Testing the Faith: The New Catholic Fiction in America

(Hardback)

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Since 1965 there has been an explosing of fiction about being Catholic, probably a result of confusions in the post-Vatican 2 Church. American Catholic culture has suffered severe dislocations, and fiction has provided one way of coping with those dislocations. In "Testing the Faith", Anita Gandolfo provides an overview of fiction about the American Catholic experience. The book considers emerging novelists such as Mary Gordon and Valerie Sayers and established writers like Paul Theroux. Among the popular writers covered are Andrew Greeley and William X. Keinzle. The volume also considers the emergence of new, young writers, such as Jeanne Schinto, Sheila O'Connor, and Philip Deaver. By analyzing patterns in contemporary Catholic fiction, Gandolfo shows both the shared interest these writers have in the Catholic experience and their individual perspectives on that experience. The book is the first to consider post-Vatican 2 Catholic literature, and should be of interest to those concerned with both the Catholic experience and current literature.

Reviews

Because Catholic fiction sometimes smacks of pietism at one end and rebellion at the other, some critics tend not to give it serious attention. Gandolfo's book, however, provides a serious critique for various modes and particular novelists of Catholic fiction produced since 1965, the close of the Second Vatican Council. To establish a contrast, Gandolfo opens with a chapter describing devotional Catholicism and a naive idealism typical of pre-Vatican II. The remainder of the book deals with novels fraught with the dismay, disillusionment, and rebellion of Catholics in recent decades. The excellence of the book goes beyond the accuracy of the portrayal of the perplexity of the layman and the complex problems facing priests and nuns. Gandolfo is not dealing with a sociological problem, but is analyzing fiction that depicts characters involved in a problematic society as viewed dramatically. She examines integrity of structure and consistency of character. Andrew Greeley gets his comeuppance for using his fiction to inveigh against the Cardinal and for generating a series of drugstore novels. Andre Dubus and Walker Percy, (among others) receive their due praise for authentic human drama. Recommended for both public and academic libraries, this book can also serve as a model to those who attempt to critique religious fiction.-Choice
For those who still care about the survival of a Catholic presence in America, for its recovery of a moral and spiritual power, this is an important book, an ambitious book, a hopeful book. I find in the book a double value: several writers and dozens of novels are introduced to a wider readership so that to them serious attention can now be expected; additionally, she brings fresh conviction to a proposition many of us have become wary of that art is both the touchstone and the minister to a society's health.-Religion & Literature
Gandolfo has accomplished a major synthesis of contemporary writers of the Catholic experience, a literary group heretofore treated in piecemeal fashion. Particularly incisive is her treatment of Ralph McInerny, a serious writer long overlooked by critics. McInerny's Father Roger Dowling detective fiction (where evil is expelled and innocence restored) both illuminates McInerny's debt to the Golden Age of Catholicism past and provides an interesting counterpart to his current status as neoconservative publisher (Crisis magazine) and Catholic restorationist. . . . A solid contribution to the cultural history of twentieth-century American Catholicism and promises a more meaningful reading of the Catholic experience, both in fiction and in life's reality.-The Catholic Historical Review
This is an important book for the study of American culture, and it takes the pulse of what may be viable futures in American Catholicism.-The Journal of Religion
"For those who still care about the survival of a Catholic presence in America, for its recovery of a moral and spiritual power, this is an important book, an ambitious book, a hopeful book. I find in the book a double value: several writers and dozens of novels are introduced to a wider readership so that to them serious attention can now be expected; additionally, she brings fresh conviction to a proposition many of us have become wary of that art is both the touchstone and the minister to a society's health."-Religion & Literature
"Gandolfo has accomplished a major synthesis of contemporary writers of the Catholic experience, a literary group heretofore treated in piecemeal fashion. Particularly incisive is her treatment of Ralph McInerny, a serious writer long overlooked by critics. McInerny's Father Roger Dowling detective fiction (where evil is expelled and innocence restored) both illuminates McInerny's debt to the Golden Age of Catholicism past and provides an interesting counterpart to his current status as neoconservative publisher (Crisis magazine) and Catholic restorationist. . . . A solid contribution to the cultural history of twentieth-century American Catholicism and promises a more meaningful reading of the Catholic experience, both in fiction and in life's reality."-The Catholic Historical Review
"This is an important book for the study of American culture, and it takes the pulse of what may be viable futures in American Catholicism."-The Journal of Religion
"Because Catholic fiction sometimes smacks of pietism at one end and rebellion at the other, some critics tend not to give it serious attention. Gandolfo's book, however, provides a serious critique for various modes and particular novelists of Catholic fiction produced since 1965, the close of the Second Vatican Council. To establish a contrast, Gandolfo opens with a chapter describing devotional Catholicism and a naive idealism typical of pre-Vatican II. The remainder of the book deals with novels fraught with the dismay, disillusionment, and rebellion of Catholics in recent decades. The excellence of the book goes beyond the accuracy of the portrayal of the perplexity of the layman and the complex problems facing priests and nuns. Gandolfo is not dealing with a sociological problem, but is analyzing fiction that depicts characters involved in a problematic society as viewed dramatically. She examines integrity of structure and consistency of character. Andrew Greeley gets his comeuppance for using his fiction to inveigh against the Cardinal and for generating a series of drugstore novels. Andre Dubus and Walker Percy, (among others) receive their due praise for authentic human drama. Recommended for both public and academic libraries, this book can also serve as a model to those who attempt to critique religious fiction."-Choice

Author Bio

ANITA GANDOLFO is Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Military Academy where she was the founding Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and a Professor of English. She is the author of several articles and co-editor of The Letters of Lewis Carroll to the House of Macmillan (1987).