The Art of Astonishment: Reflections on Gifts and Grace, by Alice Brittan

The Art of Astonishment: Reflections on Gifts and Grace (2022) by Alice Brittan is a rich tapestry of extensive cultural knowledge and intimate personal experience. The stories of Hermes and other trickster figures are strands woven throughout the narrative revealing the flexible and often surprising presence of grace. Although Brittan’s book stands on its own, familiarity with Lewis Hyde’s The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World and Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art will enrich a reading of her book, two texts that especially inspired Brittan and which she cites throughout. Brittan’s style is also indebted to Hyde, as she intersperses quotable pithy statements—for instance, “Grace is always undue, an event that can never be earned or willed” (32) and “Grace is a form of excess, which is why it is always an experience of refreshment and increase” (144)—with in-depth explorations of case studies and insightful readings of a diverse range of texts. Brittan’s erudition emulates Hyde’s, as she coherently synthesises