Literature: William Hoffman

How does one measure literary success? What makes a writer great? Fame and fortune do not give reliable answers. Money is more likely to reflect price than true value. Dan Brown produces best-sellers and presumably makes a mint. Yet, as theologian David Bentley Hart says, The Da Vinci Code is "surely the most lucrative novel ever written by a borderline illiterate."

William Hoffman lived quietly and well, and wrote with excellence. His novels and stories earned critical acclaim but did not attract a mass audience. They appealed instead to readers in love with gripping narratives conveyed in lyrical prose. Hoffman never succumbed to celebrity. His audience was intelligent, yet, in part because of that, not numerous.

We confess we were not familiar with his work until a friend whose taste in books we trust brought him to our attention on the occasion of the author's death. Our brief research captivated us. The novel Tidewater Blood and the short story "Dancer" just entered our reading list.

Hoffman taught at Hampden-Sydney for many years and lived in Charlotte Court House -- two places distant indeed from the falsities of more prominent artistic centers. According to a biographical entry supplied by West Virginia Wesleyan College, "Contemporary Southern Writers perhaps best summarizes the overall theme and character of Hoffman's writing:

"'Religion and its values, life and its searches, morality and its articulation are central to the fiction. His characters, encompassing the spectrum of mankind, find their humanness as the common denominator. The easy flow of Hoffman's storytelling belies the sharpness of his perspective, the craftsmanship of his art, and the keenness of his ear for language. Each story is a finely-wrought artifact where life is both tragic and courageous, but never without hope."

Hoffman died Saturday at 84. In the beginning was the Word; the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. When flesh fades, words inspired by that Word endure.