Author Topic: Classics for Catholics? (Read 1599 times)

Marlelar · « **on:** August 20, 2014, 01:49:55 PM »

The SSPX subforum is having a field day with Dickens and not wanting to sidetrack them with a general question about the classics I thought I would bring the conversation here.

Some object to Dickens claiming he was a "dirty old man". I don't know if that is true or not but he did write about the failures in his society and although he is not a favorite of mine I do think his works have had an impact on society.

That said, who else do you think is worth reading?

Marsha

ggreg · « **Reply #1 on:** August 20, 2014, 05:40:44 PM »

Orwell, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Milton, Steinbeck, Jack London.

Traditional Guy 20 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 20, 2014, 06:30:24 PM »

Orwell was a believer in democratic socialism and fought for the Republicans in the Spanish cινιℓ ωαr; Steinbeck based the majority of his book, Grapes of Wrath, on the testimony of known socialists and social democrats; Jack London was an atheist, socialist, and a believer in Darwinian ideals on human society.

ggreg · « **Reply #3 on:** August 20, 2014, 06:56:10 PM »

But I am not holding a conference and suggesting that their work has any virtue or that all of them had "a supreme respect for the Gospel of Christ".

Aleah · « **Reply #4 on:** October 11, 2014, 08:28:00 PM »

I love Dostoyevsky. He wasn't Catholic, but his writings were deeply rooted in man's struggle with this world and the deeper questions about the faith and saving one's soul.

Jane Austen's works are witty and insightful for that period of time.

I haven't read much Dickens, but is personal life wasn't the greatest based on what I do know.

Gaskell is interesting, but she was anti-Catholic so you will see that in her writings.

poche · « **Reply #5 on:** October 12, 2014, 03:37:57 AM »

The Sayings of the Fathers of the Desert.