S10E131: The Moral Imagination with Dr. Vigen Guroian
“Can you not see,” I said, “that fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but that this everlasting fiction about modern life is in its nature essentially incredible? Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is—what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problem of the modern novel is—what will a madman do with a dull world?”
G. K. Chesterton, from Tremendous Trifles
Show Summary:
- Welcome back to The New Mason Jar podcast with Cindy Rollins and Dawn Duran! Today’s guest is theologian and author of Tending the Heart of Virtue, Dr. Vigen Guroian.
- What is the “moral imagination”?
- Why are imaginative stories so important in developing virtue in a child?
- Why shouldn’t parents be afraid to introduce fairy tales to their children?
- What is the new fairy tale project on which Dr. Guroian is currently working?
- What does it mean to bowdlerize a story?
- What fairy tales would Dr. Guroian have enjoyed most as a child?
- What parts of Dr. Guroian’s own education does he look back on as the things which mattered most?
Listen Now:
Books and Links Mentioned:
Tending the Heart of Virtue by Dr. Vigen Guroian
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Beauty and Imitation by Donald McInery
I Also Had My Hour: An Alternative Autobiography by G.K. Chesterton
Mystery and Manners by Flannery O’Connor
Dr. Guroian on The Literary Life Podcast
Find Cindy and Dr. Guroian:
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
Subscribe:
Some people have the notion that you read the story and then climb out of it into the meaning, but for the fiction writer himself, the whole story is the meaning because it is an experience, not an abstraction.
Flannery O’Connor, from Mystery and Manners
