Journeys toward Hope: The Quest of Delbanco's The Real American Dream in the Autobiographical Writings of Anne Lamott and Kathleen Norris

Abstract

CONCLUDING HIS MEDITATION ON HOPE, Andrew Delbanco reasserts "that the most striking feature of contemporary culture is the unslaked craving for transcendence." 1 In his next sentence, however, he amends this by telling his readers "[t]o this claim, it might be objected that we are witnessing resurgent orthodoxy among Christians" (Real 114). This implies that perhaps in some way this "resurgent orthodoxy among Christians" could slake that craving for transcendence. Earlier, he quoted Alexis de Tocqueville on religion, that it is "as natural to the human heart as hope itself" (Real 116). Tocqueville continues that "[i]t is by a sort of intellectual aberration, and in a way, by doing moral violence to their own nature, that men detach themselves from religious beliefs; an invincible inclination draws them back" (Real 116). Indeed, according to The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope, that is exactly what Americans have done, "detached themselves from religious beliefs" even [End Page 124] while continuing the quest for hope and transcendence. Consequently, Delbanco reasons that "some kind of faith will reemerge. The question is, What will it be?" (Real 116). In preempting an objection to his claim, Delbanco may well have answered his own question. In at least two recent autobiographical works, those of Anne Lamott and Kathleen Norris, the protagonists have searched for transcendence, as if mirroring Delbanco's description of the course of our nation, and fulfilled Tocqueville's prophetic projection. Their narratives are also reminiscent of the first spiritual autobiography, The Confessions of St. Augustine, especially in the circular nature of their spiritual journeys and their emphasis on their relationship with Christ as a very present and active force in their narratives.