Literature in the News: Joseph Pearce on Robert Hugh Benson

I came across a great interview with Joseph Pearce, the Catholic literary critic and biographer, on the famous convert to Catholicism, priest, and writer, Robert Hugh Benson, in Catholic World Report.  The article, published November 13, 2020, is titled, “Robert Hugh Benson, literary converts, and the Church in a dystopian age.” 

Joseph Pearce is known as being an English youth who joined a far-right nationalist gang who ultimately straightened out, repudiated his youthful indiscretions, converted to Roman Catholicism, and became a prolific biographer and literary critic.   

Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) was an English Anglican priest, the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who caused quite a controversy by converting to Roman Catholicism and becoming a Catholic priest.  He too was a prolific writer both of non-fiction and fiction.  I have read and had a series of posts on two of his books, his confessional memoir, Confessions of a Convert,  and his dystopian novel, Lord of the World.  Pearce comments on both books.

Let me give you two excerpts from the article.

First on why Lord of the World is actually more prophetic than the other famous dystopian novels.

 

Pearce: I agree that Orwell’s novel remains timely in terms of its cautionary reminder of how things could become once again but there’s no Stalinist or Hitlerite regime à la Big Brother in power at the moment – though that could change. Huxley’s dystopian prophecy remains relevant in terms of the way that the soporific desire for panem et cirenses continues to be a means by which those in power rule over the comfort-addicted hedonistic masses. Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is particularly pertinent at the moment in the light of present-day efforts to burn books and bury the knowledge and lessons of the past. I would still state, however, that Benson’s Lord of the World is superior as a work of prophecy because it shows how the prince of lies can preach “peace and understanding” as a pretext for the diabolical imposition of a globalist agenda. This is made manifest in the persona and Machiavellian machinations of Felsenburgh, the liberal secularist demagogue par excellence. Felsenburgh is what George Soros and Bill Gates would like to be.

And then on the horrid periods in Catholic Church history and how today's fits in.

 

Pearce: I’m currently writing a history of Catholic England so I would hesitate to agree that the Church is in the biggest crisis ever. I’m currently in the reign of Henry VIII with its destruction of the monasteries and the killing of Catholics, commencing a period of 300 years of state persecution of the Church, the first 150 years of which included the execution of Catholic priests and those who fraternized with them. And beyond England, we’ve had anti-popes, the threat and conquests of Islam, the French Revolution, communism, et cetera. The Church Militant is always in crisis! That’s why it’s militant, i.e. at war! All that we need to do as Catholics in every generation of crisis is keep our eyes on heaven knowing that the gates of hell will not prevail.

There is plenty more to read. There is even a mention of Thomas More's Utopia which I’ve been reading and also commenting here on my blog. See, you get a great Catholic literary education here at Ashes From Burnt Roses.