Sunday, October 24, 2004

The nature of happy virtue

It is not, perhaps, especially profound to say that goodness is good. But it is true to say it. And it is happy to be in synch with truth--to be part of the right ordering of the universe--and that is what virtue is.

I read somewhere that George MacDonald was a rare writer, in that his virtuous characters were his most realistic and his villains most like cardboard. Not to approve cardboard characters, but the idea of goodness being portrayed realistically can stand emulation. If with this blog I reflect happy virtue, I shall have accomplished my purpose.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think perhaps I mentioned MacDonald's oddity that way.

Two other authors with peculiarly REAL virtue (at least in some of their works) are Dostoyevsky and Charles Williams. :)

- Jonathan K.

Pinon Coffee said...

I think I need to read Williams.