Mercer University Press: The Lure of Babylon

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

Michael E. Schiefelbein

This book explores the effect of Catholicism on the imagination and the fiction of Protestant novelists in England during the decades surrounding Catholic Emancipation (1829) and the reestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church in England (1850). Literary critics have not studied the effect of the nineteenth-century Catholic revival on Protestant novelists in Britain, nor have they studied Catholic sensibilities. In doing so, this book examines anti-Catholicism in popular and respected novelists such as Scott and Dickens, showing the secret attraction to Catholicism of staunch anti-Catholic protestants.

This study examines eight novels that both capture and critique the anti-Catholicism pervasive in the national imagination. It examines the bigotry evident in plot and rhetoric, then goes on to explore the ways in which Catholic ritual, iconography, mysticism, and music frequently fascinate the very novelists who decry the religion of Rome. Some authors use Catholic settings or characters to explore sensibilities deemed unacceptable, and others use them as vehicles for projecting their own doubts and fears. Whatever personal or artistic purposes Catholicism serve in a novel, it does so discreetly, in the subtleties of metaphor, image, characterization, and narrative. The result is often highly imaginative writing that expresses the authors’ own complex perspectives on Catholicism.

“The author leads the reader on an illuminating and engaging journey into the mind of 19th century British culture’s fascination with and rejection of Catholicism via the selected works of seven popular novelists. Drawing on literary studies, history, religion, and philosophy, the author reminds us of the power of literary discourse (in this case, the novel) to shape and mold popular attitudes and prejudices. This work fills a void in the study of nineteenth-century British literature by linking the studies of Scott, Shelly, Dickens, Brönte, Eliot, Trollope, and Kingsley to a cultureal phonomenon, Britian’s conflicted response to Catholicism.”

	Retail $39.95, hardback Literary Criticism ISBN 978-0-86554-720-9 MUP/H540	The Lure of Babylon Seven Protestant Novelists and Britain’s Roman Catholic Revival Michael E. Schiefelbein This book explores the effect of Catholicism on the imagination and the fiction of Protestant novelists in England during the decades surrounding Catholic Emancipation (1829) and the reestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church in England (1850). Literary critics have not studied the effect of the nineteenth-century Catholic revival on Protestant novelists in Britain, nor have they studied Catholic sensibilities. In doing so, this book examines anti-Catholicism in popular and respected novelists such as Scott and Dickens, showing the secret attraction to Catholicism of staunch anti-Catholic protestants. This study examines eight novels that both capture and critique the anti-Catholicism pervasive in the national imagination. It examines the bigotry evident in plot and rhetoric, then goes on to explore the ways in which Catholic ritual, iconography, mysticism, and music frequently fascinate the very novelists who decry the religion of Rome. Some authors use Catholic settings or characters to explore sensibilities deemed unacceptable, and others use them as vehicles for projecting their own doubts and fears. Whatever personal or artistic purposes Catholicism serve in a novel, it does so discreetly, in the subtleties of metaphor, image, characterization, and narrative. The result is often highly imaginative writing that expresses the authors’ own complex perspectives on Catholicism. “The author leads the reader on an illuminating and engaging journey into the mind of 19th century British culture’s fascination with and rejection of Catholicism via the selected works of seven popular novelists. Drawing on literary studies, history, religion, and philosophy, the author reminds us of the power of literary discourse (in this case, the novel) to shape and mold popular attitudes and prejudices. This work fills a void in the study of nineteenth-century British literature by linking the studies of Scott, Shelly, Dickens, Brönte, Eliot, Trollope, and Kingsley to a cultureal phonomenon, Britian’s conflicted response to Catholicism.” —Mark Medley Campbellsville University School of Theology Michael E. Schiefelbein is associate professor of English at Christian Brothers University in Memphis. Call us toll free at 800-637-2378, ext. 2880 or 800-342-0841, ext. 2880 (in GA) For help on orders email us at mupressorders@mercer.edu


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