Morte D'Urban

 General Description:

Winner of The 1963 National Book Award for Fiction. 

One of the greatest Catholic novels of the 20th century!

The hero of J.F. Powers's comic masterpiece is Father Urban, a man of the cloth who is also a man of the world. Charming, with an expansive vision of the spiritual life and a high tolerance for moral ambiguity, Urban enjoys a national reputation as a speaker on the religious circuit and has big plans for the future. But then the provincial head of his dowdy religious order banishes him to a retreat house in the Minnesota hinterlands. Father Urban soon bounces back, carrying God's word with undaunted enthusiasm through the golf courses, fishing lodges, and backyard barbecues of his new turf. Yet even as he triumphs his tribulations mount, and in the end his greatest success proves a setback from which he cannot recover.

First published in 1962, Morte D'Urban has been praised by writers as diverse as Gore Vidal, William Gass, Mary Gordon, and Philip Roth. This beautifully observed, often hilarious tale of a most unlikely Knight of Faith is among the finest achievements of an author whose singular (and vrey Catholic) vision assures him a permanent place in American literature.

About the author:

J. F. Powers (1917-1999) was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, and studied at Northwestern University while holding a variety of jobs in Chicago and working on his writing. He published his first stories in The Catholic Worker and, as a pacifist, spent thirteen months in prison during World War II. Powers was the author of three collections of short stories and two novels—Morte D'Urban, which won the National Book Award, and Wheat That Springeth Green—all of which have been reissued by New York Review Books. He lived in Ireland and the United States and taught for many years at St John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Other Styles and Formats:

A Tiber River reviewer hasn't written a review for this book yet.
Sign up as a Tiber River reviewer and see your review here!
(Apart from fame, you can also can get free stuff and gift certificates.)

 Other Customers Also Purchased

Charity in Truth

 Browse For Similar Items In

• Catholic Books > Literature / Fiction Books
• Catholic Books > Catholic Fiction
• 2009 Year of the Priest > Year of the Priest Books > Literature / Fiction Books
• Catholic Books > Catholic Summer Reading > Catholic Summer Reading 2008

Related Articles

1. St. Philip Neri - A Most Admirable Life 05/25/2010

2. 41 Famous Quotes from Cardinal Newman 05/17/2010

3. Damien of Molokai - Priest of Heroic Kindness 11/02/2009

4. Msgr. Ronald Knox - Priest of Heroic Modesty 10/05/2009

5. Why Are Priests Celibate? 09/06/2009

6. Fr. Peter Whelan - Priest of Heroic Generosity 08/31/2009

7. Bless Me Father, for I Have Sinned 08/10/2009

8. Augustine Tolton - Priest of Heroic Patience 07/30/2009

9. Call No Man Father 07/13/2009

10. FREE Clergy Shirts! 06/19/2009