"An Effective Influence for Good": A Reconsideration of J.F. Powers's Morte D'Urban

Abstract

J.F. Powers is one of America's finest Catholic writers, yet his work remains understudied and underappreciated. Although some critics claim his work is overly narrow and dated, I argue that in his depictions of the Catholic Church struggling with how to engage with the modern world, and in his exploration of how power and popularity can be a corrupting influence on the American psyche, Powers's fiction remains relevant to our own moment. I briefly discuss some elements of Powers's own biography, and then focus particularly on his National Book Award winning novel Morte D'Urban. Drawing on the literary theory of Paul Ricoeur, I demonstrate how the novel enacts a process of disorientation and reorientation for the reader, ultimately leaving the reader in a place where they are forced to question how, exactly, the church can best act as "an effective influence for good" in the world.