Subject: RE: (urth) The proper quote to define Catholic Fabulation
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 10:32:34 -0700
From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 

Yes: an excellent description of the method of the type of writing=20
you are using the term "catholic fabulation" to describe -- and, I=20
think, one of the earliest bits Lewis wrote under the clear influence=20
of Williams, whose _basic_ method in fiction this seems to be; this
influence would almost completely direct the growth of Lewis' last=20
two novels for adults, THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH and TILL WE HAVE FACES=20
-- for my money, his worst and best novels for grownups, respectively.

It still remains a puzzlement to me why the word "catholic" seems to
have such a grip on you for describing a body of work written at=20
least as much by non-Catholics, and which seems to _this_ Catholic,
at least, to have no specifically-Catholic idea, method, or content.
But let that pass, because whatever label eventually fits this, it
seems to me that you've got hold of a very real, if somewhat evasive,
thread of literary-fantastic tradition here, one quite separate from
the one labelled "magical realism" -- a label which too often gets=20
applied indiscriminately to any seriously intentioned work of fantasy=20
set (more or less) in the "real" world. So to recognize this separate
thread is far more important than what we call it.

--Blattid


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