Liam Gearon

Dr. Liam Gearon is reader in the faculty of education at the University of Surrey Roehampton, where he was previously senior lecturer. A member of the American Academy of Religion, Dr. Ge...

Landscapes of Encounter: The Portrayal of Catholicism in the Novels of Brian Moore

Liam Gearon

The novels of Brian Moore (1921-1999) are characterized by an enormously varied portrayal of pre- and post-Vatican II Catholicism. Brian Moore is one of the few novelists whose literary portrayal of Catholicism effectively spans the period prior to and following the Second Vatican Council. In his writings, he reflects his ambivalence to the religion of his Ulster upbringing, especially in his portrayal of Catholicism's historical encounter with the cultural, ideological, and religious other. This intertextuality, Dr. Gearon argues, is most clearly demonstrated in terms of an historical theology. Significantly, Moore's treatment of the themes of post- Vatican II theology converges with a literary preoccupation with issues of colonialism and post- colonialism.

Landscapes of Encounter provides the only full treatment of Moore's work as a literary convergence of the theological and the ideological, and specifically as a convergence of post-Vatican II and post-colonial perspectives.

Contents
• Acknowledgments vii • Preface ix
Part I Introduction 1 Landscapes of Encounter: The Portrayal of Catholicism in the Novels of Brian Moore 3
Part II The Fictional Portrayal of Pre-Vatican II Catholicism 2 The Early Irish Novels 23 3 The Early North American Novels 55
Part III Fictional Portrayals of Vatican II Catholicism and Beyond 4 Catholicism Reappraised: Ireland Revisited 93 5 North America Revisited: Post-Vatican 11 and Postcolonial Perspectives 133 6 Moore’s Portrayal of the Church in the Modern World: Theological Universality and Cultural Particularity 159
Part IV Conclusion 7 Moore’s Portrayal of Catholicism: A Conclusion 203 • Endnotes 207 • Bibliography 265 • Index 285

University of Calgary Press