How Realistic Can a Catholic Writer Be? Richard Sullivan and American Catholic Literature

Bibliographic Data

ID4517652
AuthorsUna M Cadegan (0009-0003-7991-8294, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume6
Issue1
Pages35-61
Publication date1996-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligion and American Culture A Journal of Interpretation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1052-1151 • E-ISSN: 1533-8568
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1525/rac.1996.6.1.03a00030
OpenAlexW4245438686
LanguageEN
References cited15

In 1933, a twenty-five-year-old writer named Richard Sullivan articulated for himself the qualities a novel should have. In a "Record of Work Begun and Ideas for Stories," 1932-1933, he wrote:Let all be adoration. 9-14-33a novel must be-?American-constantly; of course, naturally.Scope-heights to depths; and length also: a lifeReligious-naturally; how else?Bitter-like life; intermittently.When he wrote these words, Sullivan had not yet published a novel; the publication of his first short story in a national magazine was still three years away. He eventually published six of his novels and dozens of short stories while teaching English at the University of Notre Dame from 1936 to 1974. Few people have heard of him or his work, and, at first glance, his life looks commonplace, even prosaic-he never lived farther than one hundred miles from his birthplace and seldom traveled; he taught at the same place, largely the same courses, for thirty-eight years; he wrote and published for almost forty years, coming tantalizingly close to major success, which nonetheless always eluded him

Adoration · Art · Art history · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Catholicism and Religious Studies · Classics · History