Nick Ripatrazone

Books


The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Mid-century America

A "gripping survey of the contributions made by nuns to twentieth-century American literature…The reader quickly comes to agree that nuns have sometimes been vital catalysts in literary awakenings…well-research, skillfully argued study….Ripatrazone balances illuminating contextual information and biography with a strong section of excerpted poems" (Times Literary Supplement)…"A simply fascinating read throughout…An impressive work of original and seminal research" (Midwest Book Review)…"impeccably researched but slim enough for me to slip into the pocket of my blessed old tweed coat" (First Things)…"All women religious have reason to rejoice in the publication of The Habit of Poetry, which places Catholic colleges for women and their religious teachers and administrators at the forefront of the burgeoning Catholic poetic literature in the mid-20th century" (National Catholic Reporter)…"a compact but thorough look at the lives and works of six sisters" (Global Sisters Report)…"this new book is a gem for those who are interested in poetry, for those interested in the relationship of faith and writing, and, frankly, for those wanting a close historical look at mid-twentieth century Catholics, especially those who became nuns" (Hearts & Minds Bookstore)…"[Ripatrazone] has spent his career crafting quality work that attracts attention—whether he is writing on secular subjects or the Catholic faith" (The Beacon)…"The impact women religious have made in literature has long been under-acknowledged. This books helps to change that…Read this for insights into [the sisters's] work and imagine their impact if sexism were not the barrier it remains today" (Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual)…"The Habit of Poetry does a superb job of showing us how and why its subjects were ideally situated to become creators and inspirers of poetry, not in spite of but precisely because of their constant need to navigate the tensions between their various callings" (Englewood Review of Books)…"excels…in humanizing and celebrating the biographies of the nuns….with nuns often poorly understood by broader American culture and society, this book allows them to be real human beings who struggle with faith, career choices, a sense of purpose, and recognition—all without detracting from or minimizing their faith or vocation" (Word & World)…Excerpts featured in Literary Hub, The Millions, America, Catholic Herald (UK), US Catholic…interviewed by Writer's Digest, National Catholic Reporter, Saint Mary's College


Digital Communion: Marshall McLuhan's Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age


A "Most Anticipated" book from The Millions…featured in Publishers Weekly article on new books that take a spiritual account of social media…"Ripatrazone puts McLuhan the media theorist, the glib performer, the Renaissance scholar, and the devout Roman Catholic on full display. And he makes compelling claims for revitalizing McLuhan’s ideas and his methods today, as we navigate the digital worlds McLuhan predicted" (The Millions)…"Ripatrazone's style in this spiritual biography and light theological exegesis of McLuhan's thought echoes McLuhan's own mosaic style (America)…"a very readable introduction to McLuhan’s thought and details how his Roman Catholicism (he converted as an adult in 1937) relates to his media theories and observations…Ripatrazone concludes with ‘A Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age’ and these brief thoughts offer much for preachers to think on in relation to their practice." (College of Preachers)…"packed full of important aspects of Marshall McLuhan’s life that not known to the general public" (Midnight Oil Studios)…"svelte and punchy…Ripatrazone argues a proper reconsideration of McLuhan's theories in light of his Christian faith should change our popular understanding of the internet in a profound, and perhaps hopeful, way" (Athwart)…"Poignant" (New Explorations: Studies in Culture & Communication)…"Ripatrazone captures the spiritual aspects of the internet by studying McLuhan's role in encouraging spirituality in the age of technology" (US Catholic)…“Ripatrazone does a masterful job of fitting McLuhan into this well-told story of rapid technological innovation, as well as showing the importance of his love of the classics…and how his Catholic faith developed the foundation for his social criticism" (Acton Institute)…."Yet McLuhan was decidedly not a prophet of doom. He had a Catholic sensibility, Ripatrazone writes…Media effect a change, Ripatrazone says, not only through the content we receive but in the way we think and act… excerpts featured in Literary Hub, The Week, America, Church Life Journal, Catholic Herald (UK) …podcast appearances on Hermitix, Device and Virtue, Exvangelical.



Wild Belief: Poets and Prophets in the Wilderness


A "Most Anticipated" book from The Millions…noted by the Boston Globe…included in round-up of wilderness-focused work by The New York Times…"Renewal is what I found in Ripatrazone's examination of the divine in the wilderness taken up searchingly by writers across the ages…Ripatrazone is an excellent guide" (Dappled Things)…"This brand new hardback is one of my favorite books this season and I simply couldn't put it down…Wild Belief is an ingeniously arranged study of various faith-based literary figures who wrote about the wilderness, whose own encounters with the wild creation (and the wild God of creation) formed their souls and informed their writing projects…Highly recommended" (Hearts & Minds Bookstore)…"Particularly in a culture that values comfort and convenience, we need to listen to those who have encountered wilderness with the humility and attentiveness necessary to receive its instruction. Reading Ripatrazone's reflections, and returning to the work of the writers he commends, may be just the tonic we need." (Front Porch Republic)…"Ripatrazone, who lives in America’s most densely populated state, New Jersey, writes powerfully about wilderness in his latest book…[he] observes that wilderness heals us by helping us be aware of our bodily limitations in the wild." (The Christian Century)…"[Ripatrazone] has a love for the natural world that—fair warning—is practically contagious from reading his prose, combined with a deep knowledge of literature and poetry. He can take a single line from a poem that you or I might gloss over and pluck it out, holding it up to the light and examining it from all sides like an iridescent feather." (Where Peter Is)…"[includes] a fine essay on God in the desert…This book is for those who search for the presence of holiness within the beauty of wild places." (Presbyterian Outlook)…"Wild Belief provides sound spiritual advice in the guise of literary analysis. Ripatrazone's attentive close readings offer a contemplative experience, with each chapter encouraging use to cedar our human desire for control—to be awakened to the divine around us, to be grateful for its mystery and to know, deeply and humbly, our littleness as humans living in the wild." (Broadview)…"Wild Belief serves as a literary pilgrimage through the lives of poets and prophets who have allowed the wilderness to transform their lives and their work — who have found the wilderness to be “a locus for renewal,” both spiritually and literarily." (Veritas Journal)…."[Wild Belief] is an invitation to sit, walk, and wander alongside attentive writers who draw our attention to the Spirit’s voice in the sage brush, the constant now of a river, or the dense mystery of a thicket." (Englewood Review of Books)


Longing for an Absent God: Faith and Doubt in Great American Fiction

A "Most Anticipated" book from The Millions and The Englewood Review of Books…the book's "articulation of a Catholic literature inclusive of—and more importantly defined by—practicing and lapsed Catholics is a valuable one. Scholars of modern American Catholicism will find much food for thought here" (Publishers Weekly)…"Ripatrazone’s previous book demonstrated that there are contemporary Catholic authors worthy of the wider literary world’s respect. This new one shows that some of those authors the world already respects contain spiritual depths that are too often ignored, but that help us to better appreciate their artistic achievement” (National Review)…"Despite its high-brow subject matter, Longing for an Absent God is far from pedantic or didactic; the author holds before him always the desire to uplift these literary witnesses and the potency of their stories” (Law and Liberty)…"an effective and engrossing book that kindles our desire to explore new writers and revisit old favorites to deepen our understanding of the Catholic faith” (America)…"The author’s intent is to show readers what faith and doubt mean about being alive. During a global pandemic in which some wonder about the presence of God while others cling more deeply to their faith in God’s presence, Ripatrazone is a fitting guide for both" (Presbyterian Outlook)…"as this marvelous book shows, even writers who have fallen away from the faith feel God's absence" (Catholic World Report)…"There is immense value in Ripatrazone's book, regardless of your faith. You come away appreciating silence, stillness…you come away more reflective and hopeful" (Another Chicago Magazine)…"long overdue in receiving the kind of consideration Ripatrazone himself provides" (Church Life Journal)…"Longing for an Absent God presents a satisfying survey of several major fiction writers of the contemporary period, bound together by their diverse relationships to Roman Catholicism…Perhaps the greatest benefit of this book is to place writers not always featured as Catholic (such as Toni Morrison) in the company of some usual suspects (Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy), and in doing so to suggest the richness of a Catholic tradition that has navigated currents of faith and doubt in complicated ways" (American Catholic Studies)…"Longing for an Absent God is a deft, sprightly look at Catholic American fiction over the last 70 years…what makes this book especially valuable is the width of the net it casts. Along with expected 'heavy-hitters,' Ripatrazone makes persuasive cases for the influence of Catholicism on writers rarely thought of in such religious terms, from Thomas Pynchon to Cormac McCarthy" (Today's American Catholic)..."Ripatrazone draws extensively from his subjects' fiction and expository writing to ground his argument in the thoughts of the authors; thus his project succeeds at its stated aims" (The Living Church)…"While mapping out paths for engagement with complex permutations of comedy, tragedy, satire, and polemic, Ripatrazone never forgets that the Deus absconditus feared or missed by many of the writers he covers was never really “absent,” merely hidden. In this, the book itself is an expression of a certain sort of desire line: If for many literary readers and writers—whose pursuit is at once solitary and communal—the need to find companionship on the page is immense, then the path Ripatrazone has walked in this book will save tomorrow’s novelists and believers a great many steps in expanding and developing their literary taste, while simultaneously fulfilling and challenging their perceptions. Its publication confirms a sense that others have walked this path before us: an affirmation that feels like a gift." (The Angelus)



Selected Writing

Rolling Stone / The Atlantic / GQ / Esquire / The Sewanee Review / Truly Adventurous / America / Humanities Magazine (National Endowment for the Humanities)