The Topic of Conversion and the Issue of the 'Catholic Novel': Chesterton, Lewis, Waugh, and Godden

This dissertation examines conversion as a structuring agent of narrative in works by G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Evelyn Waugh, and Rumer Godden. Chapter One situates the study of novels by these authors within the historical context of the "Catholic Literary Revival" in twentieth-century England; this historical phenomenon, as discussed by scholars such as Patrick Allit, Ian Ker, and Adam Schwartz, was characterized by the conversion to Catholicism of various prominent intellectual figures. Also in Chapter One, works by the dissertation's four main authors are connected with a literary category that scholars such as Marion Crowe, Richard Griffiths, and Thomas Woodman have called the "Catholic novel." Understanding Catholic novels as a flexible and developing category, and including outlying figures such as the Anglican Lewis, this dissertation reveals nuanced ways of considering both Catholic novels and the Catholic Literary Revival. In Chapter Two, the dissertation's theoretical framework is elaborated, and four concepts relevant to the study of Catholic literature are described: (1) human creativity as a reflection of the divine; (2) sacramentality in relation to art and literature; (3) narrative identity and participation in the biblical narrative; and (4) a prayer-like dimension to the experience of literature, which this dissertation calls 'mystical-poetic experience.' The discussion of these four concepts culminates in the recognition of literature as an art form with strong potential to inspire conversion. Following the theoretical, historical, and generic contexts provided in Chapters One and Two, this dissertation analyzes Chesterton's The Ball and the Cross and Manalive (Chapter Three), Godden's In This House of Brede and Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy (Chapter Four), Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Helena (Chapter Five), and Lewis's Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength (Chapter Six). In each of these novels, the presence of conversion is studied in three interrelated categories: author, narrative, and reader. First, these four authors each experienced a personal conversion that influenced their writings; second, conversion is present within the character development and plot structure of each fictional narrative; finally, this dissertation argues that the presentation of conversion within each narrative invites readers to participate in the conversion experience of the novel, even challenging readers to be 'converted,' or changed, by what they have read.