"A talented storyteller in his own right, Nick Ripatrazone brings to life the movements, the people, and the thoughts that have put the Catholic imagination on full display over the last century."
—Matt Malone, S.J., editor in chief, America magazine
"The cultural Catholic, the agnostic Catholic, the dissident Catholic, and the disaffected Catholic; the pagan Catholic, the sincere Catholic, and the Catholic jester; the heretical Catholic, the defrocked Catholic, and--yes--the devout Catholic: they're all here, and Nick Ripatrazone's achievement in this exploration of the varieties of Catholic literary experience is to make it seem that they all belong together."
—Paul Elie, Georgetown University, author of The Life You Save May Be Your Own and Reinventing Bach
"In Longing for An Absent God, Nick Ripatrazone demonstrates the impressive range of writers whose imaginations have been shaped by a Catholic formation. This book is a welcome and necessary addition to the unfolding account of the central role the Catholic imagination has played in contemporary American art and culture."
—Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, author of Flannery O'Connor: Fiction Fired by Faith and Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O'Connor
"Not only is Ripatrazone a lively guide, but like the Catholic storytellers he writes about, he has a rare capacity to make visible hidden patterns of cultural and intellectual tradition. Never pedantic, and always attuned to the humanity of writers ranging from Cormac McCarthy to Louise Erdrich, Ripatrazone is indeed a Catholic critic for our time."
—Bryan Giemza, Associate Professor of Humanities and Literature, Texas Tech University; author of Irish Catholic Writers and the Invention of the American South
"In his far-reaching study, Nick Ripatrazone discusses how secularism in the modern era has influenced Catholic novelists. The breadth of his coverage is impressive and deserves serious attention."
—Jean W. Cash, Professor Emerita of English at James Madison University; author of Larry Brown: A Writer's Life
