Lure of Babylon Seven Protestant Novelists and Britain's Roman Catholic Revival

A groundbreaking study of the effect of the Catholic revival on Protestant novelists in 19th-century Britain. This book explores the effect of Catholicism on the imagination & the fiction of Protestant novelists in England during the decades surrounding Catholic Emancipation (1829) & the reestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church in England (1850). Literary critics have not studied the effect of the 19th century Catholic revival on Protestant novelists in Britain, nor have they studied Catholic sensibilities. In doing so, this book examines anti-Catholicism in popular & respected novelists such as Scott & Dickens, showing the secret attraction to Catholicism of staunch anti-Catholic protestants. This study examines eight novels that both capture & critique the anti-Catholicism pervasive in the national imagination. It examines the bigotry evident in plot & rhetoric, then goes on to explore the ways in which Catholic ritual, iconography, mysticism, & music frequently fascinate the very novelists who decry the religion of Rome. Some authors use Catholic settings or characters to explore sensibilities deemed unacceptable, & others use them as vehicles for projecting their own doubts & fears. Whatever personal or artistic purposes Catholicism serve in a novel, it does so discreetly, in the subtleties of metaphor, image, characterization, & narrative. The result is often highly imaginative writing that expresses the authors' own complex perspectives on Catholicism. Advance Praise for The Lure of Babylon: "The author leads the reader on an illuminating & engaging journey into the mind of 19th century British culture's fascination with & rejection of Catholicism via the selected works of seven popular novelists. Drawing on literary studies, history, religion, & philosophy, the author reminds the reader of the power of literary discourse (in this case, the novel) to shape & mold popular attitudes & prejudices. This work fills a void in the study of 19th century British literature by linking the studies of Scott, Shelly, Dickens, Bronte, Eliot, Trollope, & Kingsley to a cultureal phonomenon, Britian's conflicted response to Catholicism."--Mark Medley, Campbellsville University School of Theology.Schiefelbein, Michael E. is the author of 'Lure of Babylon Seven Protestant Novelists and Britain's Roman Catholic Revival' with ISBN 9780865547209 and ISBN 0865547203.