A decade’s distance invites us to take stock of the Catholic dimension in 20th-century literature and film, through the works of novelists, poets, playwrights and screenwriters.

Rather than focus exclusively on “Catholic” authors, we also intend to examine the many works of non- Catholics and non-believers in which Catholic habits of thought remain powerfully present, as these authors wrestle with questions of moral conscience, sexuality and love, the search for meaning, grace, sin, redemption, the problem of evil, etc.

Attention will be given not only to the remarkable flowering of Christian literature in the beginning of the century, but also to authors working in the century’s second half, a period of profound cultural change, characterized by, among other things, a growing, reciprocal influence between literature and film, which has shaped the way stories are told and how we see ourselves and society.

The conference offers an opportunity to explore the many questions raised by the literary presence of Catholic faith – admired, embraced, echoed and challenged - in twentieth-century literature and film.