"Love follows knowledge."
"Beauty above all beauty!"
– St. Catherine of Siena

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Literature in the News: Top Five Catholic Novels

I should probably create a new category of Literature on the Internet, since this wasn’t in the news but a video clip for Taylor Marshall’s blog.  But for now I’ll blur the distinction between news and internet.  Dr. Taylor Marshall is a Catholic convert and theologian.  He was formerly an Episcopal priest but through his theological studies and radical changes that occurred in the Episcopal/Anglican churches brought him to Roman Catholicism.  You can read his bio.  He added this short video clip to one of his recent posts listing his top five Catholic novels not including J.R.R. Tolken’s Lord of the Rings.  I guess Lord of the Rings is among everyone’s favorite Catholic novels, though I bet most people don’t even realize the novel’s Catholic world view. 




Let me just list his five:
1. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
2. Helena by Evelyn Waugh.
3. Dracula by Bram Stoker.
4. Father Elijah by Michael O’Brien.
5. Father Brown Stories by G. K. Chesterton.

As Marshall states that the novel does not have to be written by a Catholic, but have a Catholic, sacramental world view.  Bram Stoker, who he includes, was not Roman Catholic.  And he also includes short stories, since the Father Brown series is not a novel but a collection of short works.

I too love Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and include it on my list, but I don't think I would include Lord of the Rings, even if I were allowed to.  It's a good novel, but I don't find it overwhelming.  Perhaps because it's in a Fantasy/Sci Fi genre, which there's nothing wrong with it, but it's not my cup of tea.

So let me give you my list, and like Marshall in no particular order.
1. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
2. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene.
3. Silence by Shasaku Endo.
4. The Complete Short Stories of Flannery O’Connor.
5. The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway.

Honorable mentions:
My Antonia by Willa Cather.
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Light in August by William Faulkner.
Ulysses by James Joyce.
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

First, let me say that there is clearly a bias toward writers in English.  There are lots of great Catholic works by writers who wrote in a continental European language, but unfortunately I have not read many of them.  I tried to diversify my selections by including a Japanese writer (Endo), a Russian (Dostoyevsky), and an Italian (di Lampedusa).  Neither Cather, Dostoyevsky, or Faulkner are Catholic, but I think those works do have a sacramental world view, and I love all three works dearly.  James Joyce was Catholic, but certainly a lapsed one, but all his works come from a Catholic world view, even when he is rejecting his Catholicism.  Lampedusa’s The Leopard is not a novel that makes any list of Catholic novels, but it is deeply Catholic and I’m on a mission to show the world how great a work that is. 

Finally the lists are clearly biased toward the last hundred and fifty years.  One could have gone back to medieval and renaissance works such as Dante’s Divine Comedy, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, but that would too easy.

I should say a word on Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.  I bet that a lot of people don’t know that Earnest Hemingway was a Catholic convert.  Albeit, his biography does not appear to be that of a good Catholic, and I doubt he practiced much during his lifetime.  He converted in the 1920s while an expatriate in Europe, and he wrote The Sun Also Rises around the same time.  It’s probably the only one of his novels that has a Catholic, sacramental sensibility.  You hardly ever see it in the literary criticism, but one cannot fully get the novel or appreciate it without seeing the symbolism of Catholic sacraments throughout the work.

You can also see a list of Catholic novels (“100 Best”) at Catholic Online.  I’m amazed at how few of them I’ve actually read.


I would love to hear what your favorite Catholic novels are.

17 comments:

  1. Well, Manny, I am thinking Catholic novel means it was written by a Catholic thus supposing it has a Catholic world view? We Southerners are a little slow on the uptake! I read your bio---and came away thinking "Literary Yankee Engineer". Fascinating! I too have missed some of the works you site, but will take a look at those you name. Fascinating concept since I do not normally consider an author's faith background!

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    1. LOL, yes, literary Yankee engineer. An author's background does usually, though not always, play a role in his work. He can't escape from it. But just because a writer happens to be Catholic doesn't mean he writes from a Catholic world view. As we all know there are lots of lapsed and less than devout Catholics.

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    2. Oops, I'm sorry. I forgot to say, thanks for stopping by. :)

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  2. "I would love to hear what your favorite Catholic novels are."

    Gee! You must have figured that "I" might want to write about one of my life stories here and that's why you wrote the above my friend cause you know "I" don't read too many books... Right?...lol

    All kidding aside, I simply wanted your readers to know that I've been following Doctor Taylor Marshall's blog and his wife Joy, "I" mean, she's been on his blog here and there, now and then for about a year and I've learned a bit about this good man and his family. Long story short, it might be hard to believe but on certain Catholic issues, Doctor Marshal is just as eccentric as i am but mind you with a lot more knowledge, "I" mean education ;)... I know that you've been following a little of him cause I did see a few of your comments there... Longer story shorter, there's just too many blogs around and I don't know where you find the time to also read but then again, you are an engine, "I" mean an engineer my friend....lol

    God Bless you my internet friend?

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    1. I live on four or five hours of sleep a night. That's how. It's not healthy and I don't recommend it. Thanks as always.

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  3. I think "Catholic world view" is too large a spectrum from which to choose, because, as you say, the author may not be Catholic, nor the main subject of the book be Catholic. For instance, a work of fiction that is against the Catholic faith, ridiculing it and criticising it ... if well written in the literary sense, would that fit the list of top 10 Catholic books?

    I wonder what would make the list of Top 10 Catholic fiction books which promote the faith rather than criticise it. Remember the 1953 film, "I confess" with Montgomery Clift? If that were a book, that's what I have in mind in my Top 10.

    God bless.

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    1. "For instance, a work of fiction that is against the Catholic faith, ridiculing it and criticising it ... if well written in the literary sense, would that fit the list of top 10 Catholic books?"

      Yes, it probably would, if it maintained a Catholic world view. James Joyce was a lapsed Catholic, if not an agnostic, and yet everything he wrote held a catholic world view. I would include him as a Catholic author, but the Catholic On line did not list him.

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  4. Well, on that list of 100, besides the LOTR and The Hobbit, the only one I've read is Kristin Lavransdatter, which is most excellent, although several of the others are on the bookshelves here. I also still have not gotten 'round to My Antonia. The Dostoyevsky reads are also available, but I can't seem to be bothered lately with putting down the fluff!

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    1. I must be one of the few people who has not read Kristin Lavransdatter. If I can find my copy, I will read it in 2015.

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  5. You know I love my Mark Helprin :)

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    1. I'm not sure Mark would fit as a Catholic author. He's definitely not Catholic and though he has a religious sensitivity, I can't quite say he sees the world in a sacramental sort of way. But I'm not an expert on his work.

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    2. I didn't know he was Jewish! But I am thinking he is a Catholic inside and just doesn't know it yet. :) His stories are profoundly Catholic to me.

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    3. He served in the Israeli air force, I think it was. He may be married to a Christian and they may be raising their children Christian. I looked it up when I was reading that novel. My memory might be off though.

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  6. I'm relatively new to The Faith and the genre but of what I have read so far, "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter Miller really excited me. I've recently finished "Vatican" by Malachi Martin and thought it awesome! I've read "Brideshead Revisited" and while I liked it, was not blown away by it. I am very interested in reading Waugh's "Helena" however.

    This Christmas Season I'm going to reread "The Lord of The Ring,"

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    1. Thank you for stopping by Carlos. I looked up both those books and A Canticle for Leibowitz sounds interesting. It's always a pleasure to meet a convert. Welcome to our wonderful faith.

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    2. Thanks, M!

      Another really good trilogy of novels that I should have mentioned are "Fatherless", "Motherless" and "Childless" by Brian J Gail. This trilogy is not only a very entertaining and insightful depiction of our modern age but it's also a glimpse into a very possible future as well.

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    3. I've never heard of Brian Gail. I did a quick search and he's gotten some really good reviews. I'll have to try to squeeze him in sometime. Thanks for telling me Carlos. :)

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