured it in a recent Daily Bookshot and I said then that it was a difficult one to explain without reading it first. I left it up to the offical blurb to explain it for me the first time around, and now, in the opening to these forethoughts I’m going to do the same:
Being human isn’t easy. We might think that consciousness and free will give us control over our lives but our minds are unpredictable places. We are susceptible to forces we don’t understand. We are capable of inflicting immense cruelty on one another and yet we also have the capacity to be tender, to empathise, to feel.
In this thought-provoking new book Richard Holloway holds a mirror up to the human condition. By drawing on a colourful and eclectic selection of writings from history, philosophy, science, poetry, theology and literature, Holloway shows us how we can stand up to the seductive power of the monster and draw closer to the fierce challenge of the saint.
So that’s the official word on what Between the Monster and the Saint is about, but I didn’t want to offer up these forethoughts on the book without a bit more personal understanding this time around. So in preparing for these forethoughts I read through Holloway’s introduction in the book, which unsurprisingly does shed a little more light on proceedings.
Holloway opens his introduction by describing a rather unsavoury incident that happened during his childhood; an incident which has often played on his mind, making him wonder what it is that draws man towards despicable acts of evil. He also reveals that much of his childhood was also spent in the fictional world of books and films where his interest more often than not lay in watching characters tussle between a path of good or evil.
So it’s clear that Holloway shows an early inherent interest in the human struggle between good and evil, and his interest has evolved so that now his fascination is with one of the most intense descriptions of the human struggle, that of the redemption myth of Christianity. Holloway explains that here, the redemption song of preacher exploits the myth, showing his congregation where they are morally, and where they need to be in order to gain redemption; and more importantly what will happen if they don’t. Holloway says that Between the Monster and the Saint is his own version of the preacher’s redemption song “minus the expectation of supernatural rescue”.
Presented in three distinct parts that’s what Between the Monster and the Saint essentially is: an exploration of the human condition and why man finds himself continually being tugged between evil (the monster) and good (the saint). The first part explores man’s abhorrent attraction towards cruelty (both to each other and to nature), and what the catalyst for this attraction towards evil may be. In the second part Holloway asks why humans may be so prone to such abhorrent behaviour. The final part offers a glimmer of hope, that perhaps humans are not as orientated towards evil as may be thought.
Now that I’ve said all that I have about Between the Monster and the Saint it all sounds a bit dense and heavy doesn’t it? Well I have it on good authority that Holloway is a very accessible writer, one who has the ability, even when exploring the densest of subjects, to make himself understood with reasonable ease (the complete polar opposite of Rob then 
). He’s certainly had plenty of practice at making himself understood. Aside from having authored a stack of acclaimed ecclesiastically-themed books, Holloway has served as the Bishop of Edinburgh for 16 years, has held the position of was the Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, has written for many of the top broadsheet newspapers in the UK, and has hosted a number of TV and radio shows. And even now, in retirement, Holloway remains one of the churches most controversial and outspoken figures.
An impressive career lies behind Richard Holloway, and to be honest I feel rather humbled with the task of having to now read and review his latest published work. But at the same time that I’m humbled, I’m also quite excited. Knowing that Holloway has been so outspoken during his career (mainly with regards to his liberal views on the modern church), I’m expecting something a bit special with Between the Monster and the Saint, even if at this point I don’t know what that’s going to be. I’ll be back with my ‘afterthoughts’ soon.
Canongate Books | 06 August 2009 | £7.99 | PAPERBACK | 240 PP | ISBN: 9781847672544
A note about Forethoughts
‘Forethoughts’ offer an insight into what my initial thoughts and impressions of a book are, before I begin reading it. Informal, and largely written as a stream-of-consciousness exercise in a single sitting, my ‘forethoughts’ capture an important stage of the reading experience for me – the anticipatory period before the book is first opened, when my excitement is piqued for the reading experience which lies ahead.
Blissfully ignorant my ‘forethoughts’ may be, but when they’re combined with my eventual ‘afterthoughts’, the result is a unique and comprehensive record of a very personal literary ‘journey’ through a particular book; a literary journey which will hopefully be of some value to other readers.
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