- Library Home /
- Search Collections /
- Open Collections /
- Browse Collections /
- UBC Theses and Dissertations /
- The catholic ethos in the novels of John Buell
Open Collections
UBC Theses and Dissertations
UBC Theses and Dissertations
The catholic ethos in the novels of John Buell Ashworth, John Francis Raymond
Abstract
A paradigm of transcendence pervades Buell's novels, imaginatively conceived from within a Catholic consciousness of God's grace in effecting redemption. Safeguarding the Real Presence from invidious sacrilege, Elizabeth Lucy in The Pyx achieves heroic sanctity, losing her life to gain glory as a martyr to her faith . The Eucharist also has centrality in the lives of Stan Hagen and Martin Lacey in A Lot To Make Up For as they share in the sacrificial oblation at mass. In Four Days, sacred love suffuses profane love, the sanctity of human love being yet another manifestation of God's presence in the world, only to be tragically subverted by deception and self-interest. Buell's Catholic consciousness is also noticeably present in his thematic development of redemptive suffering. In Playground, the narrative reveals that suffering is itself the path to healing. The novel details Spence Morisons's suffering toward what he trusts will be his deliverance, his redemption taking the form of his conversion to a new self-realization about the nature of his humanity. In The Shrewsdale Exit, on the other hand, the need for conversion becomes apparent when Joe Hagen surrenders to a desire for murderous vengeance. A resolution is effected when Joe forsakes revenge, finding deliverance in the assurance that justice will prevail.
Item Metadata
| Title |
The catholic ethos in the novels of John Buell
|
| Creator | |
| Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
| Date Issued |
1998
|
| Description |
A paradigm of transcendence pervades Buell's novels,
imaginatively conceived from within a Catholic consciousness of
God's grace in effecting redemption. Safeguarding the Real
Presence from invidious sacrilege, Elizabeth Lucy in The Pyx
achieves heroic sanctity, losing her life to gain glory as a
martyr to her faith . The Eucharist also has centrality in the
lives of Stan Hagen and Martin Lacey in A Lot To Make Up For as
they share in the sacrificial oblation at mass. In Four Days,
sacred love suffuses profane love, the sanctity of human love
being yet another manifestation of God's presence in the world,
only to be tragically subverted by deception and self-interest.
Buell's Catholic consciousness is also noticeably present
in his thematic development of redemptive suffering. In
Playground, the narrative reveals that suffering is itself the
path to healing. The novel details Spence Morisons's suffering
toward what he trusts will be his deliverance, his redemption
taking the form of his conversion to a new self-realization
about the nature of his humanity. In The Shrewsdale Exit, on the
other hand, the need for conversion becomes apparent when Joe
Hagen surrenders to a desire for murderous vengeance. A
resolution is effected when Joe forsakes revenge, finding
deliverance in the assurance that justice will prevail.
|
| Extent |
9758420 bytes
|
| Genre | |
| Type | |
| File Format |
application/pdf
|
| Language |
eng
|
| Date Available |
2009-06-09
|
| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
| Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
|
| DOI |
10.14288/1.0088881
|
| URI | |
| Degree | |
| Program | |
| Affiliation | |
| Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
|
| Graduation Date |
1999-05
|
| Campus | |
| Scholarly Level |
Graduate
|
| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.