Buechner's Magic Kingdom

The Eyes of the Heart is the fourth and final in a series of memoirs by Frederick Buechner in which I was strung along on an unexpectedly tumultuous journey through moments of laughter, tears, discomfort, uncertainty, and resonance.   

In this book, Buechner's library - charmingly known as the Magic Kingdom - is full of books (of course), curated objects, and mementos, which serve as the springboard for his actual and imaginary conversations with family and friends.  It's a unique way of remembering and, I confess, at times I was confused about which conversations were actual memories and which were conceived in his consciousness as a means of calling someone back to life and memory.  Both effectively brought his characters into my view where - though often tragic - they were treated with gentle dignity.      

The library almost functions as a "character" as it comes to life through his vivid descriptions.  In the following passage, he comments on the current silence of it's many inhabitants (Chesterton, Hopkins, Carroll, Gandhi, Donne, Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, etc), asking questions that hit home with me. 

"The air of the Magic Kingdom is electric with the silence they are keeping.  What would I have been if I had never heard them break it?  What would I have failed to see if they had not pointed it out to me, and what would I have never heard without their ears to hear it through?  What would I have missed loving without them to show me its loveliness?  What marvelous jokes would have been lost on me?  What tears would I have never found the heart to shed?  And yet no less a gift is the mercy now of their keeping still...and the whole room holding its breath.  They are there for when I need them, but in the meanwhile, there is not a word out of any of them." 

For anyone who hasn't read Buechner previously, I probably wouldn't recommend this as a starting point.  Some of his musings might feel

more unsettling without a broader context of his work.  Consider starting with The Hungering Dark or Telling the Truth as a gateway to his writings.