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James Farl Powers wanted to write stories that “even God would like.”
“I think it’s possible to write something…that is worthy of God’s attention,” he explained. “Not as a soul seeking salvation, but just as entertainment for God.”
That quest resulted in one of the -mid-20th century’s most acclaimed bodies of fiction. Flannery O’Connor described Powers as “one of the country’s finest story writers,” and his first novel, Morte d’Urban, beat out books by John Updike and Katherine Anne Porter to win the 1963 National Book Award.
A self-taught writer, Powers was born into a devout Catholic family in 1917 and was educated by Franciscans in high school, but he never graduated from college. Instead, the Illinois native worked odd jobs while honing his craft.
During World War II, the pacifist Powers spent 20 months in jail for refusing to fight. Professionally, the time was well spent. He met other artists and had ample time to write. Personally, it was challenging. In a May 22, 1944, letter he wrote, “There is a justice, hardly poetic, in the way I find myself tied up in destiny with millions of people when what I want most is to be separated from them.”
Echoes of that sentiment run throughout Powers’ work, which focused largely on Catholic priests struggling with their vocations. Neither saints nor devils, Powers’ priests grapple equally with the demands of holiness and the trivialities of parish life. Those trivialities leave some spiritually bankrupt; others humbled.
After publishing his first short story collection in 1947, Powers wrote two novels and another 19 short stories. He also taught writing at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. His -42–year marriage to writer Betty Wahl ended with her 1988 death. Losing her tested Powers’ faith but didn’t break it.
“I figure you have to make a bet,” he said. “You can’t go through this life and just be a spectator without ever laying it on the line. I’m betting on God to win, not to show.”
Powers died in 1999.
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