Tea at Trianon: The Comic Muse

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Comic Muse

There is a new Catholic literary blog by Daniel McInerny. To quote:

Writing is a craft, and to master the craft the writer must apprentice himself not just to one master, but to an entire tradition of masters. Our word “tradition” comes from the Latin verb tradere: “to hand over.” A tradition can be defined as craft-wisdom gained and handed over from one generation to the next.

All of which means that the craft of writing is not learned in a vacuum. The attempt to invent oneself and one’s style ab ovo is doomed to failure. The writer who is Catholic, along with the writer who is not, is invited to enter the community of the Catholic literary tradition, to learn about the masters of that tradition, and to discern which master(s) to whom he might like to apprentice himself–an activity which in no way precludes learning from the best of other traditions.

Today I am pleased to launch The Comic Muse, the virtual hub of a living community of artists on a mission to renovate the Catholic literary tradition. I’m very glad you’ve stopped by and I hope you will bring a friend and come back often.

The Daily Muse Blog and The Comic Muse Café will serve as our conversation-starters. On the blog you can expect posts on the craft of writing, the world of publishing (with an emphasis on indie publishing), on marketing your book, Catholic authors, book reviews, and more. In the café you will find interviews with writers, publishers and artists working in other genres, not all of whom will be Catholic. (Read more.)