Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an age of Unbelief.(Review)

Joseph Pearce, Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an age of Unbelief. San Francisco; Ignatius Press, 1999, pp. 425, $39.95 Cdn.

In an account of the vision of Pope Leo XIII, we are told that Satan was allocated the twentieth, out of all the centuries, in which to wreak his will. A quick overview of the events of the century does little to disprove this conjecture. In tandem with its barbarism, such as had not been seen since the Dark Ages, ran a dominant agnosticism in the ranks of the intellectuals of the western world. This, of course, was hardly new. It dates back to the Enlightenment and beyond. It persists today.

But now we have British writer Joseph Pearce, in our age of disillusionment, presenting a chronicle of a Christian, chiefly Catholic, literary revival during the 20th century. This response of faith has greatly helped to balance the atmosphere of unbelief, at least during the first two-thirds of the century.

A few of the writers mentioned, such as T.S. Eliot and Dorothy L. Sayers, were of the Anglican persuasion, but the majority were converted to Roman Catholicism. Although Pearce incorporates the names and deeds of various cradle Catholics' like Hilaire Belloc into his …