Bedford Public Library

Catholic literary giants, a field guide to the Catholic literary landscape, Joseph Pearce

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

Catholic literary giants

bibliography

883645403

Joseph Pearce

a field guide to the Catholic literary landscape

In Catholic Literary Giants, Joseph Pearce takes the reader on a dazzling tour of the creative landscape of Catholic prose and poetry. Covering the vast and impressive terrain from Dante to Tolkien, from Shakespeare to Waugh, this book is an immersion into the spiritual depths of the Catholic literary tradition with one of today's premier literary biographers as our guide. Focusing especially on the literary revival of the twentieth century, Pearce explores well-known authors such as G.K. Chesterton, Graham Greene and J.R.R. Tolkien, while introducing lesser-known writers Roy Campbell, Maurice Baring, Owen Barfield and others. He even includes the new saint, Pope John Paul II, who wrote many literary and poetic pieces, among them the story that was made into a feature film, The Jeweler's Shop

Introduction. Converting the culture: the evangelizing power of beauty -- Part one: Tradition and conversion. Tradition and conversion in modern English literature -- Twentieth-century England's Christian literary landscape -- Part two: The Chesterbelloc. The Chesterbelloc: examining the beauty of the beast -- Chesterton and Saint Francis -- Shades of gray in the shadow of Wilde -- Fighting the Euro from beyond the grave: the ghost of Chesterton haunts Lord Howe -- Catholicism and "democracy" -- Fascism and Chesterton -- G.K. Chesterton: champion of orthodoxy -- Hilaire Belloc in a nutshell -- Belloc's The path to Rome -- A chip off the old Belloc: Bob Copper in memoriam -- Maurice Baring: in the shadow of the Chesterbelloc -- R.H. Benson: unsung genius -- Maisie Ward: concealed with a kiss -- John Seymour: some novel common sense -- Part three: The Wasteland. Entrenched passion: the poetry of war -- War poets: cutting through the cant -- Siegfried Sassoon: poetic pilgrimage -- Emerging from the Wasteland: the cultural reaction to the desert of modernity -- Edith Sitwell: modernity and tradition -- Roy Campbell: bombast and fire -- Roy Campbell: religion and politics -- Campbell in Spain -- Evelyn Waugh: ultramodern to ultramontane -- Beyond the facts of life: Douglas Lane Patey's biography of Evelyn Waugh -- In pursuit of the Greene-eyed monster: the quest for Graham Greene -- Cross purposes: Greene, Undset and Bernanos -- Muggeridge resurrected -- Part four: J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings. Inklings of grace -- From the Prancing Pony to the bird and baby: Roy "Strider" Campbell and the Inklings -- J.R.R. Tolkien: truth and myth -- The individual and community in Tolkien's Middle Earth -- Religion and politics in The Lord of the Rings -- Quest and passion play: J.R.R. Tolkien's sanctifying myth -- True north -- The once and future king -- Tolkien and the Catholic literary revival -- True myth: the Catholicism of The Lord of the Rings -- Letting the Catholic out of the Baggins -- A hidden presence: the Catholic imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien -- From war to Mordor: J.R.R. Tolkien and World War I -- Divine mercy in The Lord of the Rings -- Resurrecting myth: a response to Dr. Murphy's "Response" -- The good, the bad and the ugly: the successes and failures of Tolkien on film -- Would Tolkien have given Peter Jackson's movie the thumbs-up? -- The forgotten Inkling: a personal memoir of Owen Barfield -- Part five: More things considered. The decadent path to Christ -- The quest for the real Oscar: a century after his death, is the real Oscar Wilde finally emerging from the shadows? -- Making Oscar wild: unmasking Oscar Wilde's opposition to "pathological" gay marriage -- Truth is stranger than science fiction -- Hollywood and the "holy war" -- Three cheers for Hollywood -- Purity and passion: examining the sacred heart of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ -- Paul McCartney: a grief observed -- Above all shadows rides the sun: the poetry of praise -- The magic of technology -- Russian revelations -- Dante: assent's ascent -- Shakespeare: good will for all men -- Modern art: friend or foe? -- Salvador Dali: from Freud to faith -- Mr. Davey versus the devil: a true story -- Totus Tuus: a tribute to a truly Holy Father -- Faith and the feminine -- Our life, our sweetness and our hope -- The presence that Christmas presents