I’d like to share with my fellow readers and students of Catholic fiction an article I just bumped into online on the website of the American Studies Center at Nanzan University in Japan. Written by David R. Mayer of Nanzan University, the article is entitled, “Who is an American Black, Catholic or Jewish Writer?” and it is available as a .pdf download.
Though necessarily outdated, the article serves as a nice introduction to the whole “conversation” about the nature and usefulness, if any, of the terms “Catholic writer” and “Catholic novel”—ditto, “Jewish writer” or “Black writer”—about which there are as many opinions as there are readers and writers of the fiction which falls under those obscure categories.
Besides, there is much quoting of Bl. Flannery O’Connor, which is never a bad thing.
About Debra Murphy
Flannery tells it like it is: that’s a great quote. That’s true about the “saved” fiction too, but I never thought of it before. Is it elistist to say Fundamentalist fiction has a broader appeal because it is low-brow? Probably, my wife says I’m a snob.
The “broader appeal” question is an interesting one! Flannery also used to complain that Catholics “can’t read” (fiction) or that Catholic readers were too often “militant morons”. Articles have been written in publishing magazines suggesting that educated Catholic readers tend to read more widely in mainstream areas whereas more fundamentalist Christians tend to stick to what they view as “safe” books, published by CBA publishers and available in Christian stores.