I have nothing but the deepest respect and admiration, not to say effusive enthusiasm, for the work of Cluny Media, a publishing house which is bringing some of the neglected classics of the Catholic Revival back into print. The series of Cluny Classics has resurrected the Chestertonian genius of Myles Connolly, bringing three of his novels, including the delightful Mr. Blue, back into print. And now, hot off the press, are new editions of François Mauriac’s The Lamb and a selection of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which includes the masterful “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. As if these were not enough feathers for one publishing house to be wearing in its cap, I am also overjoyed to see the reissuing of two works on Catholic aesthetics by those giants of neo-Thomism, Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson. The former’s Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry delineates the abstract principles at the heart of poiesis whereas the latter’s Choir of Muses discuss the artist’s relationship with the Muse, including insightful chapters on Petrarch, Baudelaire and Wagner.

Those interested in the Catholic cultural revival, or those as passionate as I am about its revitalization in the twenty-first century, should buy and read these books. Not only will they be enriched by the experience but they will be supporting the work of this finest and most important of contemporary publishers.