David James Duncan on the Unintentional Menagerie of Sun House, Friendship, and the Beguines

Sun House is not a mere book, but a singular world in which to reside, and to feel more alive. Laced with humor and high-lonesome lyricism, this sweeping tale locates the grand in the smallest particulars, reaches its heights by flooding us with light and loss, and arrives, ultimately, in hard-won hope.”

— Chris Dombrowski, author of The River You Touch: Making a Life on Moving Water

David James Duncan is the author of the classic novels The River Why and The Brothers K, the story collection River Teeth, the nonfiction collection and National Book Award finalist, My Story as Told by Water, the best-selling collection of “churchless sermons,” God Laughs & Plays. And lest we forget his latest, and what some have called his magnum opus, Sun House.

Sun House has a reserved shelf space on my heart for the rest of my days. A winged book with scraped knee mountain poetics, spiritual charisma bathed in creek water, and characters that I am still in conversation with to this day. In our wide-ranging conversation we talk about Sun House, Meister Eckhart and the Beguines, his band of spiritual rednecks, and so much more.

Visit David James Duncan at davidjamesduncan.com

Episode Show Notes

Works by David James Duncan

Resources & People Mentioned

  • Fred Bahnson
  • Anita Doyle
  • Chris Dombrowski
  • Jason McGerr
  • Death Cab for Cutie
  • Jeffrey Foucault
  • Jimmy Watts
  • Brian Doyle
  • “The Tuning” by Michael Donaghy
  • Failing and Flying” by Jack Gilbert
  • Peter Mathieson
  • Jim Harrison
  • Snow Leopard by Peter Mathieson
  • Wallace Stegner
  • Thomas Merton
  • Wendell Berry
  • Teddy Macker
  • William Wordsworth
  • John Milton
  • Joanna Macy
  • Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry
  • Meister Eckhart
  • Mechthild of of Magdeburg
  • Ramakrishna
  • Sherman Alexie
  • Annie Dillard
  • Hadewijch
  • Marguerite Porete
  • Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

Drink Recommended

  • Single Malt Scotch

Links to book purchases give a kickback to a local New Mexican bookstore and Contemplify
photo of DJD pulled from Big Sky Journal