An Accidental Pope: Essays on Frederick Rolfes Hadrian the Seventh

(Hardback)

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The novel Hadrian the Seventh has received critical attention in the past, there remain significant gaps in the scholarship regarding Frederick Rolfes novel which this collection of essays aims to fill, particularly in terms of its political, religious, philosophical, and literary aspects. The topics discussed include the novels place in literary history, both in terms of bridging Decadence with modernism as well as drawing on the Victorian literary tradition inspiring later authors, as well as its genre, offering new perspectives, casting Frederick Rolfes novel as a humorous book in the Decadent tradition, and engaging in camp aesthetics. Political issues, frequently connected with religious matters owing to the books subject matter, are represented by contributions discussing the role of the Catholic Church in the 20th century, engaging in discussion with Leo XIIIs conciliatory, modernist approach. The issues addressed include the tension between temporal and spiritual power, and the Vaticans role in international policymaking. Some chapters focus on specific scenes, such as the conclave and the Popes visit to St. Andrews College provide insight into the protagonists dislike of established Vatican politics.

Reviews

This collection will introduce the peculiar charms of Hadrian the Seventh to a new generation of readers. It offers exciting perspectives on the intellectual, religious and historical contexts of Frederick Rolfes eccentric masterpiece. The book demonstrates Rolfes playful engagement with literary Decadence, his complex interrogation of nineteenth-century political thought, and his fraught negotiation of same-sex desire. It also illuminates the novels tangled relationship with Rolfes fractious personal life, uncovering for the first time the identity of the targets of his notoriously biting satire. -- Fraser Riddell * Associate Professor in English, Durham University, UK *
Frederick Rolfes Hadrian the Seventh is a landmark work in the history of the novel. Deeply idiosyncratic, it holds an important place in the transition from decadence to modernism and in the Catholic literary tradition. Despite that importance, strong scholarship on the novel is surprisingly sparse. This excellent collection is therefore a landmark, its impressive roster of contributors placing the novel in its many contexts, including biographical, formal/literary historical, theological and church historical, political, and sketching out its reception history. In addition an appendix offers an invaluable key to the novel identifying the historical personages depicted or referred to. It will be a volume of great interest to readers of Rolfe, and of the twentieth-century novel more generally. -- Alex Murray, Queens University Belfast, UK
Frederick Rolfe is known for his recondite erudition and reactionary remembrance of things past. An Accidental Pope reveals him anew as a kind of literary caricaturist who, as an outsider and convert, perceived and amplified the perverse aspects of contemporary Catholic culture. His life and works are, thereby, shown to stand at a significant intersection between the histories of modernism in literature, queer community and religious faith. -- Dominic Janes, Keele University, UK

Author Bio

Miroslaw Aleksander Miernik, University of Warsaw, Poland FREDERIC J. BAUMGARTNER is Professor of History at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. He is the author of Henry II King of France, Change and Continuity in the French Episcopate, and Radical Reactionaries. He has contributed articles to Sixteenth Century Journal, Journal for the History of Astronomy, and Annals of Science. David P. Deavel, University of St. Thomas in Houston, USA Luca Fumagalli, Radio Spada, Italy Philip Healy, Oxford University, UK Richard A. Kaye, City University of New York, USA Miroslaw Aleksander Miernik, University of Warsaw, Poland Robert Scoble, independent scholar, Australia