Today marks the official release of my book The Divided Soul: Duty and Desire in Literature and Life. If you have been following me over the last several years, you have surely become accustomed to my attention to duty and desire. It all began with a conversation I had with my godfather, Andrew, many years ago.
We were conversing about something else entirely when he made an off-hand comment: “everything in life comes down to the story of the Prodigal Son.” Well. It resonated, but I didn’t know why—and I resolved to investigate. I’m sure you know the ancient tale—the Prodigal Son asks for his share of his Father’s inheritance, which he squanders in wild living. When he finds himself destitute he returns home, chastened and repentant, where he is welcomed with open arms by his loving Father who proclaims a great feast to celebrate the return of his wayward son. But his self-righteous Older Brother is angry that his brother seems to be getting off too easily, and he refuses even to enter the house, let alone come to the feast.
The Father clearly represents God, who demonstrates mercy to us as lost sons. The two boys can be understood as warring impulses within us—the Prodigal part of us driven by appetites (desire) and the Older Brother by obligation (duty). The conflict between the two creates chaos and division, but the Father wants them to reconcile. How? He invites them to a feast. A feast is an image of unified duty and desire. The food is delicious and abundant, fulfilling desire, and the setting requires special decorum, enacting duty. And best of all, the Father serves the fatted calf—an image of Christ. Truly the feast is a healing communion designed to restore broken fellowship and celebrate harmonious return.
There is a Prodigal and an Older Brother in me. I’m constantly torn between what I want to do and what I ought to do. In this I do not think I am alone. In fact, in the book I make the case that we are all fractured along the fault lines of duty and desire, but we have the hope of reconciliation through Christ. Once I identified this universal pattern, I began to see it everywhere in literature and in life.
Thus The Divided Soul was born, and today it takes its first steps into the world!
If you relate to problems and preoccupations of duty and desire, I think you will find the book worthwhile, and I hope you order your copy today. And PLEASE reach out with your thoughts and reactions—this is a conversation worth having.
Order your copy of The Divided Soul
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