Wow! eBook
British and Catholic?: National and Religious Identity in the Work of David Jones, Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark: 27 New Edition
Author(s): Martin Potter (Author), Helen Chambers (Series Editor)
- Publisher: Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
- Publication Date: 23 May 2013
- Edition: New
- Language: English
- Print length: 158 pages
- ISBN-10: 3034308604
- ISBN-13: 9783034308601
Book Description
Since the Reformation, Catholics in Britain have been faced with an outsider status that has often given rise to conflict between their British national and Catholic religious identities. This study examines the ways in which this problematic history is addressed by three twentieth-century British authors: David Jones, Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark. Focusing on works by these writers, in which issues of national and religious identity are particularly prominent, the author argues that they share a reconciliatory approach to the matter of British and Catholic identity, an approach derived from the Catholic tradition and inspired by ideas such as those of Newman. This allows the writers to see ostensibly conflicting identities in the light of their contribution towards ultimate harmony in the life of the individual or community. The theory of reconciliation espoused by Jones, Waugh and Spark is contrasted with the views expressed by G. K. Chesterton and Graham Greene, who also write from a British and Catholic perspective, but arrive at very different conclusions.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Martin Potterstudied modern languages and literature at the University of Cambridge, University of Southern California, and University College London. He currently teaches in the English Language and Literature Department at the University of Bucharest. His research interests include British Catholic authors of the twentieth century and aesthetics.
