Literature, in the light of beauty and form, with James Matthew Wilson, Professor of Humanities and the Founding Director of the Master of Fine Arts Program at the University of St. Thomas (Houston). Among his many books is The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in the Western Tradition (Catholic University of America Press, 2017) and The Strangeness of the Good (Angelico, 2020). Here are some questions we’ll be asking. Feel free to suggest others! (June 23, 2021)

1. Prof. Wilson, could you first tell us a bit about your background and your family?

2. How did the new Master of Fine Arts Program at St. Thomas (Houston) come about?

3. What sort of students are you looking for? Who should apply?

4. This year we celebrate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. Can there ever be another poet to rival his stature?

5. What can we learn from Dante in these chaotic times?

6. It’s been said that you write in “the high humanist Christian tradition.” Can the dominant secular culture allow this tradition to survive and even develop?

7. What themes do you explore in your new book of poems, The Strangeness of the Good? Perhaps you could share a few of these poems with us now.

8. Plato long ago warned us about the tension between poetry and philosophy. Do you see such a tension? Can it be constructive?

9. How is it that you have recently returned to Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Athens of the Midwest? Are you still unpacking?

10. What do you see yourself doing a decade from now?