Susan Neville is the author of five collections of nonfiction and fiction. She teaches creative writing at Butler University in Indiana and is on the faculty of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. One of the thought-piece quotations in this innovative and daring work of self-examination is from Virginia Woolf: "What is the meaning of life? That was all — a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark."
Neville's curiosity leads her to an icon-painting class at the St. Rublev School of Iconography in downtown Indianapolis. She admits that she is not Catholic or Greek Orthodox but interested nonetheless in the process of iconography: "I had no words or theories to come between me and my experience of it." She loves the word. But when the class frustrates her, she decides to take a break. Neville's new project is to write for the 40 days of Lent.
This turns out to be a very worthwhile process of self-examination whereby she looks at her everyday experiences and feelings with intensity and focus. Simone Weil once stated that attention is actually a form of prayer. Neville's writing becomes her prayer and as she delves deeper into the layers of what is going on in her life, the process becomes similar to iconography.
She wonders why she gets so upset with a neighbor who puts up a sign with the Ten Commandments on it. A trip to the mall brings on a discussion of a fragrance lady who tries to link scenery to fragrances — "Think mountains and clear skies and a little bit of ocean." But all Neville can come up with is "Think Indianapolis in a gray season, think a downtown retail cathedral, think underground parking garage."
Although the author puts herself down as being a boring person who lives a block away from the house where she grew up, who teaches at the college her parents went to, and who has been married for 25 years to her college sweetheart; she does manage to spot some miracles and meaning in the commonplaces of her life. Her exploration of the life and writings of St. Augustine provides more food for thought. When a student asks her, "What has your writing given you?" she responds, "happiness."
Even better, Neville is a little less afraid of herself after her 40-day inner exploration. She returns to the class and finishes an icon which appears on the cover of this paperback book. Like one of our other favorite Indiana writers, Scott Russell Sanders, Neville tutors us in the art of finding meaning in the midst of everyday life.
