Helen Waddell

There are certain deceased writers who I feel would have been wonderful to know in person.  Helen Waddell is one of them.  I, too, love so many of the people and things she wrote about so devotedly—the Desert Fathers, the goliard phenomenon, medieval lyrics, Japanese culture, Chinese poetry.  She always combined deep scholarship with a brilliant sense of language.  I also admire her personal courage in speaking out about what she thought was right, even when it was controversial or inconvenient.  Like other writers whose personal character and integrity shines as brightly as their work (I’m thinking of people like Chinua Achebe, Pramoedya Ananta Toer [who both just passed away recently], the Čapek brothers, Walter Benjamin, Kant [we would have had some lively arguments], Halldór Laxness, Bettina Von Arnim [of course]—the list goes on and on), Helen Waddell seems like a person who would have been delightful to spend a few hours with in friendly conversation.