Date of Award
2011
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
Abstract
The transnational turn in literary studies has brought new rubrics and critical vocabularies to the study of cultures experiencing the destabilizing effects of globalization. It gives special attention to the ways cultural forms, including literature, must be reformulated in the absence of the coherence of the nation-state. Often unremarked upon, however, is the role of religion in providing other channels of affinity around which to cohere. Many writers in the 20th century respond to the shocks of globalizing modernity by writing in light of particular faith traditions, especially the aesthetic strategies and thematic concerns that characterize the Catholic literary tradition. This project examines three authors who identify with this tradition but repurpose it for literary visions of the global future that arise from particular locations and interests. It argues for Graham Greene's concern with expansive moral horizons in two novels from his early "Catholic cycle," The Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter. It examines the ways global forces invade and transform Flannery O'Connor's American South in ways that demand new vision. Finally, the project argues that the novels Silence and Deep River by Japanese author Shusaku Endo present visions of religious practice across cultural and national boundaries. The works examined here evince the principles that animate Catholic literary modernism while presenting sometimes competing, sometimes complementary visions of the responsibilities those principles demand in a globalizing era.
Recommended Citation
Wachal, Christopher, "Pax Ecclesia: Globalization and Catholic Literary Modernism" (2011). Dissertations. 181.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/181
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2011 Christopher Wachal
