A Matter of Faith: The Fiction of Brian Moore

by Robert Sullivan

Overview

This is the most extensive account of Moore's fiction to date that considers his many works from the early stories to the recent novel, No Other Life. Moore, who was born in Ireland but is a Canadian citizen and resides predominantly in the United States, has earned an international reputation as an important novelist. This book sets out to demonstrate a discernible pattern of concerns that cut across Moore's fictive output over the last 40 years. It argues that the concerns of love and faith (and the interplay between them) form the backbone of Moore's oeuvre. Sullivan draws from interviews with Moore and presents a study that convincingly demonstrates how Moore's fictions, from first to last, take their place in a larger thematic and formal masternarrative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313298714
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/1996
Series:	Contributions to the Study of World Literature , #69
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.44(d)
Lexile:	1500L (what's this?)

About the Author

Robert Sullivan is a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He attended universities in England and earned a PhD from Brown University, where he is currently a visiting assistant professor. Sullivan has also taught in Africa and at universities in the United States. He is author of Christopher Caudwell.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chronological List of Novels
Introduction: A Matter of Faith
Belfast: The Insular World
The Climate of Ulster
The Three Early Novels
The Doctor's Wife
Lies of Silence
Forms of Self-Regard: The Irish-Americans
Bridge to the New World: The Luck of Ginger Coffey
An Answer From Limbo
I Am Mary Dunne
Fergus
The Mangan Inheritance
The Temptation of Giant Despair
The Temptation of Eileen Hughes
Cold Heaven
Catholics
The Color of Blood
Black Robe
Moore's Masterplot: The Great Victorian Collection
The Novel as a Theory of Representation
The Novel as a Philosophy of Form
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Robert Welch Editor of The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature 

This is a comprehensive and searching study of the fiction of Brian Moore, which brings a marked and subtle intelligence to bear upon the crux of faith in Moore's writing, linking this question to a feature of the work which has not hitherto been given much attention, the craft of the fiction. In this treatment Moore emerges as a careful and conscious artist deeply engaged in a prolonged exploration of the crisis of faith in twentieth century life and action.

Robert Welch: Editor of The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature

This is a comprehensive and searching study of the fiction of Brian Moore, which brings a marked and subtle intelligence to bear upon the crux of faith in Moore's writing, linking this question to a feature of the work which has not hitherto been given much attention, the craft of the fiction. In this treatment Moore emerges as a careful and conscious artist deeply engaged in a prolonged exploration of the crisis of faith in twentieth century life and action.

Professor Philip Hobsbaum: University of Glasgow

This study by Robert Sullivan of Brian Moore has been long awaited and eagerly expected. It is a definitive account of a major Irish author, remarkable both for its detail and its lucidity. Those already acquainted with the novels of Brian Moore will find Dr. Sullivan's study redolent with fresh insights, and those who come to Moore for the first time will find it a helpful introduction.

Thomas Staley Director of the Harry Ranson Humanities Research Center

Sullivan's study of Moore...is a mature and thorough work, marked by its clarity, critical rigor and solid scholarship. {It} is theoretically sophisticated without being pretentious.

Robert Welch Editor of The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature

This is a comprehensive and searching study of the fiction of Brian Moore, which brings a marked and subtle intelligence to bear upon the crux of faith in Moore's writing, linking this question to a feature of the work which has not hitherto been given much attention, the craft of the fiction. In this treatment Moore emerges as a careful and conscious artist deeply engaged in a prolonged exploration of the crisis of faith in twentieth century life and action.

Professor Philip Hobsbaum University of Glasgow

This study by Robert Sullivan of Brian Moore has been long awaited and eagerly expected. It is a definitive account of a major Irish author, remarkable both for its detail and its lucidity. Those already acquainted with the novels of Brian Moore will find Dr. Sullivan's study redolent with fresh insights, and those who come to Moore for the first time will find it a helpful introduction.

Thomas Staley: Director of the Harry Ranson Humanities Research Center

Sullivan's study of Moore…is a mature and thorough work, marked by its clarity, critical rigor and solid scholarship. {It} is theoretically sophisticated without being pretentious.

Editorial Reviews

Sullivan offers the most useful single-volume study to date of the 19 novels produced by Moore over the last 40 years. . . . Sullivan's effort admirably distills Moore's technique and worth. . . . All academic collections.” —Choice

From the Publisher

Studies the work of Irish writer Moore whose first novel The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne was published in 1955, and his 19th and most recent, The Statement, in 1995 (although the present study extends only to the 1993 novel, No Other Life). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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