Rev. Robert E. Lauder has an article in the recent edition of America magazine on the fiction of Alice McDermott, comparing her novels to those of other famous Catholic novelists such as Graham Greene, and identifying her as what he calls a “Transcendental Thomist.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Over the last seventeen years, as the coordinator of an adult education course on the Catholic novel, I have made my way through 130 works of Catholic fiction. In choosing the novels I have used the following definition as my criterion: A Catholic novel is one whose theme is based on some Catholic dogma, moral teaching or sacramental principle, and in which the mystery of the church is treated favorably. The description has proven broad enough to encompass novels by both Catholics and non-Catholics, stories of both saints and sinners, of mystics and murderers. Having read so many Catholic novels, I have discovered that even in those written by Catholics there are many different ways of depicting God’s presence.
The little article raises a number of important questions not only regarding the work of McDermott, but more generally what separates a work of Catholic fiction from more secular varieties, and is well worth the read.
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