Читать книгу The Book of Unknowing - David S. Herrstrom - Страница 7

I am especially grateful to Dr. Andrew D. Scrimgeour whose unswerving belief in this book made it a reality. It is an immense pleasure at last to thank publicly my oldest friend for being the reader over my shoulder on those cold dawn mornings and in those deep still nights where I labored in solitude to give this lyrical foray life. And for his patient reading after the book was finished, I am in Andy’s debt as well, his considering my words carefully and inspiring me not to waiver in developing fully the Nicodemus chapter and in joining whole-heartedly Jesus’ fraught father-son dance. A dance we both know well. Beyond his continual spiritual aid, I also thank him from the bottom of my heart for his unstinting physical effort in championing my slim book. For without such sacrifice it would not have found its publisher.

And a wonderful privilege it is to have this opportunity after so many years to acknowledge my continuing intellectual and spiritual debt to Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott. I owe her many revelations, not the least being Tristram Shandy, which introduced me to the “True Shandeism” that “opens the heart and lungs.” A spirit, I trust, informing my own book. In the classroom her presence alone was a revelation. From her purposeful entrance, each measured step resounding with the conviction of John Milton, to her deliberate commandeering of the lectern and weighing of each word to us undergraduates with the seriousness of Ezekiel, I was granted a vision of the mind burning with a hard gemlike flame. For her passion and example I am exceedingly grateful.

And I thank Rebecca Mebert for her enthusiastic response to my writings over the years. Her encouragement has meant more than she will ever know. I also want to convey my thanks to Emily Nguyen for her attentive reading and generosity.

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I’m grateful to the following magazines where my poems included in this book first appeared, though in different versions:

“Letters of Nicodemus (I).” Mars Hill Review (No. 19).

“The Nicodemus Glyph.” New River: Journal of Digital Writing and Art (Fall 2006). Online: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/journals/newriver/herrstrom/nicodemusintroduction.html