ENGL 20133 - Catholic Fiction & Film

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

An examination of Catholicism in modern fiction, cinematic adaptations of those works of fiction, and other free-standing stories and films. In this course, as you might expect from its title, we will consider representations of Catholicism in the work of a number of authors and filmmakers. Our central texts are as follows: Georges Bernanos, The Diary of a Country Priest (novel, French, 1937); Robert Bresson (director) The Diary of a Country Priest (1950); Louis Malle (director) Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987); Leo MCCarey (director) The Bells of St Mary's (1945); Pat McCabe, The Butcher Boy (novel, 1992); Neil Jordan (director) The Butcher Boy (1997); Peter Mullan (director) The Magdalene Sisters; Brian Moore, Black Robe (novel, 1985); Bruce Beresford (director) Black Robe (1991); James Joyce, Dubliners (short stories, 1914); John Huston (director) The Dead (1987); Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (novel, 1943); Elia Kazan (director) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Frank Capra, John Ford, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Leo McCarey, Robert Bresson, Jean Renoir, Federico Fellini - the list of great (lapsed or otherwise) Catholic film directors is staggering. In the films and novels and stories that we will be reading - for we will be reading the films just as closely as we will read the written words - Catholicism emerges in multiple ways. Some of the issues that will be raised for our analysis and discussion will be: iconography; sacrifice; mortality; sin; original sin; violence and religion; religious corruption; the tensions between the individual and the institutions of the Church, and the clergy; the loss of innocence; grace; hypocrisy; censorship; and silence. We will aim, too, to compare and contrast the different treatments of religion and humanity in these films and novels.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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