Catholic Literary Revival?/Reading List
Mar 27th, 2006 by Debra Murphy
Several folks have written off and offline to ask for my self-described (from the previous post) “l-o-n-g” Catholic fiction reading list. I’m organizing that as we speak, and will post it anon.
In the meantime, bop over to the National Catholic Register online to read Tim Drake’s article Catholic Literary Revival?. It was a huge thrill to see Idylls Press’ name up in lights, as ’twere, but I have to admit that the biggest thrill for me personally was to see my name mentioned in the same breath with O’Connor, Greene, Waugh, Hansen, and Endo. I suspect that the comparison may be, um, premature, but hey, I’ll take it.
Note: There are a couple of wee misprints or misquotes. I’m quoted as saying that “the literary types can get published if they are quiet or if their faith is overt or it’s historical fiction.” That should read “covert.” (It’s us “overts” that have a bit of a problem in the mainstream.)
Too, I’m quoted as saying “a book like mine (The Mystery of Things) is too Catholic for the Catholic Book Association and a bit too graphic…”) I think I just said “CBA”, which stands for the (Protestant/Evangelical-oriented) Christian Booksellers Association. I don’t believe there is any such critter as the “Catholic Book Association”, though there is a “Catholic Book Publishers Association”, and they’re definitely not what I meant. Anyhow, it was all by way of a phone conversation, and it is very easy to get the little details wrong in those circumstances, so I’m certainly not fussing—Tim Drake’s a fine journalist and a gentleman to boot.
