Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This edition published by Harper Press 2005

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2004

Copyright © Karen Armstrong 2004

Karen Armstrong asserts the moral right to be

identified as the author of this work

PS Section copyright © Georgina Laycock 2005

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Estate of

T. S. Eliot and Faber & Faber Ltd, for permission to reprint an excerpt

from the poem ‘Ash-Wednesday’, from Collected Poems, 1909–1962 by T. S. Eliot.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007122295

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN 9780007372720

Version: 2017-03-23

From the reviews of The Spiral Staircase:

‘A book full of riches’

MICHÈLE ROBERTS, Literary Review

‘Unputdownable – absorbing, moving and hopeful’

Daily Mail

‘Her prose is admirably lucid … She writes with great insight and clarity about shifting states of mind and of feeling and about the evolution of thought, and she gives a more exact and vivid account of the pleasures of writing than any I have come across in a literary biography’

LUCY HUGHES-HALLETT, Sunday Times

‘Open, accessible, writing without jargon or denominational loyalty, Armstrong manages to put into words something that most of us cannot express … She tells a good tale at her own expense. She recounts the challenges she faced on her journey with amusement, a good ear for dialogue and an absence of self-pity or piety’

New Statesman

‘This terrifically readable book … is a fine testament to how the effort to escape self-pity and sustain the spirit in adversity is itself richly creative and can reward’

SALLEY VICKERS, Spectator

‘Written with enormous charm and elegance … If you are mystified as to why religion, which you thought was all but dead and buried, has bounced back with such alarming impact on to the human scene, then Karen Armstrong is probably your best guide’

Scotsman

Because I do not hope to turn again

Because I do not hope

Because I do not hope to turn

Desiring this man’s gift and that man’s scope

I no longer strive to strive towards such things

(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)

Why should I mourn

The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know again

The infirm glory of the positive hour

Because I do not think

Because I know I shall not know

The one veritable transitory power

Because I cannot drink

There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again

Because I know that time is always time

And place is always and only place

And what is actual is actual only for one time

And only for one place

I rejoice that things are as they are and

I renounce the blessèd face

And renounce the voice

Because I cannot hope to turn again

Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something

Upon which to rejoice

And pray to God to have mercy upon us

And I pray that I may forget

These matters that with myself I too much discuss

Too much explain

Because I do not hope to turn again

Let these words answer

For what is done, not to be done again

May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly

But merely vans to beat the air

The air which is now thoroughly small and dry

Smaller and dryer than the will

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still.

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death

Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

T. S. ELIOT

Ash-Wednesday, I.

Cover

Title Page THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE KAREN ARMSTRONG

Copyright

Praise

Epigraph

Preface

1 Ash Wednesday

2 The Devil of the Stairs

3 I Renounce the Blessèd Face

4 Consequently I Rejoice

5 Desiring This Man’s Gift and That Man’s Scope

6 The Usual Reign

7 Infirm Glory

8 To Turn Again

Keep Reading

P.S. Ideas, Interviews & Features …

About the Author

Interview With Karen Armstrong

About the Book

Extract from Through the Narrow Gate

Read On

Have You Read?

If You Loved This You’ll Like …

Find Out More

About the Author

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

This is the sequel to my first book, Through the Narrow Gate , which told the story of my seven years as a Roman Catholic nun. I entered my convent in 1962, when I was seventeen years old. It was entirely my own decision. My family was not particularly devout and my parents were horrified when I told them that I had a religious vocation. They thought, quite correctly as it turned out, that I was far too young to make such a momentous choice, but they allowed themselves to be persuaded because they wanted me to get it out of my system as soon as possible. I was usually quite a biddable child but I was anxious to test my vocation immediately, instead of waiting until after I had been to university, as my parents would have preferred. My unusual resolution in the face of their opposition impressed them, and they feared that I might spend my college years in a state of mulish obstinacy, failing to make the most of the opportunities of university life, and longing for it all to be over so that I could do what I really wanted. So, on 14 September 1962, I packed my bags and joined twelve other girls at the novitiate.