Literature (TOP OF PAGE)

CALLISTA: A TALE OF THE THIRD CENTURY (2nd Edition), John Henry Newman; Introduction by Alan G. Hill Callista is an arresting picture of Christian commitment under trial in the third century A.D. John Henry Newman's novel follows the moral and spiritual development of three very different characters caught up in the mysterious processes of divine Providence, who all fulfill their destinies through suffering and self-sacrifice. The Greek sculptress Callista, an exile from her native island in the Sea of Marmara, serves the cause of paganism by fashioning images of the gods. Agellius, her suitor, rediscovers his Christian duty and vocation in the terrifying circumstances in which he finds himself, while his brother Juba struggles to overcome his own passions and inner torment. Far from being tied to the past, Newman's novel challenges the assumptions of the modern reader in unexpected ways. More perhaps than his major works, Newman's fiction reveals the contours of his imaginative life, the range and power of his prose writing, and the wider literary culture which he so often subordinated to his higher vocation or the demands of controversy. Callista's picture of the Christian venture of faith, so close to Newman's own, and the setting in his beloved church of the Fathers in Roman North Africa, make it one of his most characteristic works. Callista is an important text for understanding Newman's lifelong vocation as a Christian apologist, and the importance for him of the early Church. 416pp

$35.00 Cloth (University of Notre Dame Press)

REQUIEM IN RED (East European Monographs, No. 565)

THANOS VLEKAS: A NOVEL (A novel of brigandage and social justice set in nineteenth century Greece), Pavlos Kalligas; translated from the Greek with an introduction by Thomas Doulis Considered the first realistic social novel ever published in Greece, Thanos Vlekas is a witty and ambitious portrayal of the problems in the newly established Greek state after its war of independence (1821-27) The story of two brothers on opposing ends of the ethical spectrum, Thanos Vlekas exposes the problems plaguing the young nation - brigandage, corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency - with a frankness unusual for the time. Pavlos Kalligas places the sources of Greece's ethical dilemmas in the same virtues - heroism and resistance to authority - that helped the nation attain its freedom. At the center of the novel is Thanos Vlekas, a young farmer hoping to improve himself and his piece of land despite the derision of his widowed mother, who considers him a "frugal ant" and "not worthy of bearing arms." Reflecting the sentiments of most Greeks, the widow prefers her ambitious and brave brigand son, Tassos. While Thanos works his land, his brother uses the political machinery and wealth gained from brigandage to replace the Ottoman landowners of a village and inherit the villagers as his serfs. Kalligas believed such "heroes" wreaked great evil on the nation and disgraced Greece in the eyes of the world. He challenged the patriotic myths of his readers, a challenge that continues to resonate today for readers everywhere. Thanos Vlekas remains a damning study of how patriotic passions and the temptations of power can blur the line separating heroes from villains. 208pp

$18.00 Paper (Northwestern University Press)

Poetry (TOP OF PAGE)

Studies in Literature (TOP OF PAGE)

POLITICAL APOCALYPSE: A STUDY OF DOSTOEVSKY'S GRAND INQUISTOR, Ellis Sandoz This book employs the philosophical and theological background of Dostoevsky's writing as a means of explicating the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Russian quasi-religious thought as it was influenced by Western revolutionary doctrine and Hegelian thought contemporary in Dostoevsky's Russia is the key to understanding the Legend. According to Sandoz, the Legend is a seminal instance of modern political millenarianism stemming from such speculation. 287pp

$25.00 Cloth (Intercollegiate Studies Institute)