Kathleen Norris (1) (1947–)

Why would a married woman with a thoroughly Protestant background and often more doubt than faith be drawn to the ancient practice of monasticism, to a community of celibate men whose days are centered around a rigid schedule of prayer, work, and scripture? This is the question poet Kathleen Norris asks us, somewhat to her own surprise, she found herself on two extended residencies at St John's Abbey in Minnesota. Part record of her time among the Benedictines, part meditation on various aspects of monastic life, The Cloister Walk demonstrates, from the rare perspective of someone who is both an insider and outsider, how immersion in the cloister world, its liturgy, its ritual, its sense of community, can impart meaning to everyday events and deepen our secular lives.… (altro)